A01_P01

Migrations and Cultural Evolution in the Light of Radiocarbon Dating of Bronze Age Sites in the Southern Urals

Epimakhov A¹, Zazovskaya E²

¹South Ural State University, Chelyabinsk, Russian Federation, ²Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation

The Southern Urals in the Bronze Age was the center of the formation of Andronovo family of cultures, as well as a zone of interaction of different traditions (Srubnaya, Seima-Turbino, etc.) Paleogenetic data confirm the heterogeneity of the population and diagnose two waves of migrations in the 3rd and early 2nd millennium BCE. These waves alternate with periods of stabilization and evolutionary change. The migration events are well provided with radiocarbon dating, but the periods of stability have turned out to be almost completely out of the focus of the interests of specialists in recent decades. ¹⁴C dates obtained in the 1970s - early 2000s are contradictory and insufficient for the reconstruction of processes. More than 30 samples were produced at the Institute of Geography RAS. Graphitization and pressing of the target for ¹⁴C AMS were conducted with the automated graphitization system AGE 3. ¹⁴C AMS measurement was performed at the Center for Applied Isotope Studies, University of Georgia (Athens, USA) using the CAIS 0.5 MeV accelerator mass spectrometer. Eight sites and seven cultural traditions have been dated. The new results were compared with dates obtained earlier. This allows us to solve problems of various scales: clarify the chronological position of some important complexes and objects; form (or significantly correct) the intervals of existence of a number of cultural traditions: improve the discussion of forms of their interaction; to simulate the duration of the functioning of sites and phases for some of them.