Contacts of the population of the south of Western Siberia and Central Asia during the Late Bronze Age (based on materials of ceramic complexes)

The discovery in the steppe Altai of pottery made using a potter’s wheel was a milestone in studying of issues of the regional ethnocultural interaction in the Late Bronze Age. The main problematic of the unfolded discussion was to assess the role and significance of the new component. The relationship with the southern agricultural centers was fairly clearly defined, which made it possible to propose a new model of cultural genesis, which was called the “Burla type of sites”. By now, about 20 Late Bronze Age settlements are known on the Altai territory, where throwing ceramics was found. Despite its different share in the complexes of these settlements, it should be noted that in a single quantity it is present on practically all the Late Bronze Age settlements of the steppe Altai and adjacent territories studied by large areas. The maximum percentage of such crockery in the complexes is noted in the northern Kulunda region in materials of the “Burla type” of sites, the most studied of which is the Burla settlement. The results of authors’ field research in 2015 at the Burla 3 settlement have important significance for understanding the phenomenon of the “Burla type” sites. On the site, an area directly connected with pottery production was investigated. This is indicated by finds of remains of clay raw materials, a thermo-technical structure intended for firing finished products, numerous production trash (ceramic slag, melted fragments of vessels, fragments of bones, numerous clay clusters, fired to varying degrees). The observation that here was the process of making exactly throwing crockery is especially important. Actually, this fact can explain the anomalously high concentration of this ceramics in the Burla 3 settlement, in comparison with the other Bronze Age sites of the region. Based on the features of the materials found, the authors suggest that the production of throwing ceramics was calculated not only for the needs of the village, but also to “export” beyond its borders. Numerous finds of ceramic slag within the entire residential area of the settlement indicate that the production site occupied a large territory and it was connected with the edge of the river Burla terrace. To summarize, let’s note: the phenomenon of the appearance in the steppe Altai of ceramics made with the help of the potter’s wheel, refers to the Late Bronze Age and marks the vector of southern ties with the population of the Central Asian agricultural centers. At the technological level of ceramic production, facts of mixing local and alien traditions are fixed. Apparently, the main center of concentration of the newcomers was the valley of the river Burla, but its impact was extended to the entire territory of the region. The new population did not have a significant impact on the processes of culture-genesis, as already this tradition is dying out towards the end of the Bronze Age.

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