A man buried in Russia in the Bronze Age era
The Late Bronze Age (LBA) Dolmen Culture of the Caucasus region in Russia presents a fascinating chapter in the prehistory of the Proto-Indo-European people. This culture, emerging roughly between 1500 and 1200 BCE, is notable for its megalithic architecture and serves as a testament to the complex social structures and cultural practices of the time.
Geographic and Temporal Context
The Dolmen Culture primarily flourished along the northwestern slopes of the Caucasus Mountains, extending towards the Black Sea. This strategic location provided not only rich resources from diverse ecosystems but also facilitated interactions with neighboring cultures through trade and migration routes. The region's varied landscape, with its mountain ranges, valleys, and proximity to the sea, significantly influenced the cultural development during this era.
Architectural Features
The most striking aspect of the Dolmen Culture is its megalithic structures, commonly known as dolmens. These are usually composed of multiple large stone slabs, with several upright stones supporting a horizontal capstone, forming rudimentary stone chambers. Some dolmens also feature port-holes, small circular openings usually carved into the front slab, which could have served both symbolic and practical purposes.
While the specific function of these structures is still a subject of scholarly debate, it is widely believed that they served primarily as burial sites for elite individuals or groups, marking important ancestral or communal identities. The construction of dolmens required advanced knowledge of engineering and architecture, suggesting a high degree of social organization and cooperation.
Social and Cultural Practices
The Dolmen Culture people likely had a social hierarchy, as suggested by the scale and complexity of the dolmens and the goods found within them. These structures might have represented power and influence, serving as permanent markers of social status. Grave goods often include ceramics, metal items, such as weapons or tools, and jewelry, indicating trade networks and the high value placed on craftsmanship and material wealth.
The presence of these goods, alongside the geographic distribution of the dolmens, hints at a trade network across the Caucasus and possibly with distant cultures across Europe and Asia. This implies a proto-globalization effect, where ideas and goods were exchanged, and core cultural practices might have spread and evolved.
Linguistic and Cultural Connections
The Dolmen Culture is often associated with the broader Proto-Indo-European heritage due to its geographic and temporal context. This period witnessed significant linguistic and cultural movements across the Eurasian continent, and the peoples of the Dolmen Culture might have contributed to this expansive Indo-European tapestry. Cultural artifacts, such as pottery styles and burial practices, show similarities with other Indo-European groups, supporting the idea of shared cultural ancestry and exchange.
Environmental Adaptation
The people of the Dolmen Culture demonstrated advanced adaptability to their environment. They engaged in agriculture, animal husbandry, and hunting, which allowed them to sustain relatively large and stable populations. The use of metals, particularly bronze, illustrates technological advancements that likely enhanced agricultural productivity and warfare capabilities.
Religious and Spiritual Beliefs
The construction of dolmens indicates a profound spiritual or religious aspect to the culture. These megalithic structures could symbolize an attempt to connect with the divine or ancestral spirits. The alignment and placement of dolmens, often in specific geographic orientations or clusters, suggest rituals meant to honor deities or natural forces, although the precise nature of these beliefs remains speculative.
Legacy and Influence
While the Dolmen Culture gradually transitioned into subsequent cultures and disappeared as a distinct entity, its influence persisted in the region's cultural and architectural traditions. The legacy of dolmen construction continued to inspire stonework in later periods, and their presence stands as a timeless reminder of the sophistication and ingenuity of prehistoric societies in the Caucasus.
Overall, the Late Bronze Age Dolmen Culture represents a critical intersection of geography, technology, and societal development within the Proto-Indo-European context. Its study provides invaluable insights into the prehistoric dynamics of culture, trade, and influence in one of the most complex and contested regions of the ancient world.
Ancient genetic admixture analysis compares the DNA profile of this individual (I2051) with present-day reference populations. These results show what percentage of the individual's genetic makeup resembles ancient populations from different geographic regions.
Modern genetic admixture analysis compares the DNA profile of this individual (I2051) with present-day reference populations. These results show what percentage of the individual's genetic makeup resembles modern populations from different geographic regions.
These results complement the ancient ancestry components shown in the previous section, offering a different perspective on the individual's genetic profile by comparing it with modern reference populations rather than prehistoric ancestral groups.
The G25 coordinates for the sample I2051 are as follows. You can analyze its admixture using G25 Studio.
I2051,0.10816124,0.10698504,-0.04310056,-0.03269808,-0.0425001,-0.00739318,0.01127428,-0.00605212,-0.06187312,-0.02929302,-0.0041252,0.00927778,-0.02019928,0.0054762,0.00885578,-0.01960064,0.01650882,-0.0072937,-0.00968808,0.01545996,0.0131434,-0.00083402,0.00508948,-0.008232,-0.00477024
Ancient human genome-wide data from a 3000-year interval in the Caucasus corresponds with eco-geographic regions
Archaeogenetic studies have described the formation of Eurasian 'steppe ancestry' as a mixture of Eastern and Caucasus hunter-gatherers. However, it remains unclear when and where this ancestry arose and whether it was related to a horizon of cultural innovations in the 4th millennium BCE that subsequently facilitated the advance of pastoral societies in Eurasia. Here we generated genome-wide SNP data from 45 prehistoric individuals along a 3000-year temporal transect in the North Caucasus. We observe a genetic separation between the groups of the Caucasus and those of the adjacent steppe. The northern Caucasus groups are genetically similar to contemporaneous populations south of it, suggesting human movement across the mountain range during the Bronze Age. The steppe groups from Yamnaya and subsequent pastoralist cultures show evidence for previously undetected farmer-related ancestry from different contact zones, while Steppe Maykop individuals harbour additional Upper Palaeolithic Siberian and Native American related ancestry.