Archaeology of the lifestyle (investigating the Bronze Age sites of the Southern Trans-Urals)

Abstract

The article provides a brief introduction to the archaeology of the lifestyle of the population of the Karagayly-Ayat river basin (Southern Trans-Urals) in the 2nd millennium BC, based on the results of a long-term research program. The article starts with a theoretical section containing the main provisions of the concept of "lifestyle" in various disciplines, as well as its place in archaeology. The task of the study is determined, it is to highlight the components of the lifestyle of the local population and understand the trajectory, as well as the factors of its change during the 2nd millennium BC. To obtain the most complete picture of changes in lifestyle, materials that had been obtained earlier in the study of fortified settlements were used. The burial grounds and open settlements of the post-Sintashta time are objects of the current research. The following topics are shortly touched: the living environment, some activities of the inhabitants of the settlements, the life support system, people (based on the materials of the Neplyuevka burial ground), including their ritual activities, morphological characteristics, appearance, demographic structure, health status, nutrition. Preliminary results of isotope studies indicate that in the first half of the 2nd millennium BC, both people and animals (herds) did not leave the river valley for long distances, leading, in general, a sedentary lifestyle. © 2019 Institute of History and Archeology of the Ural Branch of RAS. All rights reserved.