Children of the Steppe : descendance as a key to Yamnaya success

To cross the border raised by the raw information obtained after revealing an archaeological feature has always been a challenge. From the practical to the interpretative archaeology, lifting this veil has been a constant concern of researchers. In a hierarchised, masculinised society, as the Yamnaya one seems to have been, the presence of graves of subadults is an important piece of information for understanding the social framework specific to these communities. Due to the investigations conducted in the Prahova area, the topic of this article may be illustrated with relevant case studies. We shall further describe this subject, assess a number of recent finds within a larger framework and outline some ideas regarding the social structure of the Yamnaya funerary phenomenon. Rezumat: Să traversezi frontiera trasată de informația brută obținută prin dezvelirea unui complex arheologic a fost mereu o provocare. De la arheologia practică la cea interpretativă, ridicarea acestui văl a fost o preocupare permanentă a cercetătorilor. Într‐o societate ierarhizată, masculinizată, așa cum pare a fi fost cea Yamnaya, prezența unor morminte de subadulți reprezintă o informație importantă în înțelegerea cadrului social specific acestor comunități. Grație cercetărilor din arealul Prahova, subiectul abordat în acest articol poate fi exemplificat prin studii de caz relevante. În rândurile de mai jos descriem subiectul, inserăm o serie de descoperiri recente într‐un cadru mai larg și conturăm câteva idei privind structura socială a fenomenului funerar Yamnaya.

[1]  I. Dumitru,et al.  The dynamics of prehistoric burial mounds of Ploieşti metropolitan area (Romania) as reflected by cartographic documents of the 18th–20th centuries , 2017 .

[2]  P. Włodarczak,et al.  Eneolithic, Yamnaya and Noua Culture Cemeteries from the First Half of the 3Rd and the Middle of the 2Nd Millennium Bc, Porohy, Site 3A, Yampil Region, Vinnitsa Oblast: Archaeometric and Chronometric Description, Ritual and Taxonomic-Topogenetic Identification , 2015 .

[3]  P. Włodarczak,et al.  Eneolithic, Babyno and Noua Culture Cemeteries, Klembivka, Site 1, Yampil Region, Vinnitsa Oblast: Archaeometry, Taxonomy and Topogenetics , 2015 .

[4]  S. Ivanova,et al.  The Middle-Dniester Cultural Contact Area of Early Metal Age Societies. The Frontier of Pontic and Baltic Drainage Basins in the 4Th/3Rd-2Nd Millennium Bc. , 2015 .

[5]  Martin Furholt.  Upending a ‘Totality’: Re-evaluating Corded Ware Variability in Late Neolithic Europe , 2014, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society.

[6]  J. Czebreszuk,et al.  Tumuli with Circular Ditch and the Ritual Scenario among Corded Ware Culture Societies on the North European Plain , 2012 .

[7]  Á. Pető,et al.  Kurgan studies : an environmental and archaeological multiproxy study of burial mounds in the Eurasian steppe zone , 2011 .

[8]  V. Heyd.  Ancestral Landscapes: Burial mounds in the Copper and Bronze Ages (Central and Eastern Europe – Balkans – Adriatic – Aegean, 4th-2nd millennium BC) , 2011 .

[9]  N. Kotova.  THE FIRST ‘CORDED’ CERAMICS ORNAMENTATION OF ENEOLITHIC STEPPE AND NEOLITHIC FOREST-STEPPE CULTURES , 2010 .

[10]  N. Shishlina.  Reconstruction of the Bronze Age of the Caspian Steppes: Life styles and life ways of pastoral nomads , 2008 .

[11]  I. Ecsedy.  The people of the pit-grave kurgans in eastern Hungary , 1979 .

[12]  A. K..  Lehrbuch der Ánthropologie in Systematischer Darstellung Mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der anthropologischen Methoden für studierende Aerzte und Forschungsreisende , 1915, Nature.