Maykop culture — an archaeological culture widespread in the foothills of the North Caucasus in the Early Bronze Age. Named after the Great Maykop Kurgan, excavated in 1897 by archaeologist N. I. Veselovsky. The main area of distribution is the plains and foothills of the Ciscaucasia from the Taman Peninsula to Chechnya. In the Kuban region, the culture reaches 46°N, and in Chechnya — 43°N. In the south, it penetrates the foothills along river valleys, but reaches the Black Sea coast only in the Taman — Gelendzhik area. The Kumo-Manych periphery is also distinguished — a zone of influence or further penetration of the culture to the north, as well as an extensive area of products or style of products of the Maykop culture.
History of research
Maykop antiquities first became known after the excavation of the 11-meter Great Maykop Kurgan (simply the Maykop Kurgan or in Adyghe — the Oshad Kurgan) on the territory of the city of Maykop. Drawings and descriptions of the site were made, but by today's standards, they are insufficiently accurate and informative. In 1898, N. I. Veselovsky excavated two burial stone tombs in the Klady tract, near the village of Tsarskaya (later Novosvobodnaya). Later, when only 7-8 prominent sites were studied, they were attributed to the initial phase of the Copper-Bronze Age (V. A. Gorodtsov, 1910) and united under the general concept of "large Kuban kurgans" (A. M. Tallgren, 1910).
In the 1930s-1950s, the number of studied sites increased. The first kurgans and settlements on the Terek were discovered (A. P. Kruglov, G. V. Podgaetsky). A. A. Jessen united the Maykop sites into an early Kuban group. The Maykop Kurgan itself was attributed to the early or Maykop stage of this, as then believed, Eneolithic culture. The late stage was represented by two burial tombs in Novosvobodnaya. In 1951, archaeologist E. I. Krupnov first applied the name "Maykop culture."
Until 1957, almost only burial sites of the culture were known. But from that year, expeditions of A. D. Stolyar and A. A. Formozov, as well as archaeologist from Maykop P. A. Ditler, discovered a number of Eneolithic-Early Bronze settlements in Adygea, along the Belaya and Fars rivers. They were defined as domestic sites belonging to different periods of the Maykop culture of the second half of the 3rd millennium BC, which became firmly established in the scientific literature for a long time (and in popular sources this continues to this day). In addition, the well-known Eneolithic Nalchik burial ground was presented as Maykop kurgan burials (A. A. Formozov), although not everyone agreed with this (R. M. Munchaev).
Since 1982, A. D. Rezepkin resumed excavations of the kurgan burial ground in the Klady tract, providing new materials from the Novosvobodnaya stage, including megalithic tombs. Paintings on the walls of one of the tombs were discovered, as well as the first of the engraved slabs (the cultural affiliation of the latter has not yet been determined). Later, in 1990-1991, in Klady 2, he discovered a settlement of the same culture under the kurgans.
The discovery in 1981 in Adygea, near the village of Krasnogvardeyskoye, of the Svobodnoye settlement, and then in 1985 on the Terek — the Galyugaevskoye 1 settlement, led to a revision of the chronology and cultural affiliation of already known sites. Collections of finds from old settlements in the foothills were also revised. Publications featured statements by various authors who independently came to the idea of the existence of two independent and different-period cultures. Svobodnoye, together with previously known settlements whose materials differed significantly from finds in the Maykop and other kurgans, were attributed to the pre-Maykop Eneolithic, which was then dated to the second half of the 4th millennium BC, while the Maykop culture remained in the 3rd millennium BC. The Galyugaevskoye 1 settlement turned out to be the first to contain materials of the Maykop culture proper, which was now fully attributed to the Early Bronze Age.
In 1993 and 1995, the first radiocarbon dates for these sites were introduced into scientific circulation, which confirmed these assumptions, but at the same time sharply antiquated the entire block of cultures. The pre-Maykop Eneolithic, called the Pitted Pearl Ware culture, began to be dated to the second half of the 5th — first half of the 4th millennium BC, and all periods of the Maykop culture proper — to the 4th — beginning of the 3rd millennium BC.
The Maykop — Novosvobodnaya link remained as two stages of the existence of one culture, and now the term "Maykop-Novosvobodnaya community" (MNC) is more widely used, uniting four variants of Maykop.
Origin and chronology
The appearance of the Maykop culture in the North Caucasus is now carbon-dated to 4000/3900 BC. Many scholars have tried to determine the place from which this Near Eastern-style culture originated. V. A. Gorodtsov was the first to point to Mesopotamia back in 1910. In 1920, M. I. Rostovtsev synchronized the Maykop Kurgan with the predynastic period in Mesopotamia. M. Gimbutas in 1956 formulated the thesis of migration of a people from the Near East.
In 1956, M. Gimbutas put forward the Kurgan hypothesis, according to which there were three waves of distribution of the kurgan culture. The second wave of the mid-4th millennium BC began with the Maykop culture and spread to Northern Europe around 3000 BC (Globular Amphora culture, Baden culture, Corded Ware culture, etc.). This became the first appearance of Indo-European languages in Western and Northern Europe. In her later works, M. Gimbutas proposed a completely new interpretation of the antiquities of the Maykop culture, interpreting them as the "North Pontic Maykop Culture."
In 1974, N. A. Nikolaeva and V. A. Safronov suggested that the Novosvobodnaya originated as a result of the influence of Indo-Europeans on Maykop, namely the Central European Globular Amphora culture.
In 1977, M. V. Andreeva, following the trend towards antiquating Maykop outlined by R. M. Munchaev, based on an analysis of pottery similarity, proposed that the original territory of the Maykop people should be considered the settlements of the Amuq — Gawra circle of the Proto-Literate period of the end of the 4th millennium in northern Syria and Mesopotamia (Amuq F and Gawra XI A periods).
In 1982, N. A. Nikolaeva and V. A. Safronov asserted that the Maykop culture was Semitic-speaking, which was allowed by linguists due to the presence of some borrowings in Proto-Indo-European from Proto-Semitic, which could have been carried out through the Caucasus.
They also conducted their comparative analysis of Maykop antiquities. But not only pottery, but primarily metal products and images on them. The cylindrical seal from near Krasnogvardeyskoye was also re-attributed. At the same time, their date of exodus fell on the Early Dynastic III period, 2500-2300 BC (one and a half thousand years younger than the radiocarbon dates obtained later). And they consider the most expressive site to be the settlement of Tell Huera, located on the border of Syria and Turkey. These chronological paradoxes have not yet received a proper explanation.
1984 — T. Gamkrelidze and V. V. Ivanov see in the Maykop culture a stage of development of Proto-Indo-European society.
Based on his research, A. D. Rezepkin has been promoting since 1989 the theory of the origin of the independent Novosvobodnaya culture from the Funnelbeaker culture, and its burial tombs — from the gallery graves of Central Europe. One of the main cultural features was black-burnished pottery. The bearers of the culture were defined as Indo-Europeans. Not all researchers agreed with this.
Original territory of the Maykop culture
Currently, the most recognized theory is the exodus to the Caucasus of a population with Ubaid-Uruk traditions from the territory of Northern Mesopotamia, Syria, and Eastern Anatolia. Specific settlements may be indicated (for example, Tell Khazna I), where similar pottery was used in the corresponding period. A final decision has not yet been formulated, but it is clear that the general direction has been chosen correctly. Comparative analysis of not only Maykop pottery, but also the entire complex of products, including metal, proves this.
A stage on this path was the South Caucasus, where a slightly earlier (4350-4000 BC) Leylatepe culture appeared, leaving such sites as Leylatepe, Beyuk Kesik I and II in Azerbaijan, and Berikldeebi in Georgia. Close to them is the settlement of Tekhut in Armenia. These sites are similar to Maykop primarily in their pottery, but in comparison with it, they have more substantial mud-brick structures, similar to Near Eastern ones.
There is also an opinion about the second and third impulses from Uruk (its second and third stages), which ultimately led to the formation of the Maykop culture of the Novosvobodnaya period.
There are facts of migration of Maykop people far to the north to the banks of the Don River, to the south of the Volgograd region, and to the steppes of Kalmykia, where they dissolved among the steppe population of the Yamnaya culture.
A. L. Nechitailo points out that sites discovered earlier in 3 districts of the Rostov region: Azov (1968), Peschаnokopsky (early and mid-1970s), and Konstantinovsky district (1969-1985), sharply differ in burial rite from all burials of the Early Bronze Age; they clearly show the influence of the Maykop culture (flint products, bronze knives, and especially vessels of yellow, black, and red-ochre color with a burnished surface) and they should be considered a steppe variant of the Maykop culture.
Some sites in the coastal part of Dagestan, up to Derbent, also have a Maykop appearance (pottery, tomb structures). But on the distant periphery, the Maykop people were not dominant among local cultures.
Economy and material culture
The economy of the Maykop people was based on household livestock breeding and hoe farming. Gathering may have played a large role. Their lifestyle was mobile-sedentary. Settlements were not long-term. In livestock breeding, the leading place belonged to cattle and small cattle (sheep), less to pigs and horses, which were also consumed as food. Compared to the Eneolithic, the proportion of wild animal meat sharply decreased. Evidence of agriculture includes numerous grain grinders and, conversely, few bronze hoes. There were also hoes made of stone and deer antler. Clay spindle whorls testify to weaving.
Dwellings were simple structures of posts, twigs, and planks. They were partially or completely coated with clay (wattle-and-daub) or without daub. Shape — sub-square-oval or round. Area — from about 4-5 m² to 72 m². There could be a central support post. Floors were earthen or sprinkled with pebbles. Hearths (1-5) were open, with clay sides or in the form of a tandoor pit, and were located in the center or near the walls. From abandoned and burnt structures, areas of burnt clay with a diameter of 2 to 5 m remain.
The Maykop people, like other peoples of the Early Bronze Age, used carts with solid wooden wheels and a massive hub. A pair of wheels was found accompanying a burial under a kurgan of the early period of the Novosvobodnaya stage. There are also five cases of finds of clay models of such wheels. There is no data on horse riding or the existence of war chariots.
Metallurgy
The Maykop culture is distinguished by a rich set of bronze products, almost all of which come from burials. Although the forms of Maykop bronze products correspond to those that were manufactured or used in the extensive Proto-Circum-Pontic metallurgical province (from the right bank of the Don to Syria and from Eastern Anatolia to Western Iran), it has now been established that their own deposits were developed in the North Caucasus. Therefore, the tribes north of the Caucasus depended neither on Near Eastern imports nor even on Transcaucasian ones. Most products are made from artificially obtained arsenic and arsenic-nickel alloys.
Tools include double-sided axe-adzes, eye-adzes, and flat axes or adzes. There are also bronze axes of simple forms (but the latter may have ornamentation of notches and bulges). There are fewer butt-axes of "military" appearance. The last two categories of axes are often small in size and with a handle hole of less than 2 cm, which suggests their purely burial purpose.
There are fluted and simple chisels, as well as awls, awl- and bayonet-shaped items. Weapons include narrower axes with butts, early knife-daggers with a weakly defined tang (tangleless), and later ones with tangs-handles and with ribs and fullers on the blade. There is also a find of a sword of the same type (Klady). A distinctive feature of bladed weapons is that they almost always have a more or less rounded tip of the blade. Spearheads are tanged with long necks. Also found are several bronze rods bent into a ring (in pairs or separately), the purpose of which is still unknown (there is an assumption that these are cheek-pieces, but most likely, it is a traditional form of offering). In a single copy — a bronze socketed ring with a crosspiece, apparently a standard. Bronze cauldrons and other vessels were decorated with punch ornament, similar to the pearl ornament on pottery. Characteristic are two-horned, less often one-horned hooks, intended for extracting meat from cauldrons. In one case, a three-horned hook is further complicated by human figurines. There is also one ladle with a long handle. Bronze jewelry of the Maykop people is unknown.
Gold and silver were used for jewelry in rich burials. Some vessels from the Maykop Kurgan were also made from them: 14 silver (some with gold details), two gold, and a stone vessel with a gold overlay neck and lid. Two small silver vessels are decorated with embossed images. One depicts a mountain landscape with a bear and a procession of animals around a lake; the second depicts only a procession around a pattern, apparently also meaning a body of water. There were also 6 silver hollow rods (4 partially gold), on four of which two gold and two silver bull figurines were strung. Jewelry also includes gold beads of various shapes, rings, stamped plates in the form of lions, bulls, and rosettes, and gold and silver ribbons.
The Staromyshastovsky treasure was also found in a silver vessel. There was also a silver figurine of either a donkey or an antelope, a hollow lion head, gold rings, and many gold, silver, carnelian, and glass (lapis lazuli) beads. The Nalchik tomb and burials in the Novosvobodnaya tombs were also distinguished by their wealth. In one of these tombs, two dog figurines were found, one silver and the other bronze.
The style of Maykop ornaments is purely Near Eastern, and their analogues are found not only in Mesopotamia, but also in Troy and Egypt.
The ceramic vessels of early Maykop have nothing in common with the pottery of the predecessors in this territory. Judging by the quality of the products and potters' marks, professionals worked in this branch of the economy. Maykop vessels, somewhat inferior in technological sophistication and diversity to the neighboring Kura-Araxes culture, preserved the appearance of their Near Eastern predecessors. Round-bottomed, pointed-bottomed, and flat-bottomed vessels and deep bowls were produced. The vessels of this period are usually rounded or elongated upwards. The clay underwent elutriation and was used with the addition of finely ground organic matter (manure). Mineral temper was added to the clay for some vessels. Some vessels were hand-molded, while others were made using a slow potter's wheel, which was an innovation at that time but already known in the Near East. The vessels had a smooth, ornament-free surface. Handles were rare. On the shoulders of some high-quality large vessels, there is a single "eye" or another simple mark. Marks on the bottoms are also known. There are small vessels with a vertically ribbed surface. The firing was uniform but not strong. Therefore, such pottery often has a smudging surface. The vessels were carefully smoothed, could be coated with slip, and occasionally have burnishing. Their color is usually ochre-yellow, red-orange, or gray. If there was a slip coating and burnishing, the surface color changed respectively to red and black.
In the late period, large vessels often have a flattened, turnip-like shape. Cup-shaped vessels and vessels with a high neck ("amphorae") are characteristic. Retaining many features of early pottery, vessels often have stronger firing, are often decorated with ornament: incised, punctured, stamped in the form of an ear, of applied pearls (only Novosvobodnaya), or applied (in one case, with figurines of animals, a man, and large bulges). Rarely, vessels were also decorated with simple patterns applied with paint. Moreover, bowls — both inside and outside (Natukhaevskoye-3 settlement). Handles became common, for example, large lug handles. Braziers, twin vessels, and strainers — tubular vessels with holes, rather smokehouses, are also known. The same clay paste was used, but there was more gray pottery. In later Novosvobodnaya pottery proper, clay was used only with various tempers. Rather, they worked there in the traditions of the Pitted Pearl Ware culture, with its clay composition and methods of ornamentation.
The design of the Maykop pottery kiln and household hearths with solid clay sides is known (Psekupskoye 1 settlement). Clay stands for round-bottomed vessels were also made. There is another class of objects: cones, cylinders, flat-concave prismatic bricks. Some of them may have horns. Recent archaeological finds allow a better understanding of the semantics of the so-called "cones." It is assumed that these are most likely attachments to hearths, which, in addition to a utilitarian function, could carry the magical symbolism of the hearth, the horned deity, ancestors, etc. Each region had its own varieties of these items. Many of their forms find analogues in the South Caucasus and the Near East.
Stone
As in any Bronze Age culture, stone tools were widely used in the Maykop culture. In the early period, rhomboid arrowheads with retouch only along the edges were used. Such were found in the Maykop Kurgan. Flint microlith-segments — inserts of some tools — were also found there and in the Abinsk burial ground. Similar ones were common in the Pitted Pearl Ware culture. Rhomboid arrowheads are known only from the Maykop Kurgan. The early period also includes arrowheads in the form of elongated triangles with a slightly concave or straight base, known in single specimens. In the late period, the main type was asymmetric flag-shaped arrowheads of various proportions. Sometimes their lateral protrusion lengthened into a more or less distinct spike. Flag-shaped arrowheads could have a careful finish with fine serrated retouch along the edges.
There were leaf-shaped flint daggers. Excellent examples of such daggers or dart tips come from megalithic tombs in the Klady tract. They are covered with careful fluted retouch and have serrated edges. Finds of flint sickle inserts are known, including those made very carefully with fine serrated blades (Psekupskoye 1 settlement).
Drilled stone axes are rare in the Maykop culture. Moreover, they often imitate the shape of bronze axes and, with rare exceptions, are miniature, which has already been noted for bronze axes. Among settlement materials, wedge-shaped undrilled axes and an axe with grooves for attachment are also known. There are also stone drilled hammers. Only in Kabardino-Balkaria were hammers with a beak-like butt found. The miniature nature of products of this last type also limits their application to blacksmithing and jewelry work (beating vessels from sheet metal), although the possibility of their use as weapons and finials is assumed.
There are finds of small stone (alabaster) vessels that repeat the shape of ceramic ones. The stone vessel from the Maykop Kurgan, which has a hole in the bottom, overlay gold neck and lid, is now interpreted as a mace. In Novosvobodnaya burials, carefully made stone balls (in one case, a flat cylinder) with a diameter of about 3 cm are found. Their purpose is unknown. Stone bracelets are not an original Maykop ornament, although single finds are known (Klady).
Mass finds include boat-shaped grain grinders, flat-cylindrical grinders, abrasive tiles, whetstones, hammerstones, etc. Other stone items in the MNC are relatively few and not very diverse: flint (or, for example, chalcedony) scrapers, flint knives. There is one find of a "smoothing iron" or arrow shaft straightener (Novosvobodnaya tomb). A stone sculpture of a cow or bull comes from the altar of one of the kurgans in the Klady tract.
Bone
Bone was used to make awls, polishers, small items with carved ornament (pins). The Maykop people used bone arrowheads with a distinct conical head. There is half of a bone tool, presumably a hammer. Bone beads were used for decoration, as well as deer teeth. The latter were also imitated with bone or horn.
Music
In one of the megalithic tombs in the Klady tract, a musical instrument was discovered, resembling harps from the burial of Queen Shub-ad (2800 BC) in Ur.
Burial sites
The deceased was placed in the grave in a contracted position on their side. More often on the right. They were usually sprinkled with red ochre. Sometimes more than one deceased (up to five) is found in one grave. There may also be secondary burials. Non-row graves may apparently be accompanied by sacrificial burials: human or with parts of domestic animals.
The main type of Maykop burial structures is a kurgan, ranging in height from less than 1 m to 6-12 m. The question of the existence of kurganless burials is still under discussion. Usually, kurgans have a round shape, but there are also those with a flat top, oval shape, and with a spiral ramp. Kurgans can be stone or earthen, including those made solely of black soil. Kurgans may contain a cromlech or even several. There are known kurgans with a crescent-shaped stone or earth lining. Sometimes traces of funeral feasts are found.
The grave itself can be a rectangular or sub-square pit in the "mainland" or in the body of the kurgan, or be built on a specially fenced platform on the surface of the earth. There are graves of very large sizes. Pits of oval shape, with elongated rounded corners, or sunk into a stone mound are rare. Occasionally, a dividing groove is found in the grave. Pits can be simple or have different variants of lining with small stones. The grave was filled with earth or stones. The pit was covered with wooden planks or bark. Stones were piled on top. Sometimes the grave is reinforced with a wooden frame, which could be covered with wood on top. A log frame was obtained, which rose above ground level. Stone and wooden linings could be combined with external stone piles. A grave with a stone lining was sometimes covered with a stone slab. Burials (or sacrifices) in catacombs or pits with niches are rare for the Maykop people. A single child burial in a vessel is also known.
Megalithic tombs under kurgans were built from slabs placed on edge. These can be both small children's stone boxes and very large structures, such as the Kishpek and Nalchik tombs. The Nalchik tomb is distinguished by the fact that it is built of broken basalt anthropomorphic stelae. The stelae themselves could have come from an earlier Maykop sanctuary, or they stood over the burials of the Nalchik Eneolithic burial ground. Two-chamber tombs are known only in the Klady tract near the village of Novosvobodnaya. A total of five such tombs have been found. They have a transverse partition slab with a rectangular, square, or round hole, which was closed with a fitted plug or simply a stone slab. Two tombs had a "house" covering.
There are also single-chamber tombs in which the second chamber is replaced by a more or less distinct portal. These are the tombs of Psybe, Shepsi, and two tombs from Klady. They may resemble dolmens, but differ from them in their thinner slabs and less stable design without a foundation. It is the single-chamber tombs in Klady that are stratigraphically the latest. And the absence of MNC materials in them and the presence of pottery similar to dolmen pottery may indicate the appearance of the dolmen tradition. In four stone tombs in Klady, colorful paintings or more or less preserved remains of paint were discovered.
Most likely, the Novosvobodnaya period includes the burial multi-faceted tomb with a tent-shaped roof, which was found intact and unlooted in the thickness of the stone kurgan in Klady 2 (N. L. Kamenev, 1869). Apparently, its remains were also found by A. D. Rezepkin (a multifaceted base slab, a triangle from the tent, a damaged facade slab with a square hole, and small fragments). Later, they were scattered by local residents.
The cultural affiliation and purpose of the limestone slabs with carved ornament remain uncertain. Parallels to the images on them are found in the Mediterranean, in the Kura-Araxes culture, and on dolmens of the Kyafar River basin. One almost intact slab with rows of circles containing cross-shaped crosses or concentric circles was found on the platform of the dolmen of the Silver Kurgan of Klady (1984). There is also a small fragment of the same slab. Another broken slab (with the symbolism of the world tree and mountain) and a stone with a wavy ornament (a snake?) (later lost) were found in the thickness of the stone kurgan in Klady 2. Most likely, these are also remains of Novosvobodnaya structures (tombs, stelae, etc.). A unique limestone column with a ribbed capital was found in the earth thickness of another kurgan in Klady 2, next to a large dolmen. Most likely, all these remains of Novosvobodnaya structures were destroyed and used as building material by people of the dolmen culture.
In the Maykop culture, the Athi, Hattians, and possibly Proto-Aryans-Indo-Europeans in the form of the "Yamnaya" people of the Kuban region, who came out to the Kuban plain from the mountains and foothills, merged; a very expressive agricultural component is distinguished, similar to the culture of Alaca Höyük in Anatolia, which can safely be called "Hattian" in contrast to the pastoral "Athian."
Thus, a complex of sources on the ancient history of the Northwestern Caucasus, compiled from folklore, paleographic, archaeological, anthropological, and linguistic materials, makes it possible to operate with the ethnonyms "Athi" and "Hatti" already from the 4th millennium BC.
3200—2300 BC Battle Axe culture