Anthony David W, Khokhlov A A, Agapov S A, Agapov D S, Schulting R, Olalde I, Reich D
Hartwick College, emeritus; & Harvard University, Human Evolutionary Biology, Cambridge, MA.
Samara State University of Social Sciences and Education.
Praehist Z. 2022 Jun;97(1):22-67. doi: 10.1515/pz-2022-2034. Epub 2022 Mar 23.
The genetically attested migrations of the third millennium BC have made the origins and nature of the Yamnaya culture a question of broad relevance across northern Eurasia. But none of the key archaeological sites most important for understanding the evolution of Yamnaya culture is published in western languages. These key sites include the fifth-millennium BC Khvalynsk cemetery in the middle Volga steppes. When the first part of the Eneolithic cemetery (Khvalynsk I) was discovered in 1977-79, the graves displayed many material and ritual traits that were quickly recognized as similar and probably ancestral to Yamnaya customs, but without the Yamnaya kurgans. With the discovery of a second burial plot (Khvalynsk II) 120m to the south in 1987-88, Khvalynsk became the largest excavated Eneolithic cemetery in the Don-Volga-Ural steppes (201 recorded graves), dated about 4500-4300 BCE. It has the largest copper assemblage of the fifth millennium BC in the steppes (373 objects) and the largest assemblage of sacrificed domesticated animals (at least 106 sheep-goat, 29 cattle, and 16 horses); and it produced four polished stone maces from well-documented grave contexts. The human skeletons have been sampled extensively for ancient DNA, the basis for an analysis of family relationships. This report compiles information from the relevant Russian-language publications and from the archaeologists who excavated the site, two of whom are co-authors, about the history of excavations, radiocarbon dates, copper finds, domesticated animal sacrifices, polished stone maces, genetic and skeletal studies, and relationships with other steppe cultures as well as agricultural cultures of the North Caucasus (Svobodnoe-Meshoko) and southeastern Europe (Varna and Cucuteni-Tripol'ye B1). Khvalynsk is described as a coalescent culture, integrating and combining northern and southern elements, a hybrid that can be recognized genetically, in cranio-facial types, in exchanged artifacts, and in social segments within the cemetery. Stone maces symbolized the unification and integration of socially defined segments at Khvalynsk.
公元前第三个千年经基因证实的人口迁徙，使得颜那亚文化的起源和性质成为一个在欧亚大陆北部具有广泛相关性的问题。但对于理解颜那亚文化演变最为重要的关键考古遗址，没有一个是以西方语言发表的。这些关键遗址包括伏尔加河中游草原地区公元前五千年的赫瓦伦斯克墓地。1977年至1979年发现了新石器时代早期墓地的第一部分（赫瓦伦斯克一期），墓葬展现出许多物质和仪式特征，这些特征很快被认为与颜那亚习俗相似且可能是其祖先习俗，但没有颜那亚古墓。1987年至1988年在南面120米处发现了第二个墓葬区（赫瓦伦斯克二期）后，赫瓦伦斯克成为顿河 - 伏尔加河 - 乌拉尔草原地区发掘的最大的新石器时代早期墓地（记录在案的有201座墓葬），年代约为公元前4500年至4300年。它拥有公元前五千年草原地区最大的铜器组合（373件物品）以及最大的献祭家畜组合（至少106只绵羊 - 山羊、29头牛和16匹马）；并且从有详细记录的墓葬环境中出土了四件磨光石锤。人类骨骼已被大量采样用于古DNA研究，这是分析家族关系的基础。本报告汇编了来自相关俄语出版物以及参与该遗址发掘的考古学家（其中两位是共同作者）的信息，内容涉及发掘历史、放射性碳年代测定、铜器发现、家畜献祭、磨光石锤、基因和骨骼研究，以及与其他草原文化以及北高加索地区（斯沃博德诺 - 梅绍科）和东南欧地区（瓦尔纳和库库泰尼 - 特里波利耶B1）农业文化的关系。赫瓦伦斯克被描述为一种融合文化，融合并结合了北方和南方的元素，是一种在基因、颅面类型、交换文物以及墓地内的社会阶层等方面都能被识别的混合体。石锤象征着赫瓦伦斯克社会界定阶层的统一和融合。
