Pages: 313-334

The paper analyzes some insufficiently explored issues related to the warfare and armed conflicts and wars, which occurred among and raged between the pastoral populations in the south of Eastern Europe by the end of the Middle Bronze Age and at the turn of the Late Bronze Age, ca. 2200—1900/1800 BC cal. The research database consists of more than 4,500 burials attributed to the Babino and the Lola circles/areas; these two, in turn, are combined into the post-Catacomb block of cultures. The arsenals of weapons were determined for the cultures and groups within the block. Typological, contextual and spatial analyses of the archaeological record seem to reveal internal conflicts in the post-Catacomb milieu, as well as confrontations between them and their neighbors. At the early stage, there were migrations of the Dnieper-Don Babino and the Volga-Don Babino tribes, as well as those of the Lola, which were accompanied by military conflicts. At the later stage, there was a massive military confrontation between post-Catacomb cultures carriers, primarily the Babino, and the tribes of the chariot cultures, who forced their opponents to leave the Volga-Don-Donets region and move towards south and south-west.

Keywords: South of Eastern Europe, latest phase of the Middle Bronze Age, Babino Cultural Circle, Lola Cultural Circle, chariot cultures, warfare, weapons, paleoclimate

Information about author:

Roman Lytvynenko (Vinnytsia, Ukraine). Doctor of Historical Sciences. Vasyl’ Stus Donetsk National University. 600-richya St., 21, Vinnytsia, 21021, Ukraine
E-mail: [email protected]