The Mykhailivka Culture (3600—3000 BCE)[1][2] is a Copper Age archaeological culture which flourished on the Pontic steppe from 3600 BC to 3000 BC.
The culture is named after the lower archaeological layer of the Mykhailivka archaeological site on the Lower Dnipro River located in Kherson Oblast of southern Ukraine (47.311866298786455, 33.958491328639575).
The Mykhailivka multi-layer settlement occupied two hills and partially a third, located across a ravine. It also encompassed the marginal portion of an adjacent plateau on the western bank of the Pidpilna River, a western tributary of the Dnipro. The largest (central) hill, designated by Ukrainian researchers as Mykhailivka I, approached the riverbank. A ravine separated the central hill from a smaller one, on which the second settlement, Mykhailivka II, was situated, located at a distance of 50 meters from Mykhailivka I. The entire Mykhailivka settlement site spans approximately two hectares.
The Mykhailivka archaeological site was extensively studied by three expeditions of the Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Science of Ukraine, led by E.F. Lagodovskaya and O.G. Shaposhnikova, between 1952 and 1963.[3]
Geological cross-sections conducted across various locations and directions of the site revealed three distinct cultural layers at Mykhailivka. Notably, the lower (third) layer was separated from the two upper (second and first) layers by a sterile horizon.
The lower layer of Mykhailivka is dated to approximately 4250-3550 BCE, based on two sets of dates obtained from dwellings 3 and 4. These dates align with the Lower Mykhailivka archaeological culture.
The upper two layers, associated with different phases of the Yamna archaeological complex, form a continuous chronological sequence. The top layer also contains artifacts from the Catacomb archaeological complex.
The lower horizon of the middle layer of the Mykhailivka archaeological site is dated to 3646-3348 calBCE, while the upper horizon is dated to 3371-3026 calBCE. A tooth specimen from the lower horizon of the middle layer dated to 3635-3383 calBCE has been genetically identified as the earliest specimen of the Core Yamna ancestry in the North Pontic.[4]
References
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- ^ Mallory 1997.
- ^ Anthony 2007, p. 320.
- ^ Korobkova, G. F., Shaposhnikova, O. G. (2005). Poselenie Mikhailovka: Etalonnyj Pamyatnik Drevneyamnoj Kultury. Evropejskij Dom.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Nikitin, Alexey G.; Lazaridis, Iosif; Patterson, Nick; Ivanova, Svitlana; Videiko, Mykhailo; Dergachev, Valentin; Kotova, Nadiia; Lillie, Malcolm; Potekhina, Inna (2024-04-18), A genomic history of the North Pontic Region from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age, bioRxiv, doi:10.1101/2024.04.17.589600, retrieved 2025-01-26
Sources
edit- Anthony, David W. (2007), The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World, Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-14818-2
- Mallory, J. P. (1997), "Lower Mikhaylovka group", Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, Fitzroy Dearborn
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