Pages: 249-264 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp264249264

This article discusses the adaptation patterns of ancient societies with different economic bases to changing environmental conditions at the end of the Early Iron Age. It is shown that in the second half of the 3rd and 4th centuries AD, climatic humidity increased across vast territories of the Volga-Ural region, in the steppe, forest-steppe, and forest zones. During this time, westerly atmospheric circulation intensified, leading to increased precipitation during the cold season against the background of a weakened Asian High.
In the dry steppe zone, winter conditions were largely determined by the Asian anticyclone. In this region, increased westerly circulation in the 3rd and 4th centuries AD resulted in a range of unfavorable weather events (heavy snowfalls, blizzards, thaws, increased snow depth, ice encasement of grasses, formation of an ice crust, etc.). As a result, an economic model based on year-round pasture grazing became ineffective. Under these conditions, pastoral societies underwent an economic crisis, leading to the disappearance of the Late Sarmatian and Sargat cultures by the 4th century AD.
In the forest-steppe and forest zones of the Volga-Ural region, the Asian High played a lesser role in shaping weather conditions; here, North Atlantic climate centers played a greater role. Here, too, an increase in precipitation was noted during the cold season. In these changing natural conditions, agricultural societies and societies with complex economies demonstrated active development dynamics.

Keywords: Late Sarmatian period, final stage of the Early Iron Age, climate, change, economic type, humanization, Caspian Sea level, Ulluchay transgression

Information about authors:

Mikhail Krivosheev (Volgograd, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Volgograd State University. Universitetsky Ave., 100, Volgograd, 400062, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0003-4847-8209

Alexander Borisov (Pushchino, Russian Federation). Candidate of Biological Sciences. Institute of Physical, Chemical and Biological Problems of Soil Science of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Institutskaya St., 2, 142290, Pushchino, Pushchino municipal district, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0001-5031-7477