Zarubinets culture: origin, history and interesting facts

Recently, a great interest in Slavic roots began to appear. Two questions need to be resolved: did this people appear on European lands as a result of migration, or was this ethnos formed on the basis of already occupied indigenous tribes?

Autonomy theory

Among the various versions, the theory of autochthonousness now predominates. On it, the tribes occupying the area from the Vistula and the Oder to the Dnieper, and are praslaws. Later their distribution to the north and south determined the formation of various Slavic nationalities.

The anthropologists studying this question, in particular Gerasimov, assert that the external appearance of the people living on this territory did not change almost. The research covers the period from the first millennium BC (Scythians) to the Chernyakhov culture and further down to Russia of the XVII century.

Since an entire culture can not appear suddenly, even as a result of migration, the prerequisites that shape it must exist. In this regard, it will be interesting to consider several issues:

1. Is there a transition from the Scythians to the Proto-Slavic Chernyakhov culture, which is recognized as the forerunner of Kievan Rus?
2. What is the Chernyakhov culture, what influenced its formation and dissolution in it of the earlier Zarubinets culture?
3. What artifacts are found on this issue.
4. The legacy of Zarubynets culture.

The Scythians

In ancient Greek sources, Scythia is designated as the place of settlement of this people (Scythians). Many versions of his appearance on the territory that interests us, we omit. Based on the testimony of Herodotus, one can definitely say that this was a culture with rulers (politics), a progressive army (the strategic retreat of the Scythians was previously unknown to the Greeks) and the system of worship and burial (religion).

Zarubinets culture originates from the time of the disappearance of the Scythians. Rybakov writes about the search for the priests among the Scythian kingdom, begun in the XVII century. Then they considered the Scythians to be the ancestors of the Slavs. But in the XIX century, the Iranian origin of the Scythians was established, and the problem of searching for the priests again arose.

The researcher himself is inclined to the existence of the Scythian period in the history of the priests. The zone of the spread of Slavic ceramics determines the settlement of the Proto-Slavic tribes at the turn of our era. It coincides with the territory of interest to us.

Rybakov prefers to skip the consideration of Chernyakhovskaya culture because of the migration of peoples and the invasion is ready in its being. He believes that the previous Zarubinetsk culture can provide more evidence.

The "Lay of Igor's Host" mentions the heyday of the Slavs. This time is called the "Trojan Ages". The trade in bread with Rome brought stability. Crafts are developing. Unfortunately, the invasions of the Huns and the strong import of Roman products make it difficult to define ethnic identities.

Zarubinetskaya and Chernyakhovskaya archaeological culture

Archaeologists, excavating near the village of Zarubintsy, found cremated remains and identified signs of a culture named after the location of Zarubinetskaya. It was distributed in the Iron Age on the middle course of the Dnieper. Its origin is unclear. There are two opinions about the tribes that created it: some scholars consider them to be Proto-Slavic, others Germanic.

The finds date from the second century BC to, presumably, the second century of our era. Further, the culture is assimilated and dispersed. It is replaced in this territory Chernyakhovskaya, which is considered Slavic. From it the Kiev culture was born. In this perspective it is interesting to consider what science says.

Education: history. Zarubynets Culture

At the moment, there are enough versions about the emergence of this culture. According to modern historical data, it emerged as a synthesis of several cultures: the Scythian-ploughmen who lived in the forest zone, the Miligrad, who lived rather absent-mindedly in this territory and came from the Povisleniya tribes. They brought a culture of underwrecked burials and pomors.

The official version, reflected in the textbooks, provides such evidence of the similarity of archaeological finds:

• The uniformity of ceramics and its patterns;
• Uniformity of tools;
• Residential and outbuildings.

Excavations have established that the reason for the migration was the expansion of the Celts. They came to the north of the Carpathians and later spread into the zone of underworld burials. This provoked the movement of large groups of the population of the Povisleniya to the East.

Agriculture

The way of life was built on agriculture. We plowed with wooden tools. There is an interesting copy of this primitive ral. It was discovered near the left tributary of Pripyat. Made of trunk oak with a bough that comes out at the right angle, which after processing has turned into a flat mound.

The length of the whole gun is about two and a half meters, the length of the slider is slightly more than half a meter. This Scythian version of the ral for light soils. Plowing was helped by horses or oxen. After sowing barley, millet, wheat of soft varieties and dwarfish. Complementary food turnips, flax and hemp. In the northern regions the Zarubinets culture is characterized by slash farming.

Livestock represents a mixed herd of cows, goats, sheep, pigs, horses, less often oxen. Bones of dogs found in the settlements, suggest their assistance in hunting a fur-bearing animal.

Hunting was conducted on an elk, a deer, a wild boar, a bison. Less often find the bones of a bear and roe deer. The fur animal was a special trade, apparently for trade.

Fisheries and gathering did not have large volumes, although they were used as subsidiary crafts.

clothing

Due to practiced cremation, samples of clothing were not preserved. But its metal details and ornaments, as well as cast images of people of that time in the metal, allow us to recreate the appearance of a man of Zarubinets culture.

Trajan's column, located in Rome, contains images of women and men dressed as Zarubans. At that time, the Roman Empire, having conquered Dacia, approached the territory of the Dnieper. Active trade was conducted and there is every reason to assume that the people depicted are Zarubans.

Men wore trousers - ponosts or pistons - sewn from leather. Linen trousers - ports - were worn on a daily basis. Shirts and women and men wore linen, tunic. Used pins, pins for their fastening.

Women pinned the upper dress when working. The primitive cut was not of a size and such things were adjusted to fit the figure with the help of numerous bronze clubs. Mods on them were introduced by the Celts, who began the first in Europe to extract iron.

Hardware

Not only the fashion for pins spread across Europe. Celtic weapons are also universally recognized. Swords, shields, wrought armor, metal cores (apparently, for the sling). There are elements of horse harness and spurs. In general, metal weapons are found infrequently. The tips predominate over the other species.

For zarubinetskoy culture is characterized by only a universal weapon - such that it is suitable for hunting and war. Professional equipment is found later, in the era of Chernyakhovites. It is interesting that the weapons of the Chernyakhov culture are divided into two types: military - axes, swords and shields - and domestic. An unprepared man could not control the combat type of weapons. This indicates the presence of the Chernyakhov class of professional soldiers.

Metal tips for plows are also found, axes with a hilt fastened with an iron nail are also found in graves. Apparently, marshy areas were provided with iron ore. The quality of iron was poor, critical.

Judging by the finds of slag, almost every settlement received iron. Later specialization led to the emergence of villages like Lutezhsky. There, the ore was enriched and smelted in the hills. It is believed that during the season the settlement could melt up to one hundred kilograms of iron.

Ceramics

Ceramics feature black-polished ceramic products. For their manufacture, there was a so-called method of cooking, when a hot product was immersed in a warm flour solution. The result was a dark surface.

The manufacture of ceramics was carried out with the help of a subsidiary farm, the separation into a separate craft did not take place. Used mainly stucco technique. The shaping was carried out with the aid of a circle driven by hands. There were devices that smoothed the surface. They were made of bones. Leather gloves were especially smooth. Dryed in the air and burned with a fire method.

Smooth dishes served a more honorable purpose - it was a ritual or a canteen. Uninstalled - for kitchen needs. There were many household vessels such as korchag. Among them - round and ribbed. In the middle reaches of the Dnieper, tapered caps with a hollow handle were found. Such used Scythians.

The usual item of kitchen utensils Zarubintsy were clay pans for tortillas. Decorative ceramics, such as vases, jugs, cups-stacks are much less common.

Burials

Zarubinets culture is called the culture of urn burials. The field, where the remains are not deep buried, adjoins the settlement. All cemeteries are uncooked. At excavations it is established, that earlier they were designated as columns.

Oval pits are filled with bones cleared of ritual burning, usually placed in an urn. Cremation was carried out somewhat away from the cemetery. But there are also corpses.

In the graves of the middle Dnieper are found the remains of the funerary meal - the unbaked bones of pigs, sheep and cows. This is a ritual from Scythian burials. In the upper reaches of the Dnieper are found only isolated cases of animal bones.

Inventories found in burials are ceramic dishes, personal consumption items (ornaments, clothing items) and less often - sickles and axes, clay spindles.

Dwelling place

In different regions settlements had different dwellings. From the half-earths, which were buried in a meter, to the ground structures with a half-meter deep floor with wicker and clay-covered walls. In the Upper Dnieper settlements, land dwellings were built on poles.

The usual form of sex was a quadrangle. The area - up to 20 square meters. The two -pitched thatched roof was often covered with clay. The fireplace served as heating and allowed cooking. They placed it near the wall, but there are examples and locations in the middle of the dwelling.

Interesting primitive cellars used for storage. They could be inside as well as outside the dwelling. They were covered with a wicker lid covered with clay.

Excavations of the Khotomel settlement have revealed a lot about the life of the Zarubin people. There was excavated a fortified settlement, an adjoining settlement and a cemetery. In fact, it was a retinue village, fortified with artificial ramparts and framed by boggy meadows and a river.

There is the emergence of a class structure with prosperous vigilantes and workers of the village. It is believed that such a village is like a feudal castle.

Zarubinets archeological culture, thus, is a transition from the time of the Scythians to the Slavic Kiev culture. They distinguish the late Zarubin form, but it is better to call it postzarubinetskaya - this form underwent many changes under the influence from outside.