) Soil-Archaeological Studies of the Short - Term Pedochrone Sequence of the Kalikino II Barrow Group in the Southern Urals (advanced phase of the Yamnaya Culture)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24852/2587-6112.2026.2.62.75Keywords:
archaeology, Southern cis-Urals, Yamnaya culture, advanced phase B, Kalikino II barrow group, paleochernozemic soils, paleoclimatic reconstruction, humidization, micromorphology, microbiomorphic analysisAbstract
This paper presents the results of a comprehensive interdisciplinary study of the Kalikino II barrow group in the Orenburg region. Five Early Bronze Age barrows and the associated buried soils were examined. Based on archaeological data (burial rite, barrow architecture with ring-shaped moats, pottery typology and findings the Utevka-type axe and a bone ring) all mounds are attributed to the advanced phase B of the Yamnaya culture (3000–2600 cal BC). Radiocarbon dates obtained for four barrows range from 2885 to 2570 cal BC (spanning 300–500 years). Comparison of radiocarbon and archaeological dating makes it possible to limit the period of functioning of the burial ground to the interval 2800–2600 BC. To refine the construction sequence of the barrows and to perform a paleoclimatic reconstruction, the paleopedological methods were employed, including macro- and micromorphological, physicochemical and microbiomorph analyses. Integrating radiocarbon dates and analysis of soil properties established the chronological sequence of soil burying and barrow constructing at the burial ground under study: from early (Ki-7p, Ki-6p, Ki-4p) to late (Ki-5p, Ki-1p). Soils of the late group display a darker humus horizon, higher organic carbon content and magnetic susceptibility, and lower carbonate content. Microbiomorphic analysis, when examining soils from early to later buried ones, showed an increase in the proportion of meadow and forest grasses phytoliths with a reduction in steppe forms, which indicates an increase in moisture availability. The obtained data indicate a gradual increase in climate humidification during the period of kurgan construction in the studied burial ground. The minor amplitude of changes in soil properties suggests that the kurgans were built over a short time interval (less than 100 years), which is consistent with archaeological evidence and helps refine the scatter of radiocarbon dates. The integration of archaeological and natural science methods has proven highly effective for refining chronology and reconstructing environmental conditions over short time intervals. The identified trend in climate change contributes to paleogeographic reconstructions for the late stage B of the Yamnaya culture in the Southern Urals.
References
Alexandrovskiy, A. L., Alexandrovskaya, E. I. 2005. Evoliutsiia pochv i geograficheskaia sreda (Soil evolution and the geographical environment). Moscow: “Nauka” Publ. (in Russian).
Arinushkina, E. V. 1970. Rukovodstvo po khimicheskomu analizu pochv (Guidelines for chemical analysis of soils). Moscow: Moscow State University (in Russian).
Borisov, A. V., Demkina, T. S., Demkin, V. A. 2006. Paleopochvy i klimat Ergenei v epokhu bronzy (IV–II tys. do n. e.) (Paleosoils and climate of Ergeni in the Bronze Age (IV–II millennia BC)). Moscow: “Nauka” Publ. (in Russian).
Vadyunina, A. F., Korchagina, Z. A. 1986. Metody issledovaniia fizicheskikh svoistv pochv (Methods for studying the physical properties of soils). Moscow: “Agropromizdat” Publ. (in Russian).
Vorobyeva, L. A. 2006. Teoriya i praktika khimicheskogo analiza pochv (Theory and Practice of the Chemical Analysis of Soils). Moscow: “GEOS” Publ. (in Russian).
Gubin, S.V. 1984. In Pochvovedenie (Soil Studies) (6), 5–13 (in Russian).
Demkin, V. A., Demkina, T. S. 2003. In Demkin, V. A. (ed.). Problemy evoliutsii pochv (Issues of soil evolution). Pushchino: Institute of Physico-Chemical and Biological Problems of Soil Science of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 29–34 (in Russian).
Demkin, V. A., Eltsov, M. V., Alekseev, A. O., Alekseeva, T. V., Demkina, T. S., Borisov, A. V. 2004. In Pochvovedenie (Soil Studies) (12), 1486–1497 (in Russian).
Ivanov, I.V. 1992. Evoliutsiia pochv stepnoi zony v golotsene (Evolution of steppe zone soils in the Holocene). Moscow: “Nauka” Publ. (in Russian).
Ivanov, I. V., Aleksandrovskiy, A. L. 1987. In Pochvovedenie (Soil Studies) (1), 112–121 (in Russian).
Dobrovolskiy, G. V. (ed.). 2004. Klassifikatsiya i diagnostika pochv Rossii (Classification and Diagnostics of the Soils of Russia). Smolensk: “Oykumena” Publ. (in Russian).
Morgunova, N. L. 2014. Priuralskaia gruppa pamiatnikov v sisteme volzhsko-uralskogo varianta iamnoi kulturno-istoricheskoi oblasti (The Cis-Urals group of sites in the system of the Volga-Ural type of the Yamnaya cultural and historical area). Orenburg: Orenburg State Pedagogical University (in Russian).
Morgunova, N. L., Golyeva, A. A., Kraeva, L. A., Meshcheryakov, D. V., Turetsky, M. A., Khalyapin, M. V., Khokhlova, O. S. 2003. Shumaevskie kurgany (Shumaevo barrows). Orenburg: Orenburg State Pedagogical University (in Russian).
Morgunova, N. L., Golyeva, A. A., Degtyareva, A. D., Evgeniev, A. A., Kuptsova, L. V., Salugina, N. P., Khokhlova, O. S., Khokhlov, A. A. 2010. Skvortsovskiy kurgannyy mogil'nik (Skvortsy Barrow Burial Ground). Orenburg: Orenburg State Pedagogical University (in Russian).
Morgunova, N. L., Faizullin, A. A., Parkhomchuk, E. V., Salugina, N. P. 2024. In Arkheologiia evraziiskikh stepei (Archaeology of the Eurasian Steppes) (6), 106–118 (in Russian).
Morgunova, N. L., Khokhlova, O. S., Golyeva, A. A., Zaitseva, G. I., Chichagova, O. A. 2005. In Morgunova, N. L. (ed.). Arkheologicheskie pamiatniki Orenburzh’ia (Archaeological Sites of Orenburg Region) 7. Orenburg: Orenburg State Pedagogical University, 96–104 (in Russian).
Salugina, N.P., Morgunova, N. L. 2024. In Vybornov, A. A., Tkach, E. S. (eds.). Drevniaia keramika Evrazii: ot sosuda k kulture (Ancient Pottery of Eurasia: from vessel to culture). Saint Petersburg: Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, 54–56 (in Russian).
Faizullin, A. A. 2025. In Arkheologiya Kazakhstana (Kazakhstan Archaeology) 28 (2), 100–103 (in Russian).
Khokhlova, O. S. 2006a. In Morgunova, N. L. (ed.). Problemy izucheniia iamnoi kul'turno-istoricheskoi oblasti (Issues of Studying the Pit Grave Cultural and Historical Area). Orenburg: Orenburg State Pedagogical University, 104–109 (in Russian).
Khokhlova, O. S. 2006b. In Alifanov, V. M. (ed.). Ekologiia i pochvy (Ecology and soils) Vol. 5. Pushchino: RAS, 278–286 (in Russian).
Khokhlova, O. S. 2010. In Biosfernye funktsii pochvennogo pokrova: materialy Vserossiiskoi nauchnoi konferentsii, posviashchennoi 40-letnemu iubileiu Instituta fiziko-khimicheskikh i biologicheskikh problem pochvovedeniia RAN (Biosphere functions of soil cover: Biospheric functions of the soil cover: proceedings of the All-Russian Scientific Conference dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the Institute of Physico-Chemical and Biological Problems of Soil Science of the Russian Academy of Sciences). Pushchino: “SYNCHROBOOK” Publ., 330–332 (in Russian).
Khokhlova, O. S., Morgunova, N. L., Golyeva, A.A . 2019. In Morgunova, N. L. (ed.). Fenomeny kultur rannego bronzovogo veka stepnoi i lesostepnoi polosy Evrazii: puti kulturnogo vzaimodeistviia v V–III tys. do n.e (Phenomena of Early Bronze Age Cultures of the Steppe and Forest-Steppe Zones of Eurasia: Paths of Cultural Interaction in the V–III Millennium BC). Orenburg: Orenburg State Pedagogical University, 102–112 (in Russian).
Khokhlova, O. S., Sverchkova, A. E., Morgunova, N. L., Faizullin, A. A., Myakshina, T. N. 2023. In Pochvy i okruzhayushchaya sreda (The Journal Of Soils And Environment) 6 (2), e213 (in Russian).
Khokhlova, O. S., Sverchkova, A. E., Myakshina, T. N. 2025. In Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 17. Pochvovedenie (Bulletin of the Moscow University. Series 17. Soil Studies) 80 (4), 61–79 (in Russian).
Chendev, Yu. G. 2004. Estestvennaia evoliutsiia pochv Tsentralnoi lesostepi v golotsene (Natural evolution of soils of the Central Forest Steppe in the Holocene). Belgorod: Belgorod State University (in Russian).
IUSS Working Group WRB. 2022. World Reference Base for Soil Resources. International soil classification system for naming soils and creating legends for soil maps. Vienna: International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS).
Morgunova, N. L., Khokhlova, O. S. 2013. In Radiocarbon 55 (3), 1286–1296. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033822200048190
Morgunova, N. L., Khokhlova, O. S. 2020. In Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (12), 241.https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-020-01197-w
Sverchkova, A. E., Khokhlova, O. S. 2025. In Catena (256), 109122.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 A. E. Sverchkova, A. A. Fayzullin, O. S. Khokhlova, T. N. Myakshina
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
