Pages: 235-252 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp212235252
Since 1956, the logboat was exhibited at the State Historical Museum in Red Square in Moscow. It had been discovered two years before in the floodplain of the right bank of the River Don near the village of Schuchye, Voronezh Region, Russia. It was hypothetically attributed to the end of the Neolithic — the beginning of the Bronze Age. The paper presents an integrated study, the purpose and result of which were to establish the chronology, the cultural identity and the possible functions of the Schuchye logboat. Radiocarbon dates from the wood samples are published for the first time and show the logboat age within the range of 1800—1700 BC. It was the period of the Timber Grave (Srubnaya) culture of the Late Bronze Age. The obtained 14C dates are discussed within the historical and geographical background. The archaeological sites in the area of the logboat find were re-analyzed basing on old and recent data, and the paleo-ecological context was reconstructed. The probable ways of the Schuchye logboat use were proposed basing on its dimensions, design, displacement calculation, carrying capacity, and considering the nomadic pastoralism of the Srubnaya culture people in the forest-steppe zone. As a result, the authors came to the conclusion that the Schuchye logboat could serve for the local inter-tribal communication and the wide application range, including the transportation of heavy loads, people and livestock. Now it is the most ancient logboat found in the Southern part of East Europe and the only one that can be reasonably associated with the Bronze Age nomads.
Keywords: Russia, Don forest-steppe, Late Bronze Age, logboat, radiocarbon dating, settlement, burial mound, stockbreeding
Information about authors:
Evgenii Gak (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. State Historical Museum. Red Square, 1, Moscow, 109012, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Ekaterina Kashina (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. State Historical Museum. Red Square, 1, Moscow, 109012, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Denis Davydov (Moscow, Russian Federation). LLC “Metropolitan archaeological Bureau”. Starokonyushenny Lane, 5/14, Moscow, 119002, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Andrei Skorobogatov (Voronezh, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Terra Ltd. Letchik Zlobin St., 20, Voronezh, 394055, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Maxim Eltsov (Pushchino, Russian Federation). Candidate of Biological Sciences. Institute of physicochemical and biological problems in soil science of the Russian Academy of Science. Institutskaya St., 2, 142290, Pushchino, Pushchino municipal district, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]