Early polities in the steppes: Sintashta communities of southern Russia

Summary

First polities in the Eurasian steppes are documented by the Greek and Chinese historical accounts of the Scythians (9th-3rd centuries BC) and the Xiongnu (3rd century BC – 1st century AD). Archaeologically, these entities manifested themselves in complex settlement networks, consisting of fortified sites, dispersed farmsteads, and mobile pastoral camps. Earlier roots of political organization in the Eurasian steppes are largely limited to funerary and ceremonial monuments, which presumably served as aggregation points for dispersed populations. In this context, more than twenty Middle Bronze Age (MBA) (2100-1700 BC) nucleated fortified settlements, concentrated in the Southern Ural steppes of Russia, commanded particular attention of archaeologists. Given that integration of settlements at a supra-local scale has been considered a hallmark in the emergence of complex societies, the isolated and completely centralized nature of MBA sites precluded viewing them as centers of early polities. However, a recent systematic regional survey recovered diagnostic MBA material from a number of unfortified settlements located some distance away from the fortified centers.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Ongoing Research in Eurasian Archaeology: Assessing the Implications of New Evidence

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14405