Pages: 51-74

The Oka-Don watershed is a part of the border between the forest and forest-steppe zones. It was the area where some major ethno-cultural changes took place in the first centuries AD. The sites of the Upa 2 type (1st century BC — 1st century AD) related to the sites of Poluzhye hillfort’s upper layer type and Tushemlya hillfort’s medium layer type give way to the sites of Novo-Kleymenovo type (2nd — the beginning of 3rd century) which are genetically related to the Upper Don sites of the late Sarmatian period. The latest studies let us state that the change of cultures had its turning point in the middle of the 1st century AD. Military destruction and invasion of forest-steppe Sarmatian population that followed can be traced by the variety of the Upa 2 type sites. The materials of that time turned out to be connected with the antiquities of Andreevka-Piseraly type.

Keywords: Oka-Don watershed, Upper Don Region, 1st century AD, border of the forest zone, Upa 2 sites, Sarmatians

Information about authors:

Alexey Vorontsov (Tula, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Kulikovo Pole State Museum-Reserve. Lenin Ave., 47, Tula, 300041, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Evgenii Stoliarov (Tula, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Kulikovo Pole State Museum-Reserve. Lenin Ave., 47, Tula, 300041, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]