THE SETTLEMENT OF KONOPLYANKA 2 IN THE SOUTHERN TRANS-URALS: NEW ASPECTS OF RESEARCH

Abstract

The article presents preliminary results of the study of the Bronze Age settlement Konoplyanka 2 in the valley of the Karagaily-Ayat River (Kartaly district of the Chelyabinsk region). The materials demonstrate the manifestations of mobility that occurred in different chronological periods of the Late Bronze Age. Topical problems such as the existence of open villages in the South Trans-Urals in Sintashta time and the features of post-Sintashta age settlements are also investigated. The settlement consists of clusters formed by close or adjacent buildings with a linear planning principle. Line 1 consists of the rectangular structures of the Srubnaya (first phase) and Cherkaskul (second phase) cultures. Four wells located along the central axis were discovered in the excavated building. Line 2, with no external features, was discovered by geophysical studies. The building under study contained the Abashevo type ceramics and traces of metallurgy typical for the Sintashta and Abashevo cultures. Radiocarbon dates span an almost continuous interval from the 20th to the 16th century BC, in which the Abashevo claster occupies the earliest position, being partially synchronous with the earlier investigated fortified settlement of Konoplyanka, but not culturally related. The cluster of the Srubnaya-Cherkaskul houses is the latest. The article discusses the diachronic settling and issue of the eastwards spread of the Abashevo population, and the assimilation of the Trans-Urals by Srubnaya cultural complex population.