- Volkonsky dolmen
Dolmen culture of the Western Caucasus — a Middle Bronze Age archaeological culture. It occupied mainly the mountainous (foothill) territory on both sides of the Main Caucasus Range. In the east, it was limited by the Laba River basin, but possibly extended to Karachay-Cherkessia and reached the city of Zheleznovodsk in Stavropol Krai. Along the Black Sea coast, it reached the city of Ochamchire in Abkhazia. In some areas, its range also included lowland territories (the Taman Peninsula; possibly the city of Maykop and the aul of Ulyap in Adygea).
History of discovery and research
The discovery of the culture began with the study of its most notable manifestation — megalithic tombs. In 1794, Academician P. S. Pallas left the first mention of a group of dolmens near the Chokrak-Koy locality (near Fontanovskaya stanitsa) on the Taman Peninsula. Other travelers also left their observations: in 1818 — Tebu de Marigny, in 1837-1839 — James Bell, in the same years — Dubois de Montpéreux. The first practical study of dolmens was begun in the second half of the 19th century by N. L. Kamenev (1869-1870). Then dolmens were excavated by E. D. Felitsyn (1878-1886), and at the same time — P. S. Uvarova, V. M. Sysoev, V. I. Sizov. Excavations in 1898 by N. I. Veselovsky near Tsarskaya stanitsa (now Novosvobodnaya) revealed to the world a culture preceding the dolmen culture.
Later, many scholars studied the sites (V. V. Bzhania, O. M. Japaridze, and others), but attention was paid only to dolmens. However, local historian I. N. Akhanov in 1945-1950 investigated an ancient settlement in Gelendzhik Bay containing dolmen materials. In the Vorontsovskaya Cave in the 1950s, layers of the dolmen culture were discovered by L. N. Solovyov. In 1960, L. I. Lavrov summarized and systematized the material on dolmens available at that time in his book.
The next stage was marked by the creation in 1967 of a special detachment for the study of dolmens under the leadership of V. I. Markovin (also participating: P. U. Autlev, V. I. Kozenkova, V. V. Bzhania). From 1967 to 1975, a huge amount of material was obtained. It is especially important that at that time, targeted study of settlements of the dolmen culture began. First of all, this was the excavation in 1970 of the Deguaksko-Dakhovskoye settlement on the Belaya River in Adygea. The expedition also investigated a temporary camp on Bogatyrskaya Polyana, in the Novosvobodnaya area.
In 1967, archaeologist from Maykop P. U. Autlev discovered two more dolmen settlements in the Novosvobodnaya area, on the Fars River (Novosvobodnenskoye 1 — on Dlinnaya Polyana and Novosvobodnenskoye 2 — in the Starchiki tract). The first of these was test-pitted in the 1980s by A. D. Rezepkin, and the second settlement, called "Starchiki," was investigated during the same period for ten years by M. B. Rysin. Gradually, more and more settlements of the dolmen culture became known. For example, in the Novosvobodnaya area, Osipovoye II, Chubukin Bugor, Starchiki II, and also another campsite or settlement on Bogatyrskaya Polyana are now known.
However, active research on settlements was still almost not conducted. The main attention of researchers was directed to dolmens (A. M. Bianki, A. N. Gay, A. V. Dmitriev, N. G. Lovpache, V. I. Markovin, B. V. Meleshko, A. D. Rezepkin, M. K. Teshev, V. A. Trifonov). For the first time in our country, reconstructions of megalithic complexes were also carried out (V. A. Trifonov).
In recent years, such a research direction as archaeoastronomy has also been developing (N. V. Kondryakov, M. I. Kudin). At the same time, professional archaeologists and individual enthusiasts are recording more and more new dolmens and dolmen groups. Primarily on the southern slope of the Main Caucasus Range.
- Dolmen culture vessel
The dolmen culture replaced the syncretic Novosvobodnaya culture. The latter combined traditions originating from the local Eneolithic of the pitted pearl ceramics culture and the Maykop culture, whose roots lie in Mesopotamia. A certain continuity between the Novosvobodnaya (or otherwise — the late period of the Maykop-Novosvobodnaya community, MNO) and the dolmen culture is observed. These are megalithic tombs, some parallels in ceramics, the location of settlements, etc. However, the questions remain unresolved — whether there was a change of population with the appearance of the dolmen culture, and what happened at the end of their history. Especially since there are many unfinished dolmens. The subject of debate is the origin of the megalithic construction itself in the Western Caucasus. And it may not coincide with the movement of ethnic groups.
The dolmen culture directly follows the Novosvobodnaya culture, that is, it appears approximately from 2900-2800 BC. There are some radiocarbon dates: 2340±40 BC — age of charcoal in front of the entrance to the dolmen of the Psynako-I complex, about 2070 BC — age of charcoal from a pottery kiln from the lower layer (2060±80 BC) of the Deguaksko-Dakhovskoye settlement. 1800-1500 BC — dating of the Kolikho dolmen. The construction of dolmens ceased around 1400-1300 BC. Although there are other views on the chronology of the ancient cultures of the region and even on their sequence.
An important recent event was the first discoveries of narrative petroglyphs on dolmens — a hunting scene and a fight between two little men, "twins." The second image from a dolmen in the village of Dzhubga has analogies on the anthropomorphic stelae of the Kemi-Oba culture of Crimea and southern Ukraine. This already allows us to see some commonality of ideologies, and perhaps even the origin of the population of the two adjacent regions.
Settlements and dwellings
Settlements of the dolmen culture were located closer to water, on river terraces or river slopes. Campsites of the dolmen builders are known on elevations: on Bogatyrskaya Polyana (near Novosvobodnaya stanitsa) and on Mount Autl (near Solokh-aul village). Other small settlements near dolmens on elevations that have a layer of dolmen culture may also turn out to be builders' campsites. The houses of the dolmen builders were wattle-and-daub, with mud floors. Stone was used only for minor structures. There were mud ovens and clay-plastered storage pits. Caves were also used for dwelling. Remains of a mud oven for firing ceramics have been found.
Economy
The economy of the dolmen culture was based on pastoralism and hoe agriculture. Most likely, pigs were the most numerous. Cattle and small livestock were also kept. There were horses and dogs. Fishing and hunting (including dolphin hunting) also played some role. Among the crafts, ceramic production, stone processing, metallurgy, and weaving were developed. Spindle whorls testify to weaving. Leatherworking was also practiced. The land was cultivated with rough pebble hoes. The harvest was gathered with sickles with flint inserts. Grain was ground on grain grinders. Developed metallurgy left traces in the form of clay ladles, metal prills and ingots, casting molds (whole and in fragments). And, of course, there are the products themselves made of arsenical bronze. Carnelian from Iran or India and beads made from it, as well as paste beads, testify to long-distance trade.
- Sukhumi dolmen
In ceramics, the dolmen culture significantly surpasses its predecessors in the variety of vessel shapes and decoration. The pottery technology, however, remained the same. The vessels were handmade, often with spotty, uneven firing. Clay levigation was not performed. A wide variety of tempers were used, sometimes of fairly large fractions. The protruding particles of temper could be covered with a layer of slip, white, yellow, brown, red, and even lilac colors. Burnishing, combing, and red paint coloring (including the inner surface) were used in decoration. Vessels could have no ornament at all, or they could be completely decorated (even the ring base had notches). Ornament was applied by incising; with stamps; with fingernail impressions; with comb stamps, pinching; with appliqués in the form of ridges, nipples, flattened balls, and pearl beads. Incising of the inner surface of vessels is characteristic. Vessels had handles: various loop handles, ear handles for threading rope, and stop handles.
The flint knapping industry still existed but was in decline — there is relatively little flint (sickle inserts with serrated or straight blades, scrapers and side scrapers, awls, dart and arrowheads, etc.). Dartheads have tangs. Arrowheads can sometimes have serrated retouch. Their bases are different: tangs, with a straight base, with a concave base, and with downturned barbs, with a deep notch-base in a straight base.
There is an abundance of abrasive tools — whetstones, polishers. Many grain grinders, hammerstones, and smoothers. The use of some number of stone wedge-shaped axes and chisels for working wood and soft stone during monumental construction continued. Not very often, but large-scale stone drilling was used, for example, holes in maces. There are finds of raw carnelian, beads made from it, and from other types of stone. Beads made of glass paste are also found.
The small plastic art of the dolmen builders is presumably represented by a small human head made of sandstone with a rather primitive depiction of a face. It was found near Adler. One limestone figurine of a heavy woman was extracted from a dolmen in the village of Otkhara in Abkhazia. There is no more reliable information about dolmen sculpture. A stone disk with unclear signs from a dolmen on the Kolikho River also has no analogies so far.
Few bone products are known: awls, pendants made of deer tooth and boar tusk, and some indeterminate items. A sleeve for a stone ax made of antler was found.
Metal is represented by finds in dolmens of leaf-shaped bronze knives-daggers with rounded or pointed ends. Axes are of two types — wedge-shaped, intended for woodworking, and battle axes with an elongated curved downward blade. Bronze adzes served for wood and stone work. Bronze awls also belong to the tools. There are finds of bronze hooks intended for removing meat from cauldrons. Jewelry was also made of metal: temple pendants, spiral tubes, beads.
- Trough-shaped dolmen in a pyramidal rock. Mamed Gorge.
Despite the presence of rather populous dolmen settlements, there are no burials in simple pit graves that could be attributed to this culture. The pit burials found by I. I. Tsvinaria within the cromlech of one of the dolmens near the village of Otkhar in Abkhazia also somehow relate to this dolmen.
On the southern slope of the Main Caucasus Range, the dolmen builders constructed small underground well-shaped composite tombs. They were lined with unworked flagstone with a ceiling in the form of an incomplete false vault. The upper opening was covered with a slab. Burials in stone cists were also made, but few are known so far (Agoy cemetery). The attribution of small structures made of unworked stones to the dolmen culture remains unclear.
As for the monumental tombs themselves, their purpose has never been the subject of scientific debate. Since it is quite obvious and was confirmed by the very first studies. Nevertheless, many unresolved questions remain regarding the burial ritual and the social status of the buried. It is unclear how all this changed over time.
Although dolmens were often used for burials by later peoples, thereby disturbing or even completely destroying the original burials, enough observations were still made to reconstruct the burial rite of the dolmen culture people. Perhaps not all of its variants. Burials in the earliest dolmens were crouched single and much less often — paired. But later, tombs could contain the bones of several dozen people. Thus, research by V. A. Trifonov allows us to define burials in dolmens as secondary. That is, these are repositories of bones or partially mummified remains, similar to the communal megalithic tombs of Western Europe. This, however, does not exclude individual burials of privileged members of society.
Sanctuaries
No separate temple structures of the dolmen culture have been discovered so far. But there is every reason to believe that dolmens performed this role. This is evidenced by the corresponding design of the facade part of the structures (portal, courtyard), which was clearly intended for people to visit and perform certain cultic actions. Other architectural features of the dolmen complex (cromlech, dromos, menhir) also carry information about the religious beliefs and cosmogony of the ancient people. Much in this regard is provided by the dolmen-barrow sanctuary of Psynako I near Tuapse. The latter most clearly shows the role in the ritual of such a constructive feature of some dolmens as the dromos. Further study is required for engravings on the surfaces of dolmens and in their chambers (symbols of water, mountains, calendar-astral symbols), as well as cupmarks on the dolmens themselves or on individual stones. The astronomical aspect of the worldview of the dolmen builders is also interesting.
Although individual cult objects besides dolmens still exist. Such objects are cup-marked stones located separately from dolmens with cupmarks, circles, and other images. Presumably, the Kudepsta cult or "sacrificial" stone also belongs to the dolmen culture — a sandstone block with a pair of seats carved on it, a trough-shaped depression, and cupmarks. It can be assumed that corpses were placed on such stones, undergoing decomposition and partial mummification. Or mysteries dedicated to the Great Mother took place here.
There are also reports of the looting and later complete dismantling of a pyramidal structure in the Arkhipo-Osipovka area. According to accounts, the structure, up to 12 m high, was built of rectangular stone slabs.
- Ornamented dolmen, Zhane River valley.
Distributed from the Taman Peninsula (Tuzla and Fontalovsky capes) and further in the mountainous regions of Krasnodar Krai and Adygea. In the southern part, they reach the city of Ochamchire in Abkhazia, and in the north — to the Laba River valley. But earlier, they existed in the area of the city of Zheleznovodsk in Stavropol Krai and possibly in other places. A separate closed region of distribution of peculiar dolmens or "dolmen-like crypts" of later construction is the Upper Kuban region (the Kyafar River basin in Karachay-Cherkessia).
West Caucasian dolmens were built at the end of the 3rd — second half of the 2nd millennium BC. About 3,000 West Caucasian megaliths, including partially destroyed ones, have survived to the present day. Megalithic under-barrow tombs of the Novosvobodnaya culture are also often called dolmens. The status of the tombs in Karachay-Cherkessia is still rather uncertain. It is currently believed that they were built by people of the late period of the dolmen culture, and medieval Alans simply inserted their stone cists into them.
In addition to classical dolmens, small dolmens assembled from random stones were also built on the southern slope of the Main Caucasus Range. There are also small underground well-shaped composite tombs. They are covered with an incomplete false vault and a covering slab. There are even above-ground tombs with a real dome, assembled from small stones and tiles. If the well-shaped tombs are unequivocally attributed to the dolmen culture, the chronology of the others is not yet completely clear.
Regardless of their origin, the dolmens in the Western Caucasus did not appear out of nowhere. More ancient stone tombs are known in the kurgans of the Maykop and Novosvobodnaya cultures (or otherwise — in the early and late periods of the Maykop-Novosvobodnaya community). Some structures represent a transitional phase from Novosvobodnaya tombs to classical dolmens. At the same time, there is a version about the initial impulse that caused the beginning of dolmen construction in the Caucasus, coming from the Mediterranean. Since it is there that the closest analogs to the Caucasian dolmens are found, in terms of architecture and to some extent in terms of the inventory contained in them. There are parallels in ornamental symbolism. There is also a chronological correspondence. The path of the bearers of the dolmen tradition is traced approximately as follows: Portugal — Sardinia — North Africa and Sicily — Jordan and Syria — Asia Minor and the Balkans — Western Caucasus.
Simultaneously with the dolmen builders, their neighbors to the west and northwest — representatives of the Kemi-Oba culture — built stone cists, sometimes with grooves in the slabs and even painted them. And in general, throughout the Caucasus (including in the steppe regions), graves were lined with stone slabs, and in some places, huge megaliths were built (Armenia, Georgia). The question is only whether in each of these cases there was mutual cultural influence.
There are some patterns in the location of dolmens: they are usually located on flat areas on the tops or on sunny slopes of ridges (mainly at heights of 250-400 m above sea level, maximum height — more than 1000 m) or on river terraces. The vast majority of dolmens are oriented down the sunny slope, which implies a fairly large range of directions. If this was impossible, the dolmen was oriented at least towards a sunlit area on the opposite ridge. In addition, orientation towards specific astronomically significant points on the horizon has been noted.
- Composite dolmen from the Zhane River valley.
Some dolmen complexes were clearly designed to be visited by a significant number of people. These are, first of all, the megalithic mound Psynako I near the village of Anastasievka in the Tuapse district, the Silver Mound in the Klady tract near Novosvobodnaya stanitsa, and the same complexes on the Zhane River and on Mount Nexis. They all could well have served as tribal objects of worship. Unfortunately, museumification of the first on the list has not been carried out, and the second has been practically destroyed.
Currently, dolmen cemeteries, through the efforts of various inadequate, sectarian, popularity- or profit-seeking individuals, are turning into places of pilgrimage and constant presence of people, which multiplies the load on the ancient structures, accelerating their destruction.
For the construction of dolmens, stone from the nearest deposits was used whenever possible. If suitable slabs of natural origin were nearby, they were collected. But if there was no choice, the cut slabs could be transported for several kilometers. Various types of sandstones and limestones were used for construction. Different rocks could be combined in one structure.
In the quarry, the force of wooden wedges swelling from water was used to break the stone. Fresh stone from the quarry is softer and can be processed even with stone tools. But the builders of the dolmen culture also had bronze chisels in their arsenal, the clear traces of which are constantly found during the study of the structures. It is assumed that processed slabs could be kept for some time before use to gain sufficient hardness. The grinding of surfaces and grooves was done with stone polishers, which are found at construction sites. The covering slab was dragged up along an inclined embankment behind the dolmen. The strength of animals could also be used in construction.
Frequent speculation about the impossibility of repeating the exact fitting of dolmen slabs in our time, for example, after moving it to a new location, arises only from a misunderstanding of the fact that in a new place it is practically impossible to duplicate all the features of the old foundation. Which leads to various distortions and mismatches.
- Dolmen near Gelendzhik.
Construction
Most dolmens are a kind of little houses made of large stone slabs with holes (entrances) on the facade, which are closed with a stone plug. There are quite a few varieties of them. Moreover, each dolmen has its own features. Several main types are distinguished.
Archaeologist and ethnographer L. I. Lavrov compiled a classification of dolmen types:
- Ordinary or (according to V. I. Markovin) slab dolmens. This is the most common type, built of solid slabs.
- Composite — with one or several walls made of smaller slabs or stones.
- Trough-shaped — carved into a rock mass or a large stone. They may have an ordinary slab roof or be turned upside down. They are now sometimes called semi-monoliths or even combined with monoliths.
- Monolith dolmens — the chamber is completely carved into the rock through the entrance hole.
Novosvobodnaya tombs are not in this scheme, as they entered scientific circulation later.
Researcher of the Novosvobodnaya culture A. D. Rezepkin, within the framework of his theory of the origin of the megaliths of the Western Caucasus, proposed another classification:
- Rectangular tombs — one- and two-chamber Novosvobodnaya tombs and similar tombs, which are a continuation of the development of Western European gallery tombs.
- Horseshoe-shaped tombs, which originate from Western European round domed corridor tombs.
- Dolmens — the final variant of the development of the previous type.
The origin or one of the origins for the Caucasian dolmens are the stone tombs of the Maykop culture. Especially — the later Novosvobodnaya under-barrow tombs. Classical dolmens differ from them usually by thicker slabs and the presence of a foundation. Among the dolmens themselves, for example, those that completely lack entrance holes are considered more ancient.
- Unique dolmen-type structure with an extended portal, menhirs, two chambers, and square openings from the famous "Silver Mound" in the Klady tract.
In slab dolmens, the side slabs can protrude far forward (portal protrusions), forming a small portal space, which can be covered by the main ceiling slab or an additional canopy. The canopy slab can lie above the main ceiling. This creates a so-called "flying facade." In very many cases, the facade or portal of the dolmen is decorated with attached side slabs with their own ceiling. These are already "portal dolmens." They also have a portal ceiling that can be higher than the main one.
Sometimes the side slabs of the dolmen are supported by buttresses made of slabs placed at an angle or large stones. They were supposed to provide stronger compression of the side slabs. In this way, they tried (often unsuccessfully) to prevent the fall of the facade and back walls. The same effect was achieved by filling the dolmen with stone and earth. The foundation of the dolmen is provided by the so-called heel stones. But often portal dolmens do not have them or have them only under the facade slab. In this case, the slabs rest on the ground or on layers of construction debris and river boulders. The floor in the dolmen can be made of one large slab or consist of several smaller ones. The portal can also have a floor. Pebble backfill can also serve as the floor in the dolmen chamber.
Usually, in the lower part of the facade slab, there is an opening, most often round, but there are oval, arched, triangular, and square ones. However, the presence of an opening is not mandatory. It may not exist at all (a solid slab), or there may also be an imitation of a hole closed with a plug on a blind front slab. In this case, the entrance hole is located either at the back or on the side. Such dolmens are called false-portal.
Rarely, but it happens that horizontal grooves and ridges are found on the walls inside the chamber. These are places for attaching a wooden shelf. And there is one case of a round depression above such a shelf, directly opposite the entrance hole.
Composite dolmens may differ from slab dolmens only in that not all slabs are solid. But they can be assembled from separate blocks to a significant extent or completely. Trough-shaped dolmens, carved into the rock or a separate large stone, usually have an imitation of the portal of a slab dolmen on the facade. And they can also be false-portal. The rarest type — monolith dolmens — differ only in that they do not have a removable roof, as they were carved through the entrance hole. For the last type of dolmens, only weakly cemented sandstone was used. To date, one relatively intact (the Volkonsky dolmen) and two unfinished monoliths have survived.
The dolmen is often located on a slope, and its portal can form a terrace. There is one known case where several extended terraces form a semblance of a ziggurat. But more often, the area in front of the dolmen facade is arranged in the form of a courtyard. These are various paved areas, sometimes even surrounded by walls of large slabs. The height of such a wall can even reach the level of the roof of the dolmen itself. Sometimes the dolmen is surrounded by a circle of stones driven into the ground — a cromlech, which can also serve as a crepidoma (kerb) for the base of a mound. Rare for Caucasian dolmens is the dromos — a covered corridor with parallel or converging walls leading to the dolmen opening. The corridor could be formed by an avenue of menhirs, which further turned into a rounded courtyard. Unfortunately, not all architectural refinements have survived to our time.
- Completely unusual dolmen from mound No. 30 (Klady tract) — two-chambered, with a gabled "roof" and square openings, with a portal and menhirs.
After the cessation of burials, dolmens in mounds, but with an open facade or with a dromos, still ended up in the thickness of the mound. They were deliberately filled in, or simply over time, earth and stones flowed in. It is not at all necessary that the mounds over the dolmens were always built by people of the dolmen culture. This could have been done by those who came later and reused the tombs.
The tombs in Karachay-Cherkessia differ in that they are rectangular in plan and built of well-worked flat slabs. The long sides are each made of long stone slabs or blocks. The end slabs can be rectangular, with grooves for connecting to the sides, and consist of one or two parts, or have the shape of a stepped triangle. The ceilings are flat from two long slabs or in the shape of a house. In the second variant, the roof is made of long beams and starts from the very bottom. Everything is connected by corresponding grooves. Sometimes a connection on dowels is also used. There is a round entrance hole closed with a plug. Inside this structure, there is a smaller one — a roughly assembled stone cist made of flagstone.
Compared to the total number, very few dolmens are decorated with engraved and even relief ornament. But many of them probably simply did not survive to our time due to stone erosion. Ornaments are located throughout the portal and inside the chamber. There is a known image on the front slab with a cross in a circle and a comb-like labyrinthine design with a zigzag extending from it and the entrance hole. Sometimes there are just rows of vertical zigzags. On the front slab, there is sometimes an image of another dolmen portal, as well as one or two pairs of large bulges. Rows of vertical and horizontal zigzags can have the ends of the side slabs. And the attached portal slabs on the inner plane are sometimes decorated with a landscape consisting of a series of triangles (mountains) and vertical rows of zigzags (rivers). Above the mountains is placed the sun in the form of an oval with a cross. Sometimes the entire portal slab is covered with horizontal bands, each of which is formed by a herringbone pattern of chisel marks. The side slabs can also be decorated in this way. Recently, dolmens have been found whose facades were decorated, in one case, with convex diagonal stripes forming a large "herringbone" enclosed in a frame; and in another — with already recessed horizontal rows of a wide stretched zigzag. This zigzag is further complicated by segments of single vertical zigzags on the side and around the entrance hole. Sometimes, stone with an unusual surface, due to its internal structure, was chosen for construction. Such a dolmen, without special processing, received decorative design in the form of bizarre indentations and bulges.
- Mamedova Gap
Sometimes on the roof of the dolmen, there are numerous small cup-shaped depressions or cupmarks, scattered over the surface chaotically or forming short rows and circles with crosses inside. Similar signs are also found on the side and front slabs of dolmens. And also on individual stones near the dolmens, where they may also have a ring outline.
Some stone blocks forming the courtyard have bulges on their surface. They do not have such a regular shape as those on the facade slab. These are remnants preserved after leveling the entire plane of the wall. Whether they had any meaning besides decorative is unknown.
Several simple engraved petroglyphic drawings are also known on dolmens or near them. Their meaning is not yet clear, nor is the time of their application.
Recently, two narrative engraved images were discovered on a dolmen in the village of Dzhubga: a scene with a man and animals and a fight between two "twins." The second subject fully corresponds to the known images on the anthropomorphic stelae of the Kemi-Oba culture, as well as on stelae in France. It is possible that this same subject is present on the triple hook from the Novosvobodnaya tomb.
Separately, there are crypts with medieval Alan burials in Karachay-Cherkessia, almost completely covered with wavy grooves and various symbols. It is believed that the Alans decorated the more ancient structures. The so-called "royal mausoleum" stands out especially for its narrative images, in which Christian motifs are already found.
There are almost no dolmens that would have traces of colorful painting in the chamber and on the facade. The poorly preserved coloring in the dolmen of the Silver Mound is now finally disfigured by vandals. And the colored drawings in two two-chamber Novosvobodnaya tombs belong to an earlier period.
Sources:
Ethnogenesis of the Abkhazians. D.A. Arshba, 2015
1300–300 BC. Koban culture.