Archaeological facts and historical process in steppe Eurasia

Numerous archaeological materials on the Neolithic period, the Bronze Age, and the Early Iron Age were gathered in the Eurasian Russia over the 20th century. They enable us to proceed from stating archaeological facts to reconstructing historical processes on their basis. Though, it is not being done, as modern archaeology lacks new methodological approaches to analyzing the accumulated data on the Eurasian Steppes and Highlands. Archaeology in Russia is dominated by two major tendencies: accumulating material archaeological sources and explanation of archaeological cultures. Thus, archaeology turns into a science of facts and examples, while the historical process in archaeology is represented as a number of epochs and archaeological cultures replacing one another. At the same time, archaeology becomes more and more distant from history. The accumulated archaeological data are not used for reconstructing historical processes. The influence of natural factors, peculiarities and laws of civilizational development, the role of leaders and ethnical groups in the historical process is not taken into consideration. Sticking to the formal approach to history interferes with our understanding of the civilizational processes in the Eurasian Steppes and Highlands in the Eneolithic period and the Bronze Age as certain stages of civilizational development. When studying the formation of the Eurasian historical and cultural unity in the 7 _3 centuries B.C. and the novelties dissemination at the edge of the Bronze and the Early Iron Ages, special attention should be given to: different forms of cattle breeding that are in close connection with the natural processes of the steppe, highland and lowland landscapes; the development of transportation means: horse riding; building socially important burial mounds that demanded a lot of workforce; the emergence of informative and signs-oriented art; the role of natural sanctuaries, and many others. At the same time, it is important to understand the historical significance of the change of leading nations over history, as this phenomenon can help explain the changes in the material and spiritual culture of the transition periods. Archaeology has traced the changes in the Eurasian steppes cultures that have taken place since the 2nd century B.C.: economic and cultural instability that was characteristic of the Saka world. The changes influence the inventory of archaeological cultures. These facts are reflected in the archaeology of the Eurasian steppes and the mountainous territories of the Sayan, the Altai, the Tian Shan. At that time, the role of the leading nation went from Indo-Iranians to the Huns, and later to the Turkik people who established the first nomadic empires in Eurasia. The mission of archaeology as a historical science is to only to accumulate archaeological facts, but to use its potential for reconstructing the historical process.

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