The Pestretsy sites of the Eneolithic, Bronze and Early Iron Ages in the Lower Kama Region and their natural еnvironment

Abstract

Chapter 1. The sites Pestretsy IV and II on the river Mesha: stratigraphy, spatial data, excavation results.
The Chapter presents a set of data obtained from the excavations of Pestretsy sites, which were excavated by the authors in 2009 and 2011 (the Pestretsy IV) and in 2013 (the Pestretsy II). The total area of the excavations in the site Pestretsy IV was about 63 sq. m. The excavations revealed the remains of pits of two constructions, as well as fragments of ceramic vessels, fl int and metal implements. The finds belong to the Late Eneolithic and the beginning of the Late Bronze Age (III – the fi rst quarter of II Millennium BC), namely to the Zaimishche cultural type and the culture of the textile ceramics. Excavations the site Pestretsy II conducted in the area of 62 sq. m., revealed cultural layers related to the Late Eneolithic, Zaimishche cultural type, Anayino cultural and historical unity and the Azelino culture (III Millennium BC – IV century AD.). No structures have been identified. Based on the distribution of mass of the material and distinction of the layers, the Pestretsy II supposedly gives an opportunity to highlight stratigraphic layers and associate them with a particular archaeological era.

Chapter 2. The natural environment of the Pestretsy sites according to the results of geological and geomorphological studies.
The Chapter examines the results of fi eld geological and geomorphological studies of the area of Pestretsy sites in the valley of the Mesha river in the Western cis-Kama river region. The sites area with the nearest environment is situated in Holocene valley extension of the Mesha valley which was formed at the intersections of the Holocene geodynamic active zones. The site Pestretsy IV was located within Eastern extension of the valley, where the residents settled on a dune. The site Pestretsy II was located within Western extension, the prehistoric camp was located on an elevated section of the cone of removal of the tributary of the Mesha
– Sula river. Depressions which were formed in the valley extensions were fi lled with sediments of a single floodplain terrace height of 6-10 m. Cultural layers of sites (from III thousand BC to IV century AD) lie under the thickness of the fl oodplain silt sediment at a depth of 0.5-2.15 from the surface of the terrace and confined to the horizons of buried soils. As a result of studying the sections of the terrace, it was found that within the basins during the sites functioning during the end of Middle Holocene and the beginning of Late Holocene, there were low-lying plains with canals and abandoned riverbeds (Mesha Sula), numerous oxbow lakes and floodplain lakes, lacustrine-bog arrays and large peat bogs. This landscape caused the existence of the corresponding biotopes in hollows with rich, constantly updated and easily accessible for usage stocks of fauna and flora, from the point of view of the sites inhabitants.

Chapter 3. Genesis of the lithological and cultural layers the Pestretsy II and IV sites on the river Mesha according to the results of soil and micro-biomorphic analyses.
In the columns of samples from sites Pestretsy II and IV the contents of total phosphorus and microbiomes has been revealed. The aim of the work was to determine the Genesis of lithological and cultural layers of sites, as well as implementation of the comparative analysis. The study showed that both sites functioned in stable periods, when there were processes of soil formation and formation of cultural layers. The author suggests that during the Bronze Age there were stationary settlements, whereas in the Early Iron age people only visited these parts of the valley of the Mesha river (seasonal migrations?). The natural environment surrounding the inhabitants of the sites is generally characterized as meadow-forest with conifers in the composition of the forest stand. However, the soils and cultural layers of the Bronze Age were formed among the more open landscapes.

Chapter 4. Results of the archaeozoological study the sites Pestretsy II and IV on the Mesha river.
The chapter discusses the results of the archaeozoological study of the sites Pestretsy II and Pestretsy IV on the Mesha river in the Middle Volga region. Analysis of the faunal remains from the excavations showed that the inhabitants of these sites engaged in animal husbandry (“Forest” type) in combination with developed hunting and seasonal fi shing. The results obtained by the authors in the course of studying the archaeozoological material from the two sites make it possible to refi ne our knowledge of the fauna and economy of the ancient population of the Middle Volga region at the end of the middle Holocene.

Chapter 5. 4000-year-old reindeer mitogenomes from the Volga-Kama region reveal continuity among the forest reindeer in northeastern part of European Russia.
There are three main ecotypes of reindeer in Eurasia: tundra reindeer, boreal forest reindeer and High Arctic reindeer. Of these, especially the forest reindeer has suff ered due to human over hunting and habitat fragmentation. Forest reindeer was still found in the Volga-Kama region at the beginning of the 20th century, but has since disappeared from the region. In order to investigate the genetic relationships of these historical, southernly distributed forest reindeer populations, the authors obtained mitogenome sequences from six individuals from Pestretsy II, an archaeological site located in Tatarstan and dated to around 4000 calibrated
years before the present (cal BP). The sequences reported in this study represent the first published ancient reindeer mitogenomes. The authors observed genetic continuity between the historical reindeer from Tatarstan present day wild populations from the taiga zone of northeastern part of European Russia. Interestingly, four out of the six studied individuals belong to mitochondrial control region haplogroup II, which today is a major haplogroup among the semi-domestic reindeer in Fennoscandia. Even though the haplotypes observed in Pestretsy II site are not closely related to the major haplotypes observed among the Fennoscandian semidomestic reindeer, the results suggest that this haplogroup may have its origin east of Fennoscandia. It is also interesting to note that the size of the reindeers from the Pestretsy II site was one of the largest observed in the Holocene.

Chapter 6. Artefacts and chronology of the sites Pestretsy IV and II.
The earliest cultural remains on the Pestretsy sites belong to the late Eneolithic. These are ceramic fragments and fl int tools. The authors believe that the Eneolithic fi nds by analogy should be dated the end of IV – III Millennium BC. Next time at the sites was followed by fi nds of distinctive pottery, flint arrowheads, copper and bronze products related to Zaimishche cultural type. The pits of structures discovered at the Pestretsy IV belong to this time. The artefacts related to the Zaimishche cultural type have broad analogies in the cultures of the beginning of the Late Bronze Age in steppe Eurasia – the Sintashta, Potapovka, Petrovka, Pokrovka. The time of existence of these cultures is determined by the fi rst quarter of II Millennium BC. At the Pestretsy IV the fragments of textile ceramics of the Late Bronze Age relating to the second half of II thousand BC were discovered. At the Pestretsy II few fragments of pottery of the Early Iron Age and bone products related to the post-Maklasheevka culture of the Ananyino unity were discovered as well as one ceramic fragment related to the steppe Prokhorovka type. The time of existence of such ceramics is defi ned within IX–III centuries BC. Finally, in the upper layers of the Pestretsy II the destroyed vessel and ceramic fragments of the
Azelino culture of the beginning the epoch of Great resettlement of peoples (II–IV centuries AD) were found. 

Chapter 7. Stone tool-kit of the sites Pestretsy IV and II.
The Chapter presents the results of the study of collections of stone artefacts obtained excavation the Pestretsy sites. The fi ndings of the stone were analyzed in terms of their shape, design techniques of tools and throwing weapons, as well as in terms of functional purpose and use. The main research methods included morphological and traceological analyses of stone implements. At the same time, the features of the stone raw materials of the main morphological and functional groups were taken into account.
As a result of the study of stone tool-kit from the Pestretsy IV, it was found that the morphology of stone tools corresponds to the wide chronological interval from the Eneolithic to the Late Bronze Age. Morphological and functional types of the Pestretsy IV tool-kit, which were widely prevailed all through the Earle Metal Period, cannot be unambiguously associated with the ceramic complexes identified at this site. Stone tools of the Pestretsy II, lying in the bottom of the cultural layers, should be linked with the Late Bronze Age, namely with the Zaimishche cultural type ceramics. Due to the discovery of an arrowhead with spikes and a triangular stem tip (the so-called "Seimino type") the analyzed stone complex can be synchronized with the Seimino chronological horizon – the fi rst stage of the Late Bronze Age in the Volga-Kama region (XVIII–XVI сс. ВС.). Functional and typological composition of the studied stone tool-kits reflects, without a doubt, the hunting and husbandry focuses of economic activities of the Pestretsy sites dwellers.

Chapter 8. Branches of economy of the Lower Kama population in the late Eneolithic and early Late Bronze Age (based on the Pestretsy sites).
Ceramics and fl int tools are regarded as the main fi ndings at the Pestretsy sites for the periods of Eneolithic and the Zaimishche type of the early Late Bronze Age. This fact allows to defi ne for these times (III thousand BC – the fi rst quarter of II thousand BC) the main directions of economic activity. Appropriating branches of the economy – hunting and fi shing continued to be the basis of the economy during the period under review. Animal husbandry appeared and developed at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age among the representatives of the Zaimishche cultural type. Extensive pig farming was the basis of this animal husbandry.
Subsequently, in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages, the role of animal husbandry increased, but hunting and fishing continued to play an important role in the way of life of the inhabitants of the sites. Traditions of stone processing developed throughout the Late Eneolithic and the beginning of the Late Bronze Age. A new pottery technology of forming pottery by vessel basis using a damp textile strip was accepted by the Zaimishche population under the infl uence of the steppe cultures. Metalworking was changing, which was probably focused on imported raw materials of metallurgical centers of the fi rst phase of the Eurasian metallurgical province.