3. For the Bukhara horse trade, see Levi 2002. I am indebted to Peter Golden and Ranabir Chakravarti for calling my attention to it.
4. Polomé 1991. For the translation of the Rig Veda passage, see O’Flaherty 1981:92.
5. See Kristiansen and Larsson 2005:238.
6. See Benveniste 1973:61–63 for feasts; also see the entry for GIVE in Mallory and Adams 1997:224–225; and Markey 1990. For poets, see Watkins 1995:73–84. For the general importance of feasting in tribal societies, see Dietler and Hayden 2001. For an ethnographic parallel where chiefs and poets were mutually dependent, see Lehman 1989.
7. Mallory (1998) referred to this process using the wry metaphor of the Kulturkugel, a bullet of language and culture that acquired a new cultural skin after penetrating a target culture, but retained its linguistic core.
8. A broad scatter of kurgan graves in the steppes contained imported Tripolye C2 pots (among other imported pot types) and a few, like Serezlievka, also contained Tripolye-like schematic rod-headed figurines. The Serezlievka-type graves in the South Bug valley probably were contemporary with Yamnaya graves of the Zhivotilovka-Volchansk group in the Dnieper-Azov steppes that also contained imported Tripolye C2 pots, dated by radiocarbon about 2900–2800 BCE. Rassamakin (1999, 2002) thought that Zhivotilovka-Volchansk graves represented a migration of Tripolye C2 people from the forested upper Dniester deep into the steppes east of the Dnieper. But a Tripolye pot in a Yamnaya grave is most simply interpreted as a souvenir, gift, or acquisition rather than as a migrant Tripolye person. Yamnaya graves rarely contained any pots. Cotsofeni pots filled that customary void in the Yamnaya graves of the Danube valley, just as pottery of the Tripolye C2, late Maikop, and Globular Amphorae types did in the Ukrainian steppes.
9. For the Usatovo culture see Zbenovich 1974; Dergachev 1980; Chernysh 1982; and Patovka et al. 1989. For a history of excavations at Usatovo, see Patovka 1976. The Cernavoda I affiliations of pre-Usatovo coastal steppe kurgans are discussed in Manzura, Savva and Bogatoya 1995. A Cernavoda I feature in Usatovo is described in Boltenko 1957:42. Recent radiocarbon dates are discussed in Videiko 1999.
10. For Usatovo fauna see Zbenovich 1974: 111–115.
11. For spindle whorls, see Dergachev 1980:106.
12. See Kuz’minova 1990, for Usatovo paleobotany.
13. For Usatovo ceramics, see Zbenovich 1968, with a brief notice of the orange-slipped grey wares on page 54.
14. For trade between Usatovo, late Cernavoda III, and late Maikop, see Zbenovich 1974:103, 141. The single glass bead at Usatovo was colored white by the inclusion of phosphorus. It was in a grave pit covered by a stone lid, a stone cairn, and then by the kurgan. The pear-shaped bead measured 9 mm in diameter, had a hole 5 mm in diameter, and had slightly darker spiraling on its surface. Two cylindrical glass beads, colored with copper (green-blue) were recovered from the Tripolye C2 grave 125 at Sofievka on the Dnieper near Kiev, dated a century or two later, about 3000–2800 BCE (4320+70 BP, 4270 + 90 BP, 4300+45 BP, from three other graves at Sofievka). Two other glass beads were found on the surface near this grave but certainly were not from it. The glass in both Sofievka and Usatovo was made with ash as an alkali, not soda. An ash recipe was used in the Near East. For analyses, see Ostroverkhov 1985. For the radiocarbon dates from Sofievka and the amber beads from Zavalovka, see Videiko 1999.
15. For the daggers, see Anthony 1996. For oared longboats, see the end of the last chapter of this volume, and Broodbank 1989.
16. For the ochre-painted skulls, see Zin’kovskii and Petrenko 1987.
17. For Zimnea, see Bronicki, Kadrow, and Zakościelna 2003; see also Movsha 1985; and Kosko 1999.
18. For fortifications, see Chernysh 1982:222.
19. See Boyadziev 1995, for the dating of the migration.
20. For the large cluster in Hungary, see Ecsedy 1979, 1994. For the cluster in Oltenia, see Dumitrescu 1980. For the cluster in northern Serbia, see Jovanovich 1975. For Bulgaria, see Panayotov 1989. For overviews see, Nikolova 2000, 1994. For relative chronologies at the time of the migration event in southeastern Europe generally, see Parzinger 1993. For the wagon grave at Plachidol, see Sherratt 1986. For the stone stelae, see Telegin and Mallory 1994. Ecsedy mentions that undecorated stone stelae were found near Yamnaya kurgans in Hungary.
21. The graves in Hungary could possibly have been the result of a separate migration stream that passed directly over the Carpathians through Late Tripolye territory rather than being a continuation of the lower Danube valley stream.
22. Most of the radiocarbon dates for Yamnaya graves in the Odessa oblast, the heart of the Dniester steppes, are quite late, beginning about 2800–2600 BCE, by which time the Usatovo culture was gone. There are a few earlier radiocarbon dates (Semenovskii, k.11, 14; Liman, k.2; Novoseltsy, k.19), but in both of the Semenovskii kurgans the primary grave for which the kurgan was raised was an Usatovo grave, and all the Yamnaya graves were secondary. The stratigraphy makes me wonder about the early radiocarbon dates. Yamnaya seems to have taken over the Odessa oblast steppes after the Usatovo culture. See Gudkova and Chernyakov 1981; and Subbotin 1985.
23. Kershaw 2000; see also entries on korios and warfare in Mallory and Adams 1997. The cattle raid, a related institution, is discussed in Walcot 1979.
24. For Yamnaya dog-tooth ornaments on the Ingul, see Bondar and Nechitailo 1980.
25. For the stelae of the steppes, see Telegin and Mallory 1994. For the symbolic importance of belts, see Kershaw 2000:202–203; and Falk 1986:22–23.
26. Kalchev 1996.
27. Nikolova 1996.
28. Alexandrov 1995.
29. Panayotov 1989:84–93.
30. Barth 1965:69.
31. Bell Beaker decorated cup styles, domestic pot types, and grave and dagger types from the middle Danube were adopted about 2600 BCE in Moravia and Southern Germany. This material network could have been the bridge through which pre-Celtic dialects spread into Germany. See Heyd, Husty, and Kreiner 2004, especially the final section by Volker Heyd.
32. See Hamp 1998; and Schmidt 1991, for connections between Italic and Celtic.
33. For the effects of wheeled vehicles, see Maran 2001.
34. See Szmyt 1999, esp. 178–188.
35. On the Slavic homeland, see Darden 2004.
36. Coleman (2000) argued that Greek speakers entered Greece during the Final Neolithic/Bronze Age transition, about 3200 BCE. If an Indo-European language spread into Greece this early I think it was more likely an Anatolian-type language. For a northern steppe origin for Greek, but in a later era more amenable to my scenario, see Lichardus and Vladar 1996; and Penner 1998. The same evidence is marshaled for another purpose in Makkay 2000, and in detail by Kristiansen and Larsson 2005. Another argument for a northern connection of the Shaft Grave princes is presented in Davis 1983. Connections between southeastern Europe and Greece are outlined in Hänsel 1982. Robert Drews (1988) also argued that the Shaft Grave princes were an immigrant dynasty from the north, although he derived them from Anatolia.
37. Mallory 1998:180.
CHAPTER 15. CHARIOT WARRIORS OF THE NORTHERN STEPPES
1. See Gening, Zdanovich, and Gening 1992, for the original report on Sintashta.
2. The Sintashta culture remained unrecognized as recently as 1992. Chernykh (1992:210–234) discussed Sintashta-type metals as part of the “Andronovo historico-cultural community,” assigning it to about 1600–1500 BCE. Dorcas Brown and I visited Nikolai Vinogradov in 1992, and I was permitted to take bone samples from the chariot grave at Krivoe Ozero for radiocarbon dating. This resulted in two articles: Anthony 1995a; and Anthony and Vinogradov 1995. See Vinogradov 2003, for the complete report on the Krivoe Ozero cemetery. For the settlement and cemeteries at Arkaim, see Zdanovich 1995; and Kovaleva and Zdanovich 2002. For the Sintashta cemetery at Kammeny Ambar, see Epimakhov 2002. For a wide-ranging overview, see Grigoriev 2002, marred by the assumption that the Sintashta culture and many other steppe cultures originated from
a series of south-to-north folk migrations from Anatolia and Syria, where he argued that the Indo-European homeland was located. See Lamberg-Karlovsky 2002, for connections to Central Asia. For conference proceedings, see Jones-Bley and Zdanovich 2002; Boyle, Renfrew, and Levine 2002; and Levine, Renfrew, and Boyle 2003.
3. I use the term Aryan here as it is defined it in chapter 1, as the self-designation of the people who composed the hymns and poems of the Rig Veda and Avesta and their immediate Indo-Iranian ancestors.
4. For the contact zone between Corded Ware, Globular Amphorae, and Yamnaya at about 2800–2600 BCE, see Szmyt 1999, esp. pp. 178–188. Also see Machnik 1999; and Klochko, Kośko, and Szmyt 2003. A classic review of the archaeological evidence for mixed Yamnaya, late Tripolye (Chapaevka), and Corded Ware elements in Middle Dnieper origins is Bondar 1974. A recent review emphasizes the Yamnaya influence on the Middle Dnieper culture, in Telegin 2005.
5. For Middle Dnieper chronology, see Kryvaltsevich and Kovalyukh 1999; and Yazepenka and Kośko 2003.
6. Machnik 1999.
7. Before the Middle Dnieper culture appeared, the east side of the river near Kiev had been occupied between about 3000 and 2800 BCE by the mixed-origin late Tripolye C2 Sofievka group, which cremated its dead, used riveted daggers like those at Usatovo, and made pottery that showed both cord-impressed steppe elements and late Tripolye elements. For the Sofievka settlement, see Kruts 1977:109–138; for radiocarbon dates, see Videiko 1999.
8. See Carpelan and Parpola 2001. This almost monograph-length article covers much of the subject matter discussed in this chapter. For Corded Ware migrations from the genetic point of view, see Kasperavičiūtė, Kučinskas, and Stoneking 2004.
9. For Balanovo, Abashevo, and Volosovo, see Bol’shov 1995. For Abashevo ceramics, see Kuzmina 1999. The classic work on Abashevo is Pryakhin 1976, updated in Pryakhin 1980. For an English account, in addition to Carpelan and Parpola 2001, see Chernykh 1992:200–204 and Koryakova and Epimakhov 2007.
10. For the Volosovo culture, see Korolev 1999; Vybornov and Tretyakov 1991; and Bakharev and Obchinnikova 1991.
11. For Abashevo and Indo-Iranian linkages, see Carpelan and Parpola 2001; and Pryakhin 1980.
12. For the headbands, see Bol’shov 1995.
13. See Keeley 1996, on tribal war.
14. See Koivulehto 2001; and Carpelan and Parpola 2001.
15. See Ivanova 1995:175–176, for the Aleksandrovska IV kurgan cemetery.
16. For Kuisak settlement, see Maliutina and Zdanovich 1995.
17. In Table 1, sample AA 47803, dated ca. 2900–2600 BCE, was from a human skeleton of the Poltavka period that was later cut through and decapitated by a much deeper Potapovka grave pit. A horse sacrifice above the Potapovka grave is dated by sample AA 47802 to about 1900–1800 BCE. Although they were almost a thousand years apart, they looked, on excavation, like they were deposited together, with the Potapovka horse skull lying above the shoulders of the decapitated Poltavka human. Before dates were obtained on both the horse and the skeleton this deposit was interpreted as a “centaur”—a decapitated human with his head replaced by the head of a horse, an important combination in Indo-Iranian mythology. But Nerissa Russell and Eileen Murphy found that both the horse and the human were female, and the dates show that they were buried a thousand years apart. Similarly sample AA-12569 was from an older Poltavka-period dog sacrifice found on the ancient ground surface at the edge of Potapovka grave 6 under kurgan 5 at the same cemetery. Older Poltavka sacrifices and graves were discovered under both kurgans 3 and 5 at Potapovka cemetery I. The Poltavka funeral deposits were so disturbed by the Potapovka grave diggers that they remained unrecognized until the radiocarbon dates made us take a second look. The “centaur” possibility was mentioned in Anthony and Vinogradov 1995, five or six years before the two pieces were dated. Of course, it now must be abandoned.
18. For Sarazm, see Isakov 1994.
19. For Kelteminar, see Dolukhanov 1986; and Kohl, Francfort, and Gardin 1984. The classic work on Kelteminar is Vinogradov 1981.
20. For a radiocarbon date from Sergeivka, see Levine and Kislenko 2002, but note that their discussion mistakenly assigns it to the Andronovo period, 1900–1700 BCE. See also Kislenko and Tatarintseva 1990. Another transitional forager-herder group influenced by Poltavka was the Vishnevka 1 pottery group in the forest-steppe on the northern Ishim; see Tatarintseva 1984. For Sergeivka sherds at the Poltavka cemetery of Aleksandrovka, see Maliutina and Zdanovich 1995:105.
21. For climate deterioration, see Blyakharchuk et al. 2004; and Kremenetski 2002, 1997a, 1997b.
22. Rosenberg 1998.
23. For the Mesopotamian metal trade, see Muhly 1995; Potts 1999:168–171, 186.
24. For metals and mining, see Grigoriev 2002:84; and Zaikov, Zdanovich, and Yuminov 1995. See also Kovaleva and Zdanovich 2002. Grigoriev suggested that the amount of slag found in each house was so small that it could represent household production. However, slag is often found in small amounts even at industrial sites, and that all houses contained slag and production facilities (ovens with attached wells that aided in the updraft) shows an intensity of metal production that was unprecedented in the steppes.
25. See DiCosmo 1999, 2002; and Vehik 2002.
26. Ust’e, like Chernorech’e III, was excavated by Nikolai Vinogrado. Vinogradov was kind enough to show me his plans and photographs from Ust’e, where Sintashta houses are clearly stratified beneath a Petrovka occupation.
27. See Epimakhov 2002:124–132 for the artifact catalogue.
28. For the ballistics of flint projectile points, see Knecht 1997; and Van Buren 1974. For javelins in Greek chariot warfare, see Littauer 1972; and Littauer and Crouwel 1983.
29. For the chariot petroglyphs, see Littauer 1977; Samashev 1993; and Jacobsen-Tepfer 1993. On the derivation of steppe cheekpieces from Mycenaean cheekpieces, see E. Kuzmina 1980. For a review of European cheekpieces, see Hüttel 1992. Littauer and Crouwel (1979) argued persuasively for the Near Eastern origin of the chariot, overthrowing pre-World War II suggestions that the chariot was a super-weapon of the steppe Aryans. Piggott (1983, 1992) began to challenge the Near Eastern origin hypothesis almost immediately. Moorey (1986) also supported a multiregional invention of the various elements combined in the chariot.
30. See Epimakhov 2002:124–132 for a grave inventory that totals sixteen chariot graves; see Kuzmina 2001:12 for an estimate of twenty. The sites Kuzmina lists include Sintashta (seven chariot graves), Kamenny Ambar (two), Solntse II (three), Krivoe Ozero (three), and, in northern Kazakhstan, in Petrovka graves, Ulybai (one), Kenes (one), Berlyk II (two), and Satan (one).
31. For arguments against the functionality of steppe chariots, see Littauer and Crouwel 1996; Jones-Bley 2000; and Vinogradov 2003:264, 274. For arguments in favor of the steppe chariots as effective instruments of war, see Anthony and Vinogradov 1995; and Nefedkin 2001.
32. For English descriptions of the narrow-gauge chariots, see Gening 1979; Anthony and Vinogradov 1995; and Anthony 1995a. For two critical replies, see Littauer and Crouwel 1996; and Jones-Bley 2000. For the limitations of the chariot in battle, see Littauer 1972; and Littauer and Crouwel 1983.
33. For Bronze Age steppe bows, see Grigoriev 2002:59–60; Shishlina 1990; Malov 2002; and Bratchenko 2003:199. For ancient bows of the Near East and Iran, see Zutterman 2003.
34. See Littauer 1968.
35. For the disk cheekpieces, see Priakhin and Besedin 1999; Usachuk 2002; and Kuzmina 2003, 1980. For left and right side differences, see Priakhin and Besedin 1999:43–44. For chariots in the Rig Veda, see Sparreboom 1985. For the metal examples in the Levant, see Littauer and Crouwel 1986, 2001. This type of cheekpiece probably spread into Mycenaean Greece from southeastern Europe, where it appeared in Otomani, Monteoru, and Vatin contexts. For radiocarbon dates for these cultures, see Forenbaher 1993, and for disk-shaped cheekpieces in those contexts, see Boroffka 1998, and Hüttel 1994. The European origin of Mycenaean chariotry might explai
n why Mycenaean chariot warriors, like the early charioteers of the northern steppes, sometimes carried spears or javelins. For chariots in Greece, see Crouwel 1981.
36. For a review of the Near Eastern evidence for chariots, see Oates 2003; for older studies, see Moorey 1986, and Littauer and Crouwel 1979. For vehicles at Tell Brak, see Oates 2001:141–154. If we were to accept the “low” chronology, which seems increasingly likely, the date for the end of Ur III and the earliest proto-chariots would shift down from 2000 to 1900 BCE. See Reade 2001.
37. See Stillman and Tallis 1984:25 for Mitanni chariot squadrons; for Chinese chariot squadrons, see Sawyer 1993:5.
38. See Appuradai 1986:21 for the “tournament of values.”
39. For human pathologies, see Lindstrom 2002, who notes the complete absence of dental caries, even in the oldest individuals (161). Lindstrom was the first Western archaeologist to participate in excavations at a Sintashta site.
40. Igor Ivanov, a geomorphologist at Arkaim, told me in 2000 that the reports of irrigation channels at Arkaim were mistaken, that these were natural features.
41. See Gening, Zdanovich, and Gening 1992:234–235 for Sacrificial Complex 1, and page 370 for the man-days for the SB kurgan.
42. For feasting in tribal societies, see Hayden 2001.
43. For the fauna, see Kosintsev 2001; and Gaiduchenko 1995. For N15 isotopes in human and animal bones, see Privat 2002.
44. For doubts about social hierarchy in Sintashta society, see Epimakhov 2000:57–60.
45. Witzel 1995:109, citing Kuiper 1991.
46. For various theories on how to link Sintashta and the Indo-Iranians, see Parpola 1988, 2004–2005; E. Kuzmina 1994, 2001; and Witzel 2003.
47. All quotations are from O’Flaherty 1981.
48. For the Indo-European dog sacrifice and New Year initiation ceremony, see Kershaw 2000; and Kuiper 1991, 1960.
49. Epimakhov 2002; and Anthony et al. 2005.
The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders From the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World Page 56
