Pages: 205-230

The author uses archeological sources analysis and results of natural science researches with application of ethnographical data to reconstruct an economic-cultural model in one of the local variants of the Alakul culture in the context of the cultural landscape concept developed in geography. It is ascertained that in the late Bronze Age the life support system of population within the Ural-Mugodzhary region relied on nomadic cattle-breeding, while hunting played a secondary role, and both harmoniously combined with mining industry. An effective adaptation strategy supported a traditional cultural landscape relying on the capability of steppe geosystems to regenerate, maintaining their ecological function and dynamic equilibrium between human needs and natural resource potential. The geographical space, with the habitat it formed, was explored not only for utilitarian purposes, but also spiritual, semantic and symbolic ones.

Keywords: Ural-Mugodzhary region, Late Bronze Age, Kozhumberdy cultural group, cultural landscape, nomadic cattle-breeding, archeometallurgy

Information about author:

Vitaly Tkachev (Orenburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute of Steppe, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Pionerskaya St., 11, Orenburg, 460000, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]