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Usatove culture
Archaeological culture
Archaeological culture
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Usatove culture |
| map | Usatovo culture.jpg |
| region | Northwest Black Sea: eastern Romania, Moldova and southern Ukraine |
| period | Copper Age |
| dates | ca. 3650–2740 BCE |
| precededby | Mikhaylovka culture, Kemi-Oba culture, Cucuteni–Trypillia culture, Cernavodă culture |
| followedby | Yamnaya culture, Ezero culture, Coţofeni culture, Baden culture, possibly Troad, Aegean civilisation (?) |
The Usatove culture (Usatove in Ukrainian, Usatovo in Russian) is an Eneolithic group of the northwest and west Pontic region (ca. 3650-2740 BCE), with influences from the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture as well as the Eneolithic steppe cultures of the North Pontic. Usatove culture flourished west and northwest of the Black Sea in eastern Romania, Moldova and southern Ukraine, in more than 50 sites. The culture got its name from the village of Usatove in the Odesa Oblast of Ukraine.
The Usatove culture appears to be a mixture of the Eneolithic agrarian cultures of Southeast Europe, with influences from the steppe cultures from the Pontic–Caspian steppe. The Eneolithic farming culture influences on Usatove include clay figurines and painted ceramics, while it shares tumulus (kurgan) burials and shell-tempered coarse wares with steppe cultures. It also displays items made of metal, such as arsenical bronze and silver, which suggests contacts with the North Caucasus as well as Anatolia.
In Ukraine, Usatove culture sites are predominantly located in the Dniester-Danube interfluve. The two largest Usatove archaeological sites in Ukraine, Usatove-Velykyj Kuyalnik and Mayaky, contain kurgan and ground cemeteries (necropoli).
Within the Kurgan hypothesis, the Usatove culture represents the domination of native Cucuteni–Trypillia agriculturalists by Indo-European peoples from the steppe. According to Anthony, the roots of the pre-Germanic languages lay in the Usatove culture.
While the generally accepted chronological placement of Usatove is in the second half of the 4th millennium BCE, radiocarbon dates on human remains identified as Usatove are consistently older. Most of these dates cluster around the last quarter of the 5th - first quarter of the 4th millennium BCE. It is likely that the dates on human remains are influenced by aquatic reservoir effect, the precise quantification of which is not possible at the moment due the lack of radiocarbon and stable isotope data from contextual faunal remains.
Chronology
Radiocarbon dates on pottery are between 3400 and 2900 BCE, around 600 years later than analyses in human bones, which indicate Usatove culture would have lasted (c. 4000-3500 BCE).
Gallery
File:Usatove artefacts 1.png|Metal, bone and ceramic artefacts File:Hoard with copper axe and five swords or long daggers from Ivan'ky, Mankivka District, Ukraine.png|Arsenical bronze swords and copper axe, Ukraine File:Usatove ceramic and copper artefacts.png|Ceramic and metal artefacts File:Usatove culture ceramic vessels, metal artefacts and burial.png|Ceramic vessels, metal tools and burial File:Usatove culture metal, bone and ceramic artefacts.png|Metal, bone and ceramic artefacts File:Usatove culture ceramaic figurines and metal dagger.png|Ceramic figurines and metal dagger File:Usatove burial mounds with stone constructions.png|Burial mounds with stone constructions File:Nevsha tombstone miii 1 archmus varna.jpg|Nevsha stele, c. 3000 BC File:Coțofeni culture stelae Odessa.jpg|Stele, 3500-3000 BC
Long distance trade
A number of Usatove artifacts come from rather remote territories, most likely testifying in favor of a multi-stage exchange. In the kurgan near the village of Sadove, on the western bank of the Dniester Estuary, beads made of white faience, jet, Mediterranean horn corals (gorgonians) and an amulet pendant made of typical Egyptian "alabaster" were identified. Bone labrysoid beads from the same burial mound come from the area of the post-Mariupol culture. It is difficult to judge where the bead of red amber known in Usatove came from. Glass beads found in the second burial mound of the Usatove-Velykyi Kuialnyk archaeological complex (along with finds in the Sofievsky burial mound near Kyiv and beads from a hoard near the village of Ketroshika in Moldova, in the Middle Dniester region) are the oldest glass known in the Old World. They were likely made in the Circum-Pontic area (indicated by the presence of arsenic in the glass). These are believed to be of local origin - as a product associated with bronze metallurgy, and imported - from Anatolia or South Transcaucasia.
Genetics
Haplogroups
According to genetic studies, males of the Usatove culture carried such Y haplogroups as E1b1b1a1, J1 (J-FT265222), R1a, and R1b1a2a2. Mitochondrial DNA lineages of Usatove are represented by H5, I5, U4, U4b1b2, U4d3, U5a1a1, U5a1f1, T2h2, W1, X2, and X2d.
Whole genome analysis
Recent studies indicate that Usatove ancestry consists of equal parts of the ancestry of the Lower Volga-Caucasus (CLV, PVgroup) and Trypillia.
References
Sources
- Manzura, Igor'; Petrenko, Vladislav (2022). Cemetery II of Usatovsky (based on 1984 excavations). Tyragetia, s.n., vol. XVI [XXXI], nr. 1, 2022, pp. 83-101, (in Russian).
- Patokova, E.F. (1979) Усатовское поселение и могильники. Киев: Наукова Думка.
- Petrenko, VG; Káiser, E. (2011). Комплексный памятник Маяки: новые изотопные даты и некоторые вопросы хронологии наличных культур. Материалы по археологии Северного Причерноморья 12, 31-61.
References
- "Entry Display Web Page".
- Nikitin, Alexei, (2023). [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pgJoMUs66w "Interpreting genetic ancestry of the builders of first kurgans"], '''min. 21:50 to 24:30''', ARWA Association, 14 May 2023.
- Hansen, Svend. (2017). "Arsenic Bronze. An archaeological introduction into a key innovation". Eurasia Antiqua.
- Ivanova, Svitlana. (2010). "Natural Resources and Economics of Ancient Societies". Stratum Plus.
- (5 February 2025). "A genomic history of the North Pontic Region from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age". Nature.
- (August 2023). "Early contact between late farming and pastoralist societies in southeastern Europe". Nature.
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