The Maykop culture, ca. The term Bronze Age refers to a period in human cultural development when the most advanced Metalworking (at least in systematic and widespread use included techniques for The Neolithic (from Greek νεολιθικός — neolithikos from νέος neos, "new" + λίθος lithos The Ancient Near East refers to early Civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia (modern Iraq The history of the Caucasus region can be divided into the history of the Northern Caucasus (Ciscaucasia historically in the sphere of influence of Scythia The History of Anatolia encompasses the region known as Anatolia ( Turkish Anadolu) known by the Latin name of Asia Minor, considered to be Aegean civilization is a general term for the Bronze Age Civilizations of Greece and the Aegean. The Levant is a geographical term that refers to a large area in Southwest Asia, south of the Taurus Mountains, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea in Ancient Egypt was an Ancient Civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now Ancient Mesopotamia was settled and conquered by numerous ancient Civilizations. Elam is the name of an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. The Bronze Age collapse is the name given by those historians who see the transition from the The term Indus Valley Tradition is used to refer to the cultures of the Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra rivers stretching from the Neolithic Mehrgarh The Bronze Age in Europe succeeds the Neolithic in the late 3rd millennium BC (late Beaker culture) and spans the entire The Bell-Beaker culture (sometimes shortened to Beaker culture, Beaker people, or Beaker folk; Glockenbecherkultur) ca Unetice -- or more properly Únětice culture (German Aunjetitz -- is the name given to an early Bronze Age culture, preceded by the Beaker culture The Urnfield culture (c 1300 BC - 750 BC) was a late Bronze Age culture of central Europe. The Hallstatt culture was the predominant The so called Atlantic Bronze Age is a cultural complex of the approx In Great Britain, the Bronze Age is considered to have been the period from around 2700 to 700 BC. The Nordic Bronze Age (also Northern Bronze Age) is the name given by Oscar Montelius to a period and a Bronze Age culture in Scandinavian The term Bronze Age refers to a period in human cultural development when the most advanced Metalworking (at least in systematic and widespread use included techniques for Gojoseon was an ancient Korean kingdom considered the first proper nation of the Korean people. Arsenical bronze (or arsenical copper) is an Alloy in which Arsenic is added to Copper as opposed to or in addition to other constituent The history of writing encompasses the various Writing systems that evolved in the Early Bronze Age (late 4th millennium BC) The History of literature begins with the History of writing, in Bronze Age Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, although the oldest literary Bronze Age Swords appear from around the 17th century BC, evolving out of the Dagger. The chariot is the earliest and simplest type of Carriage, used in both peace and war as the chief vehicle of many ancient peoples This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age for the mythological Iron Age see Ages of Man. 3500 BC—2500 BC, is a major Bronze Age archaeological culture situated in Southern Russia running from the Taman peninsula at the Kerch Strait nearly to the modern border of Dagestan, centered approximately on the modern Republic of Adygea (whose capital is Maykop) in the Kuban River valley. The 35th century BC in the Near East sees the gradual transition from the Chalcolithic to the Early Bronze Age. The 25th century BC is a Century which lasted from the year 2500 BC to 2401 BC The term Bronze Age refers to a period in human cultural development when the most advanced Metalworking (at least in systematic and widespread use included techniques for Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Cimmerian Bosporus redirects here For the ancient state see Bosporan Kingdom; for its rulers see Kings of Cimmerian Bosporus. The Republic of Adygea (Респу́блика Адыге́я adɨ'ɟeja Адыгэ Республик Adyge Respublik) is a federal subject of Russia Maykop (Майко́п Мыекъуапэ/ Myequape) is a city in Russia, capital of the Republic of Adygea, located on the right bank of Kuban River (Куба́нь ku'banʲ Adyghe: Псыж Psyzh) is a River in Russia, in the North Caucasus region The culture takes its name from a royal burial found there.

It is approximately contemporaneous with and is apparently influenced by the Kuro-Araxes culture (3500—2200 BC) which straddles the Caucasus and extends into eastern Anatolia. The Kura-Araxes culture or the Early trans-Caucasian culture, was a civilization that existed from 3400 B To the north and west is the similarly contemporaneous Yamna culture and immediately north is the Novotitorovka culture (3300—2700), which it overlaps in territorial extent. The Yamna (from Russian / Ukrainian яма "pit" also known as Pit Grave or Ochre Grave culture) is a late copper age /early Novotitorovka culture, 3300&mdash2700 BC a Bronze Age Archaeological culture of the South Caucasus immediately to the north of and largely overlapping

It is known mainly from its inhumation practices, which were typically in a pit, sometimes stone-lined, topped with a kurgan or (tumulus). Burial, also called interment and inhumation, is the act of placing a person or object into the ground Kurgan (курга́н is the Russian word (of Turkic origin for a Tumulus, a type of Burial mound or barrow heaped over a A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a Mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves Stone cairns replace kurgans in later interments. Kurgan (курга́н is the Russian word (of Turkic origin for a Tumulus, a type of Burial mound or barrow heaped over a

The culture is noteworthy for the abundance of bronze artefacts associated with it, unparalleled for the time. There were also gold and silver items.

Because of its burial practices, and in terms of the Kurgan hypothesis of Marija Gimbutas, it is listed as an intrusion from the Pontic steppe into the Caucasus. The Kurgan hypothesis (also theory or model) is a model of early Indo-European origins, which postulates that the Kurgan culture of the Pontic steppe Marija Gimbutas ( Marija Gimbutienė) ( Vilnius, January 23, 1921 – Los Angeles, United States February 2 According to Mallory this is hard to evaluate and he emphasizes that: where the evidence for barrows is found, it is precisely in regions which later demonstrate the presence of non-Indo-European populations. ^[1] In other occasions the culture has been cited, at the very least, as a kurganized culture with a strong ethnic and linguistic links to the descendants of the Proto-Indo-Europeans. The Proto-Indo-Europeans (PIE were the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language, who likely lived around 4000 BC, during the Copper Age and the It has been linked to the Lower Mikhaylovka group and Kemi Oba culture, and more distantly, to the Globular Amphora and Corded Ware cultures, if only in an economic sense. Lower Mikhaylovka group, 3600&mdash3000 BC a late copper age Archaeological culture of the lower Dnieper River immediately underlying remains of the successor Kemi Oba culture, ca 3700&mdash2200 an Archaeological culture at the northwest face of the Sea of Azov, the lower Bug and Dnieper Rivers and Globular Amphora Culture, German Kugelamphoren, ca 3400-2800 BC is an Archaeological culture overlapping the central area occupied by the Corded Ware culture The Corded Ware culture, alternatively characterized as the Battle Axe culture or Single Grave culture is an enormous European Archaeological horizon that Mallory states:

Such a theory, it must be emphasized, is highly speculative and controversial although there is a recognition that this culture may be a product of at least two traditions: the local steppe tradition embraced in the Novosvobodna culture and foreign elements from south of the Caucasus which can be charted through imports in both regions. —EIEC,"Maykop Culture". The Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture is an Encyclopedia of Indo-European studies and the Proto-Indo-Europeans.

The Kuban River is navigable for much of its length, and an easy water-passage via the Sea of Azov into the territory of the Yamna culture, by way of the Don and Donets River systems was available. Kuban River (Куба́нь ku'banʲ Adyghe: Псыж Psyzh) is a River in Russia, in the North Caucasus region The Sea of Azov (Азо́вское мо́ре - Azovskoye more; Азо́вське мо́ре - Azovs'ke more, Azaq deñizi is the world's shallowest sea linked The Yamna (from Russian / Ukrainian яма "pit" also known as Pit Grave or Ochre Grave culture) is a late copper age /early The Don (Дон is one of the major rivers of Russia. It rises in the town of Novomoskovsk 60 Kilometres southeast from Tula, southeast The river Seversky Donets (Северский Донец Сіверський Донець alternatively Donetz) flows into the Don River Russia The Maykop culture was well-situated to exploit the trading possibilities of the central Ukraine area.

Gamkrelidze and Ivanov, whose views are somewhat controversial, suggest that the Maykop culture (or its ancestor) may have been a way-station for Indo-Europeans migrating from the South Caucusus and/or eastern Anatolia to a secondary Urheimat on the steppe. Tamaz (Thomas V Gamkrelidze ( Georgian თამაზ გამყრელიძე (born October 23, 1929) is a distinguished Georgian Vyacheslav Vsevolodovich Ivanov (born 21 August 1929 Moscow) is a prominent Soviet / Russian Philologist and Indo-Europeanist probably Urheimat ( German: ur- Original, Ancient; Heimat Home, Homeland) is a linguistic term denoting the This would essentially place the Anatolian stock in Anatolia from the beginning, and at least in this instance, agrees with Lord Renfrew's Anatolian hypothesis. Andrew Colin Renfrew Baron Renfrew of Kaimsthorn (b in Stockton-on-Tees) is an English Archaeologist, noted for his work on the Radiocarbon revolution The Anatolian hypothesis is also called Renfrew's NDT; it proposes that the dispersal ( Discontinuity) of Proto-Indo-Europeans originated in Neolithic Considering that some attempt has been made to unite Indo-European with the Northwest Caucasian languages, an earlier Caucasian pre-Urheimat is not out of the question (see Proto-Pontic). The Northwest Caucasian languages, also called Pontic, Circassian, or Abkhaz-Adyghe, are a group of languages spoken in the Caucasus region Urheimat ( German: ur- Original, Ancient; Heimat Home, Homeland) is a linguistic term denoting the Proto-Pontic is the postulated Proto-language for a Pontic Language family or Macrofamily.

See also

• Maykop kurgan
• Rudna Glava
• Bronze

Source

• J. P. Mallory, "Maykop Culture", Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997. The Maikop kurgan (also Maykop) excavated by Nikolay Veselovsky in 1897 near Maikop, Adygeja, Kuban, Southern Russia, Rudna Glava (Ore Head is a mining site in present-day eastern Serbia that demonstrates early (and perhaps the earliest evidence of European copper mining and metallurgy dating Bronze is any of a broad range of Copper alloys, usually with Tin as the main additive but sometimes with other elements such as Phosphorus James Patrick Mallory is an Irish-American archaeologist and Indo-Europeanist. The Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture is an Encyclopedia of Indo-European studies and the Proto-Indo-Europeans.

Footnotes

1. ^ In Search of the Indo-Europeans - J. P. Mallory, Thames and Hudson, 1987, ISBN 0-500-27616-1, p233