The first period of the Metal Age is called the Eneolithic. The term translates as the Copper Stone Age. By this they wanted to emphasize that copper tools appeared in the Eneolithic, but stone tools predominated. Even in the advanced Bronze Age, numerous stone tools continue to be produced. They made knives, arrows, skin scrapers, sickle inserts, axes and many other tools from it. The time of the dominance of metal tools was yet to come.

The emergence of ancient metallurgy.

There are four stages in the development of metallurgy:

1) copper is a kind of stone and was processed like a stone - by the double-sided upholstery technique. This was the beginning of cold forging. Relatively soon learned the advantage of forging heated metal.

2) melting of native copper and casting of simple products in open molds.

3) smelting of copper from ores. The discovery of smelting dates back to the VI millennium BC. e. It is believed that it happened in Western Asia.

4) era - the Bronze Age in the narrow sense of the word. At this stage, artificial copper-based alloys, i.e., bronzes, are invented.

It has been established that the first to use metal were, as a rule,

tribes whose economy was based on agriculture or cattle breeding, i.e., manufacturing industries. This is quite consistent with the active nature of the metallurgist's activity. Metallurgy, in a certain sense, can be regarded as a branch of the manufacturing economy.

Stone had to be replaced, and copper could be sharpened. Therefore, at first they made jewelry and small piercing and cutting tools - knives, awls from copper. They did not make axes and other impact tools also because they did not know the strengthening effect of hardening (forging).

The discovery of the metal contributed to the development of exchange between distant countries: after all, copper could only be produced where there were copper ores. Thousand-kilometer trade routes are being formed, economic ties are expanding. Long ways needed reliable means of transportation, and it was in the Eneolithic that one of the most important discoveries of mankind was made - the wheel was invented.

In this era, which opens the Bronze Age, agriculture is widely spread, which among a number of tribes becomes the main form of economy. It dominates a vast territory from Egypt to China. This agriculture is mainly hoe farming, but even then slash-and-burn agriculture begins to develop, which is impossible without a metal axe. The main content of progress in the Eneolithic is the invention of metallurgy, the further settlement of mankind and the spread of a productive economy. But this does not mean that agriculture was the only occupation of the Eneolithic tribes. A number of pastoral and even hunting and fishing cultures are also attributed to the Eneolithic. In the Eneolithic era, the potter's wheel was invented, which meant that humanity had approached the threshold of class formation.

16. Anau-Namazga culture I-III.

The largest and most important Eneolithic settlement is Namazga-tepe near the station. Kaakhka. The term "tepe" refers to the hills, sometimes huge, consisting of cultural strata. Here once there were settlements with adobe houses. When such houses collapsed, people did not dismantle them, but leveled the site and built a house on it. Therefore, the level of the soil here quickly rose and a hill formed. Layers of Namazga-tepe formed a hill 32 m high. Its layers are divided into six layers, the numbering of which goes from bottom to top: the first layer lies at the bottom, the sixth at the top.

The first layer, or Namazga-I, refers to con. V - early IV millennium BC. e. The settlement that existed here inherited and developed the traditions of the Neolithic culture of Jeytun. Agricultural economy. Cattle breeding replaces hunting, bones of cows, pigs and goats are found. Clay whorls are becoming a common find in almost every settlement. They find the first copper things - jewelry, knives, awls, needles, there is even a flat adze. Metallographic analysis shows that this copper is not native, but smelted from ores. Apparently, this copper was imported. It is very important that the tribes of the Anau culture knew annealing - heating after cold forging to relieve intercrystalline stresses that made the metal brittle.

The farming technique is the same - firth irrigation and hoeing. The cultivated area is growing. The fields were sown with barley and wheat. The houses are built not of clay blocks, but of raw brick (dried in the sun). Near the houses there are barns and other outbuildings.

Very large settlements appear (for example, Namazga-tepe) with an area of ​​over 10 hectares. The vessels are flat-bottomed and painted with paint. Curvilinear triangles and rhombuses were depicted on the upper part of the vessels. The painting over a large area is similar, which indicates the unity of culture.

Namazga-P refers to the IV millennium BC. uh. Retaining dams appeared on streams and small rivers - the first step towards irrigated agriculture. Cast copper products, often large: punches, knives, axes, spears. Copper became more, and stone tools - less. There are stone inserts for sickles, arrows, grain grinders, mortars, and maces. Clay bowls, cups, jugs were fired in special kilns discovered by excavations. The painting of the vessels of the eastern territory of the Anau culture is monochromatic, while that of the western territory is multicolored. The painting is dominated by triangles, rhombuses, sometimes there are images of goats and human figures.

Of the settlements, the small ones are best studied. They are still primitive and close to those of Dzheytun, but already somewhat raised above the surrounding area due to the stratifications that have formed. The houses are still one-room, with flat roofs. The settlement was surrounded by a wall made of raw bricks. In the center of the village there was a vast house, the walls of which were painted in two colors. The hearth-altar was placed in the house. It was a family sanctuary and a meeting place for the family. The mother goddess was revered. Statuettes of wide-bodied and full-breasted women are common.

The thickness of the layers of Namazga-I and Namazga-II is 8 m.

Layer Namazga-III has a transitional character. Copper things get big. A copper sword with a curved hilt was found - a characteristic early form. The arrowheads remained stone. There are numerous beads made of bone and stone, including chalcedony ones. Clay wheels of models of real-life wagons have been found, which probably reflects the existence of draft animals. The use of draft animals was supposed to significantly increase the productivity of agriculture.

At the end of IV - beginning of III millennium BC. e. the territory of the Namazga-tepe settlement grew to 100 hectares. The settlements consisted of large multi-room houses separated by narrow streets. Each house had up to 15 rooms, including warehouses and bins. Near the houses there were large household yards. Such a house was occupied by a tribal community - a herald of the beginning of the collapse of the tribal system. Along with female figurines, there are male ones.

The painting of vessels is being improved. In addition to complex geometric patterns, goats, leopards, birds, and sometimes people are depicted. Eagles and leopards are the motifs of simultaneous Iranian ceramic paintings, the appearance of which, perhaps, is explained by the penetration of the population from Iran into Central Asia. In turn, Anau painting on vessels is also known in Pakistan. In the Central Asian Eneolithic, tombs with false vaults are sometimes found, which is explained by the influence of Mesopotamia.

The period of Namazga-III ends in ser. III millennium BC

The Eneolithic is a transitional period from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age and falls on the 15th - 11th millennium BC. e. It was a qualitatively new time in the development of the productive forces and production relations of primitive society, the time of further improvement of agriculture and animal husbandry. Primitive hoe farming is being replaced by more productive cultivation of the land using the ral and draft power of domestic animals. Specialization appears in cattle breeding, sheep breeding and horse breeding stand out. A striking indicator of the development of the Eneolithic tribes is the mastery of the first metal - copper, the extraction and processing of which served as the beginning of a qualitatively new production activity - primitive metallurgy.

During this period, the population increases significantly, and the size and number of settlements increase accordingly. Relative overpopulation caused intensive development of new territories.

In the Copper Stone Age, the leading role in Eastern Europe belonged to the Tripoli culture tribes, who got their name from the first monument explored near the village of. Tripoli in Ukraine. This bright and original archaeological culture occupied vast territories from the Dnieper to the Carpathians and the Danube. It has gone a long way of development, during which the nature of material culture, settlement and historical environment have undergone significant changes. Therefore, the history of the Tripoli tribes is usually divided into separate chronological periods: early, middle and late.

Early stage. Tribes of Trypillian culture. There are several points of view regarding the origin of the Trypillian cultural community. Some researchers believe that it arose on the basis of the local Neolithic Bug-Dniester culture. Others are of the opinion that its origins should be sought in the Balkans or in the Eastern Mediterranean, from where it, in an already relatively formed form, penetrated into the interfluve of the Dniester and Prut. However, the most likely opinion is that the Trypillia culture in the territory of the Dniester region was formed as a result of a merger of local and alien elements. There is no doubt that already in the second quarter of the 4th millennium BC. e. Several groups of the settled Trypillia population lived here. All of them are characterized by a common culture and way of life, different from the neighboring tribes of the Early Eneolithic. Initially occupying a small territory of the middle Siret and Prut, the early Tripoli tribes gradually mastered the lands from the Carpathians to the left bank of the Dniester.

For their settlements, they chose coastal areas of the floodplains of the Dniester and its tributaries. Sometimes they settled on the first terrace above the floodplain, and only in some cases - on the root bank along the river valleys, where there were water sources. In addition, when choosing such places, the availability of pastures for livestock and fertile land for growing plants, as well as the possibility of hunting and fishing, were taken into account. The unfortified settlements of this period included dozens of dwellings and outbuildings located in rows or in a circle. It is assumed that several hundred people lived in each settlement.

The population of the Trypillia culture built dugouts, semi-dugouts, ground dwellings, inside which hearths and stoves were built. Clay houses appeared already at an early stage and are known from excavations in a number of settlements in Transnistria. Their inhabitants led a diverse economy: they were engaged in agriculture, cattle breeding, hunting, gathering and fishing. When cultivating the land, primitive arable tools were used using the draft power of animals. But still, the hoe and digging stick continued to be the main tillage tool. Farming during this period was extensive, allowing only comparatively limited areas to be cultivated.

Among the cultivated plants, various types of wheat and barley prevailed, most adapted to local soil and climatic conditions. Millet, peas, vetch, cherry plum, plum and even apricot were also grown, the bones of which were found during excavations. The crop was harvested with composite sickles, which were only twice as productive as iron sickles. As necessary, the grain was crushed with the help of stone grain grinders.

On pastures and in forests near the settlements, domestic animals were kept all year round: cattle, pigs, sheep and goats. Animal husbandry, being at a fairly high level of development, pushed back the hunt for. the second plan, although for a long time she continued to play a certain economic role in the life of the Tripoli tribes. The main objects of hunting most often were red deer, elk, roe deer, bear, wild boar, as well as badger, wolf, lynx and other animals. Gathering and fishing did not lose their importance as additional sources of food.

In the era of the early Trypillia, agriculture and cattle breeding were quite stable. Dry lean years were rare, but the low fertility of the loess-like loams on which farming was carried out affected. From year to year, the yield fell, which forced the inhabitants to periodically look for and develop new lands.

Tools and weapons of this period were made of flint and other types of stone, as well as wood, bones and animal horns. Massive axes, bracelets, beads, amulets and other jewelry were made from copper brought from deposits in the Carpathians and the Balkans by forging and later casting. The first finds of copper products from Trypillia tribes date back to the beginning of the 4th millennium BC. e., but signs of local processing of copper were noted only by the middle of the millennium. Probably, metalworking was formed here on the basis of traditions borrowed from the neighboring tribes of the Balkan Peninsula. By this time, the local population had mastered spinning and weaving, as evidenced by numerous finds of clay sinkers for primitive looms.

Compared with the Neolithic era, progress is especially noticeable in the production of ceramic dishes, which can be conditionally divided into the front, or dining room, and kitchen. During this period, the variety of forms increased significantly, the preparation of the clay mass and the technique of sculpting vessels were improved. The dishes were fired in household ovens and pottery kilns. Trypillian vessels vary in size from 5 to 100 centimeters in height, some of them are anthropomorphic or zoomorphic, that is, they imitate the figures of people and animals. As a rule, the dishes are richly ornamented with carved or smoothed lines, spirals, flutes and impressions of a jagged stamp. Often the carved ornament is filled with white paste. At this stage, tableware painted with red ocher appears.

Numerous clay figurines of women and zoomorphic armchairs decorated with bull horns reflect the religious beliefs of the local population. The images of the great mother goddess and the bull, symbolizing the sun and the masculine principle, were elements of an extremely developed agricultural fertility cult. The whole system of life in the early Trypillia was associated with the dominant role of women in production, everyday life and family and clan relations. The woman was the guardian of the family, the hearth and personified the idea of ​​fertility and the continuation of life. Therefore, it is natural that the account of kinship was conducted along the maternal line.

Early Tripoli communal settlements occupied an area from 1 to 40 hectares and consisted of 10 to 100 dwellings, respectively. The growth of labor productivity led to an improvement in living conditions and led to the formation of large clusters of small and large settlements, which were grouped around the centers. Three similar groups of the Early Tripoli population existed on the upper Dniester. The most significant of them was the southern one, which occupied the entire interfluve of the Dniester and Reut and even the lands south of their confluence. Probably, one of the most numerous early Tripoli tribes lived here.

Middle stage. Tripoli tribes in their heyday. Middle and second half of the 4th millennium BC e. characterized by the active development of the economy and culture of the Tripoli tribes. Hoe farming is becoming the leading branch of the economy everywhere. Along with the traditional, a new type of reaping tool is spreading - a large flint plate, fixed at one end in a bone or wooden handle. At the same time, threshing boards equipped with flint inserts appear. Among the imprints of cultivated plants, there are already grape seeds with a small berry so far. It is assumed that the cultivation of grapes came to the Dniester region from the territory of the Balkans.

The presence of meadow pastures in the river valleys and the wide distribution of deciduous forests created a good fodder base for animal husbandry even in winter. During this period, animal husbandry resolutely pushes hunting into the background, occupying a leading place in the economy together with agriculture. It is significant that in a number of settlements

cattle breeding predominates even over agriculture. So, the predominantly cattle-breeding was the economy of the inhabitants of the Transnistrian village of Soroki (Lake).

The main materials for tools are still stone, bone, horn and wood, but the processing of flint reaches special perfection. Whole villages specializing in the production of flint products arose. The craftsmen of this culture made scrapers, large knives, saws, arrowheads, darts and spears. Often, these tools were distributed hundreds of kilometers from the place of their production. The manufacture of polished stone axes, adzes and hammers with holes is also being further developed.

Ceramic production has reached truly rare heights. The firing of pottery was carried out with amazing skill. During this period, the painting of vessels with black, red, less often white paints flourished. The painting, combined with engraving and moldings, created an exquisite ornament, which, along with the aesthetic, also performed cult and magical functions. According to researchers, the images on ceramics most often symbolized the feminine principle and the cult of fertility associated with it.

The invention of special two-tier pottery kilns, or forges, significantly improved the quality of ceramics. Their appearance in the settlements indicates that the Tripoli tribes had professional craftsmen who were exclusively engaged in the production of vessels and other ceramic products. Thus, pottery making becomes a communal craft. Along with ceramics, the production of copper products, which required special knowledge and skills, is probably also becoming a communal craft. Despite the fact that copper products often came here in finished form, large pieces of copper slag, fragments of crucibles and stone hammers for crushing ore were found at a number of Trypillia settlements. These finds suggest that metal processing played a significant role in the economic activity of the local population. Axes of various shapes, fish hooks, awls and various ornaments were made from copper.

Trypillian tribes achieved particular success in house building. In the settlements, large two-story dwellings with a number of enclosed interior spaces are often found. The frame of the dwelling was built of wood, which was covered with clay outside and inside. During the excavations, it was possible to establish that large family communities, consisting of several paired families, lived on the ground floor. For each of them, a separate room, fenced off from the others, with a stove and a hearth was intended. The second floor was used for storage and for other household needs. The two-story structure of the Trypillia houses is also confirmed by the finds of models of clay dwellings, which had entrance openings in the end part of the walls, round openings instead of windows, and gable thatched or reed roofs.

The development of production created conditions for the accumulation of excess product and the expansion of exchange relations with the nearest neighbors. The local tribes carried on an active exchange with the population of Volyn, from where ready-made tools and their preparations made of high-quality flint came in large numbers. At the same time, close contacts were noted with the population of the Balkan Peninsula and the Carpathian Basin, which had a significant impact on the cultural development of the Dniester region.

The rise of the economy and culture was accompanied by an increase in the population. Small settlements up to 3 hectares are disappearing. They are being replaced by large settlements up to 30 hectares with dozens and hundreds of dwellings and outbuildings. Several communal settlements formed separate regional formations connected not only by cultural and kinship relations, but also by common military and defensive tasks. Large Trypillia settlements often consisted of fortifications on a hill and an unfortified lowland part. Defensive structures were found on some of them: ramparts and ditches, which reliably protected the population living here.

Aerial photography and geomagnetic studies have shown that the largest Trypillia settlements served as a kind of tribal centers and, possibly, were the prototype of future cities (the so-called proto-cities). Analyzing the total number of dwellings in various settlements, it was possible to calculate that from several hundred to several thousand people lived there at the same time. Thus, in the era of the heyday of the Trypillia culture in Pridnestrovie, a significant population density was noted: per 1 sq. km accounted for an average of about 13 people.

In the northern part of the Dniester-Prut interfluve, perhaps the most densely populated region of the entire distribution area of ​​the Trypillia tribes is formed. This region has become one of the main centers of this culture. There are three areas of the highest concentration of ancient settlements, and one of them includes the territory of the northern part of Transnistria.

late period. Triyolskoe society at the final stage. By the end of IV and in the first half of III millennium BC. e. Trypillia culture reached its peak, after which the first signs of a crisis began to appear. Its main reason is the deterioration of natural conditions associated with the expansion of the steppe landscape and the reduction of forest vegetation. Hoe farming on infertile loess soils, hunting and fishing could no longer provide the former standard of living for the ever-increasing population. The arid climate has drastically reduced the fodder base of cattle breeding.

Under these conditions, the importance of agriculture continued to grow, which developed through the development of new areas. The technique of cultivating the land and harvesting remained at the same level, since the primitive horn rales on an ox cart were unsuitable for raising virgin soil and were used mainly for loosening the soil before sowing. Loess-like soils were quickly depleted after several years of intensive use and were restored only after decades. The decrease in soil fertility forced the inhabitants of Trypillia settlements to leave them every 40-50 years and create new ones on other lands.

In livestock farming, cattle still remained the main source of meat food and skins, despite the appearance of chickens and horses in Trypillia villages. The horse, most likely, was borrowed from neighboring pastoral tribes, and it was used not only for transporting goods, but also for riding. As before, cattle were kept mainly on grazing, which led to a periodic reduction in the herd on the eve of winter.

Primitive agricultural technology and a relatively low culture of animal husbandry could not ensure a normal existence. Therefore, approximately by the middle of the III millennium BC. e. there is a certain transformation of Trypillia communities. A number of new ethnocultural formations are emerging, chronologically occupying an intermediate position at the stage of transition from the Eneolithic to the Early Bronze Age. On the territory of Transnistria during this period, two related local groups of the late Tripoli population were formed.

Tribes of the Usatov local group. By the middle of the III millennium BC. e. part of the population of the Middle Dniester was forced to leave their lands and move to the steppe regions of the North-Western Black Sea region and Romania. The natural conditions of the steppe south, unusual for the Trypillia tribes, turned out to be unsuitable for agriculture, but they greatly contributed to the development of cattle breeding, so it became the leading branch of the economy for the Usatov group of the population. This group got its name from the first discovered and explored monument of this type near the village. Usatovo near Odessa.

For their settlements, these tribes often chose naturally protected areas, often additionally fortified with ramparts and ditches. Along with small fortified sites, rather large settlements were built with a variety of stone household and religious buildings, which, most likely, were intertribal cultural centers. The main one was the settlement near the village. Usatovo, next to which there were several burial mounds and soil burial grounds. Usatov barrows had rather complex structures, consisting of stone domes, mortgages and cromlechs. Judging by the grave goods, they buried mainly tribal leaders and tribal elders. Burials of ordinary members of the tribe were ground burial grounds. As a rule, these were small pits covered with stone slabs or mortgages and containing poor grave goods.

It is indicative that only settlements and mounds of this local group are known in the territory of the Lower Dniester to date. On the left bank of the Dniester, Usatov kurgans were discovered near the city of Tiraspol, as well as near the villages of Butory, Spey, Krasnogorka, Bychok, Grigoriopol region, Parkany, Ternovka and Sukleya, Slobodzeya region. Almost in each of them characteristic pottery, tools, weapons made of stone, bone and metal were found.

The brightest and richest group of Usatov burials was investigated on the right bank of the Dniester near the village. Purcari district Stefan Voda. Here, on the plain plateau of the root bank, there were four burial mounds containing 11 Usatov burials. Three of them were surrounded by massive stone lining. One of the richest burials of that time was found in the center of the largest barrow. Along with table and kitchen vessels, there were six bronze items, silver temporal rings, a horn hoe and many ornaments made of polished bird bones. The presence of a series of bronze tools and other grave goods, as well as an impressive burial mound indicates that this complex belongs to a representative of the local tribal nobility. In this area, directly at the Dniester, a synchronous settlement is known, to which the discovered mounds probably belonged.

In addition, the materials obtained suggest that in this region of the Lower Dniester region, the Usatov tribes constantly grazed their cattle. This is confirmed by the finds in paired burials of the skeletons of children and young men who could be shepherds. A characteristic element of the burial inventory of the Usatov tribes are peculiar stylized figures of women on cubic pedestals, as well as a large group of kitchen ceramics with a significant admixture of crushed shells in the dough. At the same time, there is a decrease (compared to the previous era) in the diversity of ceramic forms and a gradual degradation of the painted ornament.

The population of the Usatovskaya group bred mainly goats and sheep, but both horses and cattle were used in the economy. Cattle breeding was of a transhumant nature, but was based on fortified settlements. Arable agriculture faded into the background and was practiced mainly in the river valleys. Hunting and fishing did not occupy any important place in the economy.

Playing the role of an outpost of the Trypillia world in the south, the Usatov tribes were the first to come into contact with the pastoral population of the Yamnaya culture, and then held back their onslaught for some time. Probably, at the first stage, their relationship was quite peaceful, which was reflected in a number of steppe imports in the late Trypillia burial complexes. However, by the end of the III millennium BC. e. the Usatov population leaves the historical arena, being forced out or assimilated by newcomer tribes.

Tribes of the Vykhvatinsky local group. These tribes got their name from the first studied monument near the village. Vykhvatintsy Rybnitsa region. They occupied the territory on both banks of the Dniester, approximately from the town of Soroka in the north to the town of Dubossary and the mouth of the river. Reut in the south. Vykhvatinsky settlements and barrowless burial grounds are few in number and practically unexplored. On some of them, the remains of ground dwellings-platforms, dugouts and outbuildings were found.

The most striking monument of this cultural group, of course, is the Vykhvatinsky burial ground, accidentally discovered on the territory of the village of the same name. It was located on a high cape formed by the left bank of the Dniester and two ravines, not far from the synchronous settlement. During the years of excavations, an area of ​​900 sq. m, on which there were a total of 74 graves. Many of them were surrounded by stone facings or had stone ceilings.

All the buried of this burial ground lay in a crouched position, mostly on their left side, sprinkled with white clay or red ocher. Most of the graves contained quite expressive grave goods. The collection of tools and weapons discovered here is not numerous and is represented mainly by flint, stone, horn and bone products, as well as one metal object - an awl. Pottery clearly predominates in the inventory, which is divided into the dining room, made of fine-grained clay, and the kitchen, molded from the mass with an admixture of finely crushed shells. The originality of tableware is given by the exclusively horizontal structure of the painting, applied in dark brown, sometimes in combination with red, ocher. Kitchen ceramics are decorated with parallel cord imprints and are of lower quality. Particularly expressive is the anthropomorphic plasticity represented by realistic female figurines and an excellently preserved rattle, which were found in children's graves.

According to archaeologists, the burial ground was divided into two sections. One of them was intended for the burial of ordinary members of the community, the other - for members of isolated families. Each of these family necropolises contained the remains of one or two men, one woman, and three to five children. Thus, at the stage of transition from the Late Eneolithic to the Early Bronze Age, the patriarchal family becomes the main unit of society. Judging by the funeral rite, in the same period, the tribal elite was separated - the elders and leaders who possessed wealth and power. The social stratification of society is clearly evidenced by the grave goods of some burials, as well as the appearance of wands, battle and ceremonial axes in the settlements and burial grounds. The primitive communal system was at the threshold of its decomposition.

In addition to the Vykhvatinsky burial ground, which continues to be the largest and most expressive for this group of the late Tripoli population, only two locations of similar burial complexes are known - near the villages of Golerkany and Oksentia, Dubossary district, on the right bank of the Dniester, which are almost completely destroyed by the waters of the Dubossary reservoir. However, there is no doubt that more thorough archaeological exploration in Transnistria will lead to the discovery of new Vyhvata-type burial grounds.

In the era of the late Trypillia, the role of men in the life of the family and community is steadily increasing, which is due to the need for the rapid development of new lands, which required the raising of virgin lands, felling and uprooting of forests, the specialization of metalworking, pottery and flint processing, the construction of defensive fortifications and the development of cattle breeding. In an atmosphere of increased military clashes, the figure of a male warrior is of particular importance. This is evidenced by the finds of numerous battle axes and picks made of deer antler, stone and metal. The role of women is increasingly limited to the sphere of the household and its attendant activities. But she still remains the keeper of the hearth associated with the cult of the mother goddess and fertility.

On the territory of Transnistria, the societies described above developed over the course of three to four centuries - from the 21st to the 22nd centuries. BC e. This period is characterized by major economic and social changes, stormy intertribal relations. The study of the Trypillia culture showed that it was one of the main centers of a developed manufacturing economy in Europe and was distinguished by a high level of development of the material and spiritual life of the local population.

The most ancient pastoral tribes of the Eneolithic. For a long time it was believed that the first pastoral tribes that penetrated the North-Western Black Sea region were the bearers of the Yamnaya culture. However, large-scale excavations of mounds carried out over the past 20 years have refuted this point of view. It turned out that the earliest burial complexes are the earliest ones, which preceded the burials not only of the Yamnaya, but also of the Usatov culture.

The total number of the most ancient burial mounds is small and includes several dozen burial complexes in Pridnestrovie. The earliest of them are characterized by a crouched position of the skeleton on the back and an oriental orientation. According to the researchers, these sites were originally barrowless and associated with small groups of pastoralists and artisans who entered the region from the east.

A certain standard in the characterization of this group of burials is the main burial complex in the mound near the village. Suvorovo, Odessa region. Here, in a double burial, among the rich inventory, represented by tools and jewelry made of copper, flint and unio shells, a stone scepter was found, realistically depicting a horse's head with a bridle on. The finds of scepters found in the layers of various ancient agricultural societies testify to the deep antiquity of the complex. An analysis of such stylized zoomorphic images made of stone - the so-called scepters - made it possible to attribute them to a relatively narrow chronological period - the middle of the 4th millennium BC. e. This conclusion is also confirmed by a fragment of a schematic scepter found at the Trypillia settlement of Upper Zhory (I) on the Dniester.

With a certain degree of probability, the group of the most ancient cattle-breeding burials can be attributed to the Novodanilovsky group of monuments identified in Ukraine, which dates back to the middle - the beginning of the second half of the 4th millennium BC. e. The fact that these tribes lived in the lower reaches of the Dniester is evidenced by the discovery by Pridnestrovian archaeologists of the first similar complex in a mound near the village. Slobodzeya. Here, in the central burial destroyed in antiquity, tools made of copper and stone were found, as well as jewelry made of bone, characteristic mainly of the Novodanilovsk sites. Single finds of such burials indirectly indicate that the penetration of the first pastoralists here was extremely small and most likely had an episodic character.

The second group of Eneolithic monuments is characterized by a crouched position on the left or on the right side. With burials of this particular type, a tradition of erecting mounds arose in this territory. The idea of ​​building mounds was obviously due to the mobile way of life of the first pastoral tribes: the mound is clearly visible on the flat expanses of the Eastern European steppes. The peculiarity of these monuments made it possible to distinguish them into the Khadzhider cultural group, which is characteristic mainly for the territory of the Dniester-Pruto-Danube interfluve.

Eastern orientation prevails among the main complexes of this group. The found grave inventory is very expressive and consists of rare vessels of various shapes, tools, weapons made of flint and horn, motifs, as well as adornments characteristic of the Eneolithic - necklaces made of animal teeth and bone beads. The most striking series of this group was given by the study of a unique cult complex in mound 9 near the village of. Red Grigoriopol region. Here, under the most ancient mound, nine Eneolithic burials and a monumental and ritual complex associated with them were discovered. Probably, in ancient times this mound was a kind of temple-sanctuary for the local pastoral population. It consisted of wooden and stone structures and included primitive zoomorphic and anthropomorphic stone slabs and images, dominated by the heads of a bull and primitive images of a human figure. It is significant that an expressive bone scepter with a copper plate inserted into the working part and inlaid with six copper rods was found in one of the burials. He had no traces of harmony and, most likely, belonged to the leader of the tribe or the priest of this temple.

The pastoral Eneolithic tribes bred mainly small cattle - goats, sheep - and horses. An important place in the herd was occupied by cattle. An image of a bridle on a scepter found in a barrow near the village. Suvorovo, allows us to assert that during this period horse riding was already mastered, which contributed to the mobility of the steppe population. Exceptionally interesting are the data of the trace analysis of flint artifacts from two burials in the mound near the village. Red. In one of them there were tools for working wood, in the other - for working leather, which allows us to speak of the beginnings of handicraft specialization already in the Eneolithic era.

The high development of ideological ideas associated with the cult of the bull and the sun is evidenced not only by the temple complex near the village. Red, but also the discovery of the remains of a similar sanctuary with anthropomorphic steles near the village. Olanesti district Stefan Voda on the right bank of the Dniester. The oldest monumental images found on these monuments speak of their cultural belonging to the traditions of the Eneolithic era, although in subsequent times they were widely used to cover later, mostly pit, burials.

The historical development of the Eneolithic ends with the penetration of the next wave of other cultural pastoral tribes of the so-called post-Mariupol group into these lands. Most of these monuments are also associated with barrow construction and are characterized by the extreme poverty of grave goods. The main features of the noted complexes are the elongated position of those buried on their backs and the absence of pottery. Their connection with the eastern regions of the North Black Sea steppes is confirmed by similar burials in the Orel-Samara interfluve. The relative chronology of the most ancient burial mounds in Transnistria makes it possible to attribute the post-Mariupol group to the second quarter of the 3rd millennium BC. e.

Different burial rites and inventory of the Eneolithic burials allow us to conclude that the first pastoral tribes of the region were polyethnic, represented by at least three noted cultural and chronological groups. The penetration of the first tribes of the Yamnaya culture on the left bank of the Dniester marked the onset of a new historical era here - the Bronze Age.

The first era of metal is called Chalcolithic(Greek enus - "copper", lithos - "stone"). During this period, copper things appear, but stone ones predominate. Two theories on the distribution of copper: 1) originated in the region from Anatolia to Khuzistan (8-7 thousand BC) and spread to neighboring territories; 2) arose at once in several centers. Four stages development of non-ferrous metallurgy: 1) native copper as a kind of stone; 2) melting of native copper and mold casting; 3) smelting of copper from ores, i.e. metallurgy; 4) copper-based alloys - for example, bronze. Copper deposits were discovered according to external signs (green spots of oxides). Used in ore mining stone hammers. The boundaries of the Eneolithic are determined by the level of development of metallurgy (the third stage). The beginnings of agriculture and animal husbandry were further developed, thanks to the expansion of cultivated cereals. To replace the horny hoe comes tillage tool requiring the use of draft animals. Appears almost simultaneously in different areas wheel. Thus, cattle breeding develops, isolation pastoral tribes.

Eneolithic - the beginning of domination patriarchal-clan relations, the dominance of men in cattle-breeding collectives. Embankments appear instead of graves mounds. The study of ceramics shows that it was made by specialists who masterfully mastered the technique of pottery production (craft). Exchange raw material - flint. The Eneolithic was the time of the appearance class societies in several regions of the Mediterranean. The agricultural Eneolithic of the USSR has three centers- Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Northern Black Sea region.

16. Tripol culture.

Trypilska(end 5 - the third quarter of 3 thousand BC) - a large center of the producing economy in Moldova and Right-Bank Ukraine, including part of Romania. In the village of Trypillya near Kyiv. It was agricultural, it required uprooting of roots, stumps, which raised the role of male labor. The patriarchal system of the tribes.

^ Early period(end 5 - middle 4 thousand). The river valleys of Moldova, the west of Ukraine, the Romanian Carpathian region. Parking lots are surrounded by a moat. Clay houses are small. sizes. In the center of the house is an altar. Places were changed every 50-70 years (fall in fertility). Agriculture has been around for a long time. The earth was cultivated with hoes, furrows were made with a primitive ral. They cultivated wheat, barley, millet, legumes. The harvest was harvested with sickles, the grain was ground with grain grinders. Cattle breeding and hunting. Hot forging and welding of copper, but there was no melting yet. Treasure near the village of Karbuna (444 copper objects). Ceramics with in-depth serpentine ornament. The agricultural cult of the mother goddess.

^ Middle period(the second half of 4 thousand). The area reaches the Dnieper. Multi-room houses are growing. 2nd and 3rd floors appear. The house was occupied by a large family community. Settlements now have up to 200 or more houses. They are located high above the river, fortified with a rampart and a moat. Grapes have been added to the plants. Cattle breeding was pastoral. Painted utensils and a spiral ornament appear. There was a pouring of copper. Import of metal from the Caucasus. Stone tools predominate.

^ Late period(beginning-third quarter 3 thousand). The largest area. Workshops of flint products. Metal casting in double-sided molds. Two types of ceramics - rough and polished. Story painting. The number of sheep is growing, the number of pigs is decreasing. The role of hunting is growing. Tools were still made of stone, bone and horn. A patriarchal clan develops.

17 Funeral rite as a source

Not all researchers are unanimous in the question of the definition of the concept of "funeral rite". Some adhere to the traditional point of view: the funeral rite is the design of the grave and grave structures, the peculiarities of the position of the skeleton and the peculiarities of the arrangement of things. Others, for example V. Ya. Petrukhie, the funeral rite is considered to be the actions performed by the living over the dead or near it during the preparation of the funeral, their commission and shortly after them.

Not a single feature of the funeral rite in itself can serve as a basis for decisive conclusions. Only the totality of these features, traced in a sufficient number of burials, can become the basis for historical generalizations. Moreover, sometimes even a carefully studied feature of ancient burials requires additional evidence. After all, the funeral rite as a set of certain features gives too few variations, the analogies of each of which are found in a completely different territory and at a different time. All this must be kept in mind when using ancient burials as a historical source.

Burials are divided into burial places, of which the most ancient belong to the Paleolithic, and cremation, which appeared in the Bronze Age. Analysis of the variants of these rites is very important, but they are difficult to interpret.

The essence of the rite of paired burials, i.e. joint burials of a man and a woman are explained taking into account the nature of the corresponding era, but so far there is no satisfactory answer to this question.

The ratios of the burials located under the same mound are important. In this case, some burial mounds of the Bronze Age are typical. In such burial mounds with a large number of burials of different times, stratigraphic observations are of particular importance: the relative position of the graves along the vertical, the establishment of their relative chronology. Here, observations are important not only over the design of the graves, but also over the location of the layers of the embankment, discharges from the pits, construction remains, etc.

18. Bronze Age. General characteristics.

Bronze Age corresponds to a dry and relatively warm subboreal climate, in which the steppes prevailed. There is an improvement in the forms of cattle breeding: stall keeping of cattle, transhumance (yailage) cattle breeding. The Bronze Age corresponds to the fourth stage in the development of metallurgy - the appearance of copper-based alloys (with tin or other comp.). Bronze items were made using casting molds. To do this, an impression was made in clay and dried, and then metal was poured into it. For casting three-dimensional objects, stone molds were made from two halves. Also, things began to be made according to the wax model. Bronze is preferred for casting, as it is more fluid and liquid than copper. Initially, tools were poured according to the type of old (stone), and only later they thought of using the advantages of the new material. The range of products has increased. The intensification of inter-tribal clashes contributed to the development of weapons (bronze swords, spears, axes, daggers). Between the tribes of different territories, inequality began to arise due to the unequal reserves of ore deposits. This was also the reason for the development of the exchange. The easiest means of communication was the waterway. The sail was invented. Even in the Eneolithic, carts and the wheel appeared. Communication between countries contributed to the acceleration of progress in the economy and culture.

19. Bronze Age of the Caucasus.

Kura-Araks (Transcaucasia), Maikop, North Caucasian, Trialet, Koban (Northern Caucasus), Colchis (Western Georgia) cultures. The basis of the addition of these cultures were the Eneolithic cultures of the previous time.

Maikopskaya(the second half of 3 thousand) - occupies the foothill zone of the North Caucasus from the Kuban to Chechen-Ingushetia. Fortified settlements and mounds with large grave pits. Later, barrowed dolmens appear. Gold and silver vessels. Copper things: daggers, axes, chisels. Flint Arrows. Some wealth. mounds speaks of the wealth and authority of tribal leaders. There are signs of the use of the potter's wheel, which is evidence of class formation (although this is debatable). Nek. daggers, arrows, knives, etc., are similar to Mesopotamian and Cretan ones. Figures of lions, bulls, carnelian beads point to the connection with the Middle East. Farming in livestock farming. plan. Large property dif. Ground houses.

North Caucasian(line 3 and 2 thousand) - lands from the Black Sea to Kabardino-Balkaria, entering the mountains and the steppe. Burials in the mountains - in pits. In the steppes and foothills - in barrows. Bronze knives, adzes, axes, jewelry, stone maces are found in the grave goods. The basis of the economy is pastoral cattle breeding and agriculture. Sickles - first liner, then - metal. The social order is patriarchy. Connections with the Catacomb tribes, who received products from arsenic bronzes from the North Caucasian tribes, are noted. The continuation of the North Caucasian is Koban culture(11-4 centuries BC). The metallurgy of the Caucasian bronze is one of the best in the USSR. The main occupation is sheep breeding. Also used horse

20 Yamnaya, catacomb, dolmen, North Caucasian cultures.

Eneolithic

Major events and inventions:

• o two directions of development of the economy and culture in the Eneolithic: settled agriculture and cattle breeding and cattle breeding (steppe Eurasia);
• o distribution of natural irrigation in agricultural zones;
• o the appearance of burial mounds in the steppes;
• o burials containing crouched ochre-covered skeletons;
• o adobe houses, clay figurines of women and painted pottery from sedentary farmers and pastoralists.

Eneolithic cultures of settled farmers and pastoralists

Right-bank Ukraine, Moldova, the Carpatho-Danube zone of Romania and Bulgaria were the territory of the Eneolithic culture of settled agriculture of the Trypillia-Cucuteni. Together with other cultures, it constituted a vast area of ​​the Balkan-Danubian Eneolithic. The culture got its name from the open ones at the village. Trypillya adobe platforms, which turned out to be the floors of dwellings. On the territory of Romania and Bulgaria, the cucuteni culture was later discovered. There was so much in common between the two cultures that they are now regarded as one culture.

Eneolithic settlements spread over a large area are united by a number of common features: the use of copper products along with stone ones; the dominance of hoe agriculture, domestic cattle breeding, the presence of painted pottery and figurines, adobe houses and agricultural cults.

About 150 settlements belong to the early period of the Trypillia-Cucuteni culture. They date back to the 5th - 4th millennium BC. This period is characterized by the predominance of small settlements with an area of ​​about 1 ha with adobe houses and dugouts. They found many flint flakes and plates without retouching, axes, adzes, chisels. Ceramics are decorated with a pattern with recesses filled with white paint. A significant role, along with agriculture and livestock breeding, was given to hunting.

At this time, the formation of local varieties of culture was going on. Monuments are known in Transylvania, the Moldavian Carpathian region, in the valley of the river. Prut and Central Moldova. Another group of settlements is located along the Dniester (Floreshty and others). Recent studies allow us to conclude that the Trypillia-Cucuteni culture developed on the basis of earlier cultures (Boyan and linear-band ceramics) in the Eastern Carpathian region and South-Eastern Transylvania.

The middle period (4th millennium BC) is of great importance. It is marked by the expansion of the territory, the emergence of large settlements, the rise of ceramic production and the mastery of the skills of making painted dishes.

Several hundred Trypillia monuments of this time have been discovered. In the tract Kolomiyshchina near Kyiv, on an area of ​​​​more than 6000 square meters. m found the remains of adobe platforms located in a circle. They were the foundations of ground-based adobe houses, which were covered with a gable roof. Clay models of dwellings found in the settlements helped to restore the structure of the premises. The model from the settlement of Sushkovo depicts a house that is rectangular in plan, divided inside into two rooms. To the right of the entrance, in the corner, there is a vaulted stove with a stove bench adjacent to the side. In another corner, on a small elevation, there is a figure of a woman rubbing grain on a grain grater, there are vessels nearby. Clay models of Trypillian culture houses with stoves, household equipment, and cruciform clay altars are known.

In Vladimirovka and on some other sites, the remains of a large number of dwellings located in circles and oriented with the entrance to the center of the circle, as well as household premises were found. The space inside the circle served as a corral for cattle. Such settlements were probably fortified with a fence. In fact, they were large settlements of the proto-urban type.

The main occupation of the population of Trypillia settlements was hoe farming, as evidenced by the imprints and remains of grains, straw, chaff of wheat, millet and barley in the clay from which the houses were made, as well as agricultural agricultural tools.

Rice. 27.

1 - reconstruction of the dwelling; 2-3 - copper jewelry (Karbuna); 4 - copper axes; 5, 6 - vessels of Trypillia culture; 7-9 - flint tools

Trypillians cultivated the land with hoes made of stone, bone and horn. They grew mainly wheat, barley and millet. The harvest was harvested with primitive sickles. Among the sickles, there are solid-stone, loose-leaf ones; in the later period, metal reaping knives cast from copper also appear. More than 400 copper objects were found in the Karbun treasure alone (the village of Karbuna in Moldova). Among them are two pure copper axes, spiral and lamellar copper bracelets, pendants, anthropomorphic figures, and forged copper beads. The analysis of Trypillia products made it possible to establish that people used pure copper, which was obtained from the mines of the Balkan-Carpathian mountainous region.

Trypillian Eneolithic pottery is diverse: these are large two-conical vessels, crater-shaped, pear-shaped, conical bowls, vessels with angular shoulders, jugs. Vessels of various sizes were used for storing grain, milk and other supplies, for cooking and as tableware. Some vessels are provided with lids. Many of them are decorated with painted ornaments characteristic of the Eneolithic.

Rice. 28.

Trypillians bred small and large cattle, similar in type to the wild tour, bred sheep and pigs. By the end of the Trypillia culture, the horse was domesticated. Several sculptural images of a horse are known. In Trypillia settlements, bones of wild animals are often found - roe deer, deer, elk, beaver and hare. They testify that hunting and gathering at that time played an auxiliary role in the economy.

The heyday of the Trypillia-Cucuteni culture was marked by the contacts of its bearers with the Western cultures Gumelnitsa, Sredny Stog II, Zlota, social differentiation of the population, as evidenced by maces - symbols of power, and the emergence of large urban-type settlements.

The people of Trypillia developed peculiar ideological ideas connected with the agricultural nature of the economy. They are reflected primarily in the ornament on the vessels. A complex and rather stable ornament was associated with people's ideas about the world around them, the Universe. The ornament depicted natural phenomena (rain), the change of day and night, the seasons, plowing and crops guarded by sacred dogs, animals and plant stems. cult vessels usually depicted a three-tiered structure of the world: at the top is the image of the Great Mother of the world, from whose breasts life-giving moisture exudes, below is the miraculous germination of grains and their transformation into ears of corn and the underworld. On separate bowls, apparently intended for ritual ceremonies, "cosmic deer" are depicted, with which the action of heavenly forces was associated. In the heyday of agriculture, the dominant religious and mythological symbol was the Great Mother Universe, her eyes were the sun, and her eyebrows were the vault of heaven.

Trypillia clay figurines of a female deity are associated with the cult of fertility. In general terms, they convey the figure of a naked woman with emphasized signs of gender. The head, face and hands were not significant and were usually shown schematically. The clay from which the figurines were made was mixed with wheat grains and flour.

Along with the Trypillia-Cucuteni, other cultures existed in the Eneolithic in Moldova and in the Right-Bank Ukraine. So, in the lower reaches of the Danube and the Prut, monuments of the early period of the culture of the gumelnitsy are found. More than 20 settlements of the first half and middle of the 4th millennium BC are known related to this culture. It is believed that people moved to the left bank of the Danube from Northern Dobruja. On the territory between the Upper Vistula and the Upper Dniester there was a Zimno-Zlot culture. Here, small settlements are located on high capes and fortified with ditches.

Another area of ​​settled agricultural and pastoral Eneolithic was Central Asia. In its southern regions, on the basis of the Dzheytun early agricultural culture, thanks to the spread of metal and new elements of the economy, the Anau Eneolithic culture developed. During the excavations of two hills near the village of Anau and the hills of Namazga-Tepe and others in Turkmenistan, monuments of a highly developed ancient agricultural culture, later than the Jeytun culture, were discovered. Each hill consists of several chronologically sequential layers, which were formed as a result of the destruction of adobe dwellings and the construction of new houses on their ruins. The settlement of Namazga-tepe occupied an area of ​​about 100 hectares. The excavations of Anau and Namazga made it possible to establish the stratigraphy of the Eneolithic and Bronze Age layers and their chronology (5th - early 3rd millennium BC). The complexes of Southern Turkmenistan are in good agreement with the stratigraphy of the Sialk and Gissar sites of neighboring Iran, where quite early, already in the 6th - early 5th millennium BC. (layer Sialk I), the first metal products appeared.

In Asia Minor, in the village. Hadjilar and other places discovered early agricultural complexes of the 5th millennium BC. Copper products, adobe buildings, painted ceramics, terracotta figurines were found here. Pise buildings, painted ceramics and copper products also distinguish the Hassun Eneolithic culture of Iraq.

These territories were to some extent associated with the previous early agricultural Neolithic and Mesolithic cultures. Thus, the Hassun culture is connected by traditions with the previous culture of the Jarmo type. Pise houses, polychrome paintings, pottery with geometric designs and clay figurines of seated women are typical of the Caliph culture of the 5th millennium BC.

In Central Asia, the monuments of Geoksyur I, Altyn-depe belong to the heyday of the Eneolithic culture. These are large settlements of the proto-urban type with an area of ​​several tens of hectares. Most of them arose in the early Eneolithic and existed during the 3rd - 2nd millennia. Their upper layers date back to the Bronze Age. The settlements were grouped into separate oases. The most significant group is located in the Geoksyursky oasis in the Tejen delta.

Rice. 29.

The location of the Eneolithic settlements in Turkmenistan shows that the valleys of small rivers were used for agriculture, the waters of which irrigated the fields. Artificial irrigation systems were erected here. Sowed mainly cereal crops, the first place was occupied by barley; sheep and bulls, goats and dogs were bred, camels, horses and pigs were tamed a little later. Tools of labor (hoes, sickles, grain grinders) were made mainly of stone. In the lower layers of the Anau I, Mondukly, and Chakmakly settlements, copper awls, leaf-shaped knives, axes, spearheads, pins, needles, and jewelry are found.

The Eneolithic culture also corresponds to dishes typical of ancient agricultural cultures, decorated with elegant painted ornaments, and clay female figurines. The geometric pattern on the dishes of the Eneolithic settlements in Turkmenistan is made in the form of alternating triangles, rhombuses, squares, wavy and straight lines. Early ceramics are decorated with stylized images of animals, birds and humans. A little later, polychrome dishes appear. It is represented by two main types: coarser, household (cauldrons, basins, khums for storage) and tableware (deep bowls, bowls, pots, jugs, plates).

Eneolithic buildings were erected from raw rectangular bricks. The walls of dwellings were decorated with paintings in the form of triangles and rhombuses.

In Geoksyur I, 30 mud-brick tombs were discovered, in which crouched remains were found, buried with their heads towards the south.

The worldview of the Eneolithic farmers of Turkmenistan is very close to the worldview of the inhabitants of other agricultural regions, as evidenced by female statuettes depicting the image of calmly sitting or standing women with magnificent hips and, obviously, had a cult purpose. Probably, the conditional geometric ornament of the Anau culture also had a magical character.

Many elements of the Anau culture (stone tools, hoes, pottery painting, the appearance of objects made of copper) made it possible to express the opinion that this Eneolithic culture was created by local tribes in interaction with immigrants from Iran.

It should be noted that the Eneolithic culture of Geoksyura played an important role in the development of early urban civilization in the regions of Central Asia.

Art of the Neolithic (7-4 thousand BC) and Eneolithic (Copper-Stone Age-4-3 thousand BC)

During the Neolithic period, ceramics appeared - the main factor determining the peculiarity of a particular culture. Ceramic products are carriers of information about archeological cultures that have gone into the past. During the Neolithic and Eneolithic periods, the real flourishing of ornamental art begins, and all the basic laws of ornamentation are used: the exact rhythmic placement of the pattern, the alternation of ornamental zones, the symmetry in the design of equilateral triangles and rhombuses. Another unique phenomenon of the eras we are considering are petroglyphs, which are known in all human habitats. In the Neolithic era, the lag of different regions from each other is outlined and consolidated, due to climatic conditions and the nature of the occupations of the tribes. During this period, different ways of human development clearly stand out, depending on the geographical conditions of the habitat of a given culture: either this is the formation of statehood in the most ancient regions of agriculture, or many centuries of nomadic life and life among wild, uncultivated nature.

The Eneolithic period is the beginning of the Paleometallic era, that is, the Copper - Stone and Bronze Ages. During the Eneolithic period, humanity first learned to smelt tools from the first metal known to it - copper, bronze is spreading. At the same time, along with the ancient method of producing economy - agriculture, a new one is finally taking shape - cattle breeding, which makes it possible to master the vast steppes and foothill zones. In the beginning, let us briefly characterize the art of the Neolithic and Eneolithic in the cultures of the most ancient centers of agriculture, which preceded the period of the emergence of early forms of statehood.

• 1) The Jordanian-Palestinian region (Jericho - 8-7 thousand years BC). Funeral masks, adobe houses, as well as the oldest city walls in the history of mankind have survived.
• 2) Asia Minor region (Chatal-Guyuk). The huge number of statuettes of naked women, symbolizing the cult of fertility, is noteworthy. The surviving sanctuaries are often decorated with the image of a bull. The god in the form of a bull played the same role in the Cretan - Mycenaean civilization and Ancient Egypt of the period of the Early Kingdom (mastabas in Sakkara with bull heads, 4 thousand BC).
• 3) Mesopotamian region (Jarmo culture, 7-6 thousand BC). This region is characterized by unusually decorative ceramics, molded first by hand and then on a potter's wheel. Pottery from Samarra dates back to the 5th millennium BC. e. Religious vessels, bowls, dishes are characterized by a special thoroughness of work. Among the numerous ornaments appear so-called. "primitive swastikas" - a symbol of the cycle of natural elements and the solar course. People, animals, plants - everything spins in a rapid whirlwind of movement, turning into abstract geometric shapes.
• 4) Egyptian center. Neolithic cultures - Tasa and Merimde Beni Salame. Pottery is molded by hand and is devoid of decoration. In clay products, craftsmen strive to reproduce the texture of stone vessels. The favorite material for making vessels among the ancient Egyptians was stone. Vases and dishes were polished to a shine, dematerializing its heaviness and inertness. People and animals are imprinted on the surface of the vessels, as if viewed from different points of view. As a dwelling, small round huts made of reed, plastered with clay, are used.
• 5) Huanghe and Yangtze region.

The center of the Neolithic culture of ancient China was the settlement of Yangshao. Archaeologists have discovered here masterpieces of Neolithic ceramics dating back to 4-3 millennia. They amaze with the brightness of their paintings, painted in red, black and white.

6) The region of the Indus and Ganges valleys.

Neolithic vessels of the Indian civilization from Changhu-Daro are distinguished by a carpet arrangement of predominantly floral ornament. The end of the 4th millennium dates back to small clay figurines of the mother goddess and a bull, typical of the fertility cult. Unlike the Mesopotamian region, the seals were not cylindrical, but rectangular.

8) Geoksyursky oasis region (Turkmenistan). Complexes Kara-depe, Geoksyur I, Altyn-depe.

The dishes are decorated with bright geometric patterns consisting of triangles, rhombuses, squares, and wavy lines. In earlier dishes, stylized images of humans and animals were recognizable. During the late Eneolithic period, ceramics become even brighter and more multicolored. As elsewhere in agricultural cultures, there are small figurines of a female deity.

9) Region of Right-bank Ukraine, Moldova, Carpatho - Danube zone of Romania and Bulgaria. Culture Tripoli - Cucuteni (6-3 thousand BC)

Ground houses, adobe, forming an elongated rectangle in plan, were divided into two halves. The complexes of buildings were located in a ring-shaped manner and were oriented towards the center of the circle. Trypillya ceramics are characterized by a "vortex-like" ornament

10) Iranian region. Zagros culture (7-4 thousand BC).

The Tepe culture - Sialk III has the most colorful, elegant and varied ceramics. Vessels were made on a potter's wheel. Images of snow leopards on vessels are unique. Seals in the form of buttons played the role of magical amulets, and were also reliable protectors of property.

Another form of art was rock art, petroglyphs, steles and large stone sculptures, characteristic of the culture of hunter-gatherers and pastoralists. Images on the rocks were either knocked out with a solid tool from a stone, or painted with red ocher. The petroglyphs depict accurate observations of the natural world, and, at the same time, myths about the origin of this tribe and the arrangement of the Universe are "recorded". Hunting scenes are still very common. Another series of scenes is connected with the world of animals, on the reproduction and well-being of which the well-being of the human collective also depended. There are scenes depicting moose during the mating game from Norway, and in the Russian north there are small sculptural images of them. An important place in rock art, as well as in ceramics, is occupied by solar and lunar symbolism. Elks are identified with the first in northern paintings. Since the Eneolithic era, the theme of the Tree of Life has been spreading in art, where the ideas that have been formed over thousands of years about the natural cycle, about the hidden mysterious forces of nature, about life and death have been embodied.

During the Neolithic and Eneolithic, the process of folding vast complexes of natural and historical sanctuaries was going on. In the Bronze Age, several types of structures were formed, which are not only natural monuments, but also the result of large-scale (for the first time!) Human construction activity. Menhirs - stand-alone or groups of vertically placed stones. The "Stone Army" in Armenia and the Alignans in France are known - extended fields of stone pillars. Dolmens are a type of structure in which several stones are covered with a roof stone. Cromlechs are the oldest architectural complexes with a complex composition and are not only places of worship, but also acting as an astronomical instrument or calendar. Stonehenge is the largest building of primitive architecture, where an attempt to organize earthly chaos and cosmic harmony is carried out on such a powerful scale.