Nomadic pastoralismNomadic pastoralism is a form of pastoralism in which livestock are herded in order to seek for fresh pastures on which to graze. True nomads follow an irregular pattern of movement, in contrast with transhumance, where seasonal pastures are fixed. However, this distinction is often not observed and the term 'nomad' used for both—and in historical cases the regularity of movements is often unknown in any case. The herded livestock include cattle, water buffalo, yaks, llamas, sheep, goats, reindeer, horses, donkeys or camels, or mixtures of species.
SintashtaSintashta is an archaeological site in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. It is the remains of a fortified settlement dating to the Bronze Age, c. 2800–1600 BC, and is the type site of the Sintashta culture. The site has been characterised "fortified metallurgical industrial center". Sintashta is situated in the steppe just east of the southern Ural Mountains. The site is named for the adjacent Sintashta River, a tributary to the Tobol.
Altai RepublicThe Altai Republic (ˈæltaɪ; Altay Respublika; Алтай Республикасы; Respublika Altay, rjɪˈspubljɪkə ɐlˈtaj), also known as Gorno-Altai Republic, and colloquially, and primarily referred to in Russian to distinguish from the neighbouring Altai Krai as the Gornyi Altai (Горный Алтай), is a republic of Russia located in southern Siberia. It is a part of the Siberian Federal District, and covers an area of ; with a population of 210,924 residents. It is the least-populous republic of Russia and least-populous federal subject in the Siberian Federal District.
Maykop cultureThe Maykop culture (майкоп, mɐjˈkop, scientific transliteration: Majkop,), c. 3700 BC–3000 BC, was a major Bronze Age archaeological culture in the western Caucasus region. It extends along the area from the Taman Peninsula at the Kerch Strait to near the modern border of Dagestan and southwards to the Kura River. The culture takes its name from a royal burial, the Maykop kurgan in the Kuban River valley.
Tumulus cultureThe Tumulus culture (German:Hügelgräberkultur) was the dominant material culture in Central Europe during the Middle Bronze Age ( 1600 to 1300 BC). It was the descendant of the Unetice culture. Its heartland was the area previously occupied by the Unetice culture, and its territory included parts of Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, the Carpathian Basin, Poland and France. It was succeeded by the Late Bronze Age Urnfield culture. The Tumulus culture is distinguished by the practice of burying the dead beneath burial mounds (tumuli or kurgans).
Poltavka culturePoltavka culture (Poltavkinskaya kul'tura) was an early to middle Bronze Age archaeological culture which flourished on the Volga-Ural steppe and the forest steppe in 2800—2200 BCE. The Poltavka culture emerged as an eastern outgrowth of the Yamnaya culture, neighboring the Catacomb culture, another Yamnaya successor, in the west. It has been considered ancestral to later cultures that are identified as Indo-Iranian. The Poltavka culture influenced the later emergence of the Potapovka culture, Abashevo culture, Sintashta culture and Srubnaya culture.
Kurgan stelaeKurgan stelae or Balbals (балбал, most probably from Turkic word balbal meaning "ancestor" or "grandfather") are anthropomorphic stone stelae, images cut from stone, installed atop, within or around kurgans (i.e. tumuli), in kurgan cemeteries, or in a double line extending from a kurgan. The stelae are also described as "obelisks" or "statue menhirs". Spanning more than three millennia, they are clearly the product of various cultures.
Pazyryk burialsThe Pazyryk burials are a number of Scythian (Saka) Iron Age tombs found in the Pazyryk Valley and the Ukok plateau in the Altai Mountains, Siberia, south of the modern city of Novosibirsk, Russia; the site is close to the borders with China, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. Numerous comparable burials have been found in neighbouring western Mongolia. The tombs are Scythian-type kurgans, barrow-like tomb mounds containing wooden chambers covered over by large cairns of boulders and stones, dated to the 4th–3rd centuries BCE.
Sauromatian cultureThe Sauromatian culture (Savromatskaya kulʹtura) was an Iron Age culture of horse nomads in the area of the lower Volga River in southern Russia, dated to the 6th to 4th centuries BCE. The name of this culture originates from the Sauromatians (Sauromatai; Latin: Sauromatae sau̯ˈrɔmat̪ae̯), an ancient Scythian people mentioned by Graeco-Roman authors, and with whom it is identified. The Sauromatian culture emerged during the 7th century BCE out of elements of the Bronze Age Srubnaya culture who cooperated closely with the neighbouring Andronovo culture.
Karasuk cultureThe Karasuk culture (Karasukskaya kul'tura) describes a group of late Bronze Age societies who ranged from the Aral Sea to the upper Yenisei in the east and south to the Altai Mountains and the Tian Shan in ca. 1500–800 BC. The distribution of the Karasuk culture covers the eastern parts of the Andronovo culture, which it appears to replace. The remains of settlements are minimal, and entirely of the mortuary variety. At least 2000 burials are known. The Karasuk period persisted down to c. 700 BC. From c.
