Fatyanovo-Balanovo culture
Encyclopedia
The Fatyanovo-Balanovo culture, 3200 BC-2300 BC, is an eastern extension of the Corded Ware culture
into Russia
It runs from Lake Pskov in the west to the middle Volga in the east, with its northern reach in the valley of the upper Volga. It is really two cultures, the Fatyanovo in the west, the Balanovo in the east. The Fatyanovo culture emerged at the northeastern edge of the Middle Dnieper culture
, and probably was derived from an early variant of the Middle Dnieper culture.
Fatyanovo migrations correspond to regions with hydronyms of a Baltic language dialect mapped by linguists as far as the Oka river and the upper Volga. Spreading eastward down the Volga they discovered the copper ores of the western Ural foothills, and started long term settlements in lower Kama river region. The Balanovo culture occupied the region of the Kama–Vyatka–Vetluga interfluves where metal resources ( local copper sandstone deposits ) of the region were exploited.
Fatyanovo ceramics show mixed Corded Ware / Globular Amphorae traits. The later Abashevo culture
pottery looked somewhat like Fatyanovo-Balanovo Corded Ware, but Abashevo kurgans were unlike Fatyanovo flat cemeteries, although flat graves were a recognizable component of the Abashevo burial rite. Balanovo burials ( like the Middle Dnieper culture
) were both of the flat and kurgan
type, containing individual and also mass grave
s.
Settlements are scant, and bear evidence of a degree of fortification. The villages were usually situated on the high hills of the riverbanks, consisting of several above-ground houses built from wooden logs with saddle roofs, and also joined by passages. The economy seems to be quite mobile, but then we are cautioned that domestic swine are found, which suggests something other than a mobile society. The Fatyanovo culture is viewed as introducing an economy based on domestic livestock ( sheep, cattle, horse & dog ) into the forest zone of Russia. The Balanovo also used draught cattle and two wheeled wagons.
As is usual with such ancient cultures, our main knowledge comes from their inhumations. Shaft graves were evident, which might be lined with wood. The deceased were wrapped in animal skins or birch bark and placed into wooden burial chambers in subterranean rectangular pits. The interments are otherwise in accord with Corded Ware practices, with males resting on their right side and females on their left. Local metal objects of a Central European provenance type were present. Copper ornaments and tools have been found in Balanovo burials. Burial goods depended
on sex, age, and social position. Copper axes primarily accompanied persons of high social position, stone axe-hammers were given to men, flint axes to children and women. Amulets are frequently found in the graves as well as metal working implements.
The theory for an intrusive culture is based upon the physical type of the population, flexed burial under barrows, the presence of battle-axes and ceramics. There are similarities between Fatyanovo and Catacomb culture
stone battle-axes. The Volosovo culture of indigenous forest foragers was different in its ceramics, economy, and mortuary practices. It dispersed when the Fatyanovo people pushed into the Upper and Middle Volga basin. Ceramic finds indicate Balanovo coexisted with the Finnic
Volosovo people ( mixed Balanovo-Volosovo sites ), and also displace them. The cultures of the Prikamsky subarea in the Late Bronze Age continued preceding traditions in pottery, house designs, and stable animal husbandry with the breeding of horse, cattle, and to a lesser extent, pigs and sheep. Scholars interpret some of these cultures with stages in the development of the proto-Permian language. Some have argued that this culture represents the acculturation of Pit-Comb Ware culture
people of this area from contacts with Corded Ware agriculturists in the West. It does not seem to represent a northern extension of the Indo-European Yamna culture
horizon further south.
Historical sources mention a people inhabiting the region of the earlier Fatyanovo region. The Hypatian Codex of Chronicles
mentions that in 1147 the Prince of Rostov-Suzdal defeated the Golyad' ( Голядь ) who lived by the River Porotva. The Protva
is a tributary of the Oka river
near Moscow
, where there is a wealth of Baltic hydronyms.
Corded Ware culture
The Corded Ware culture , alternatively characterized as the Battle Axe culture or Single Grave culture, is an enormous European archaeological horizon that begins in the late Neolithic , flourishes through the Copper Age and culminates in the early Bronze Age.Corded Ware culture is associated with...
into Russia
It runs from Lake Pskov in the west to the middle Volga in the east, with its northern reach in the valley of the upper Volga. It is really two cultures, the Fatyanovo in the west, the Balanovo in the east. The Fatyanovo culture emerged at the northeastern edge of the Middle Dnieper culture
Middle Dnieper culture
The Middle Dnieper culture is an eastern extension of the Corded Ware culture, ca. 3200—2300 BC of northern Ukraine and Belarus. As the name indicates, it was centered on the middle reach of the Dnieper River and is contemporaneous with the latter phase and then a successor to the...
, and probably was derived from an early variant of the Middle Dnieper culture.
Fatyanovo migrations correspond to regions with hydronyms of a Baltic language dialect mapped by linguists as far as the Oka river and the upper Volga. Spreading eastward down the Volga they discovered the copper ores of the western Ural foothills, and started long term settlements in lower Kama river region. The Balanovo culture occupied the region of the Kama–Vyatka–Vetluga interfluves where metal resources ( local copper sandstone deposits ) of the region were exploited.
Fatyanovo ceramics show mixed Corded Ware / Globular Amphorae traits. The later Abashevo culture
Abashevo culture
Abashevo culture is a later Bronze Age archaeological culture found in the valleys of the Volga and Kama River north of the Samara bend and into the southern Ural Mountains. It receives its name from a village of Abashevo in Chuvashia. Artifacts are kurgans and remnants of settlements...
pottery looked somewhat like Fatyanovo-Balanovo Corded Ware, but Abashevo kurgans were unlike Fatyanovo flat cemeteries, although flat graves were a recognizable component of the Abashevo burial rite. Balanovo burials ( like the Middle Dnieper culture
Middle Dnieper culture
The Middle Dnieper culture is an eastern extension of the Corded Ware culture, ca. 3200—2300 BC of northern Ukraine and Belarus. As the name indicates, it was centered on the middle reach of the Dnieper River and is contemporaneous with the latter phase and then a successor to the...
) were both of the flat and kurgan
Kurgan
Kurgan is the Turkic term for a tumulus; mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves, originating with its use in Soviet archaeology, now widely used for tumuli in the context of Eastern European and Central Asian archaeology....
type, containing individual and also mass grave
Mass grave
A mass grave is a grave containing multiple number of human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. There is no strict definition of the minimum number of bodies required to constitute a mass grave, although the United Nations defines a mass grave as a burial site which...
s.
Settlements are scant, and bear evidence of a degree of fortification. The villages were usually situated on the high hills of the riverbanks, consisting of several above-ground houses built from wooden logs with saddle roofs, and also joined by passages. The economy seems to be quite mobile, but then we are cautioned that domestic swine are found, which suggests something other than a mobile society. The Fatyanovo culture is viewed as introducing an economy based on domestic livestock ( sheep, cattle, horse & dog ) into the forest zone of Russia. The Balanovo also used draught cattle and two wheeled wagons.
As is usual with such ancient cultures, our main knowledge comes from their inhumations. Shaft graves were evident, which might be lined with wood. The deceased were wrapped in animal skins or birch bark and placed into wooden burial chambers in subterranean rectangular pits. The interments are otherwise in accord with Corded Ware practices, with males resting on their right side and females on their left. Local metal objects of a Central European provenance type were present. Copper ornaments and tools have been found in Balanovo burials. Burial goods depended
on sex, age, and social position. Copper axes primarily accompanied persons of high social position, stone axe-hammers were given to men, flint axes to children and women. Amulets are frequently found in the graves as well as metal working implements.
The theory for an intrusive culture is based upon the physical type of the population, flexed burial under barrows, the presence of battle-axes and ceramics. There are similarities between Fatyanovo and Catacomb culture
Catacomb culture
The Catacomb culture, ca. 2800-2200 BC, refers to an early Bronze Age culture occupying essentially what is present-day Ukraine. It is seen more as a term covering several smaller related archaeological cultures....
stone battle-axes. The Volosovo culture of indigenous forest foragers was different in its ceramics, economy, and mortuary practices. It dispersed when the Fatyanovo people pushed into the Upper and Middle Volga basin. Ceramic finds indicate Balanovo coexisted with the Finnic
Finnic
Finnic or Fennic can refer to:* Finnic languages* Finnic peoples...
Volosovo people ( mixed Balanovo-Volosovo sites ), and also displace them. The cultures of the Prikamsky subarea in the Late Bronze Age continued preceding traditions in pottery, house designs, and stable animal husbandry with the breeding of horse, cattle, and to a lesser extent, pigs and sheep. Scholars interpret some of these cultures with stages in the development of the proto-Permian language. Some have argued that this culture represents the acculturation of Pit-Comb Ware culture
Pit-Comb Ware culture
The Pit–Comb Ware culture Comb Ceramic culture was a northeast European culture of pottery-making hunter-gatherers. It existed from around 4200 BC to around 2000 BC...
people of this area from contacts with Corded Ware agriculturists in the West. It does not seem to represent a northern extension of the Indo-European Yamna culture
Yamna culture
The Yamna culture is a late copper age/early Bronze Age culture of the Southern Bug/Dniester/Ural region , dating to the 36th–23rd centuries BC...
horizon further south.
Historical sources mention a people inhabiting the region of the earlier Fatyanovo region. The Hypatian Codex of Chronicles
Hypatian Codex
The Hypatian Codex is a compendium of three chronicles: the Primary Chronicle, Kiev Chronicle, and Galician-Volhynian Chronicle. It is the most important source of historical data for southern Rus'...
mentions that in 1147 the Prince of Rostov-Suzdal defeated the Golyad' ( Голядь ) who lived by the River Porotva. The Protva
Protva
Protva may refer to:*Protva River, a river in Moscow and Kaluga Oblasts of Russia; left tributary of the Oka*Protva, a former urban-type settlement in Kaluga Oblast, Russia; since 1996 a part of the town of Zhukov...
is a tributary of the Oka river
Oka River
Oka is a river in central Russia, the largest right tributary of the Volga. It flows through the regions of Oryol, Tula, Kaluga, Moscow, Ryazan, Vladimir, and Nizhny Novgorod and is navigable over a large part of its total length, as far upstream as to the town of Kaluga. Its length exceeds...
near Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, where there is a wealth of Baltic hydronyms.
Sources
- David W. Anthony, "The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World", Princeton University Press, 2007.
- Marija GimbutasMarija GimbutasMarija Gimbutas , was a Lithuanian-American archeologist known for her research into the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures of "Old Europe", a term she introduced. Her works published between 1946 and 1971 introduced new views by combining traditional spadework with linguistics and mythological...
1963. The Balts. London : Thames and Hudson, Ancient peoples and places 33. - J. P. Mallory, "Fatyanovo-Balanovo Culture", Encyclopedia of Indo-European CultureEncyclopedia of Indo-European CultureThe Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture is an encyclopedia of Indo-European studies and the Proto-Indo-Europeans. The encyclopedia was edited by J. P. Mallory and Douglas Q. Adams and published in 1997 by Fitzroy Dearborn...
, Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997. - L. Koryakova, A. Epimakhov, The Urals and Western Siberia in the Bronze and Iron Ages, Cambridge University Press, NY, NY, 2007 ISBN 9780521829281
See also
- Middle Dnieper cultureMiddle Dnieper cultureThe Middle Dnieper culture is an eastern extension of the Corded Ware culture, ca. 3200—2300 BC of northern Ukraine and Belarus. As the name indicates, it was centered on the middle reach of the Dnieper River and is contemporaneous with the latter phase and then a successor to the...
- Abashevo cultureAbashevo cultureAbashevo culture is a later Bronze Age archaeological culture found in the valleys of the Volga and Kama River north of the Samara bend and into the southern Ural Mountains. It receives its name from a village of Abashevo in Chuvashia. Artifacts are kurgans and remnants of settlements...
- Sintashta cultureSintashta cultureThe Sintashta culture, also known as the Sintashta-Petrovka culture or Sintashta-Arkaim culture, is a Bronze Age archaeological culture of the northern Eurasian steppe on the borders of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, dated to the period 2100–1800 BCE...