The Mariupol culture (''Mariupol-type cemeteries'') was a transitional culture of the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

and Eneolithic (

Copper Age The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', "copper" and ''líthos'', "stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin '' aeneus'' "of copper"), is an archaeological period characterized by regular ...

) in the

Pontic Steppe Pontic, from the Greek ''pontos'' (, ), or "sea", may refer to: The Black Sea Places * The Pontic colonies, on its northern shores * Pontus (region), a region on its southern shores * The Pontic–Caspian steppe, steppelands stretching from nor ...

during the second half of the 5th millennium BCE. The final stages of this culture are described as the ''Post-Mariupol culture''. The Post-Mariupol culture was superseded by Sredny Stog culture. In older works, it is referred to as a part of wider Dnieper-Donetsk culture also known as the Mariupol type cultures. During the building of the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works in 1930, Mykola Makarenko unearthed a burial site on the bank of the Kalmius river. The site was naturally raised over surrounding marshlands and had signs of

ochre Ochre ( ; , ), or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colours produced ...

painting. Makarenko uncovered 122 human remains in what seemed to be one trench used as community grave, where younger bodies were added to the older ones with respect. The position of the bodies was extended supine with a southeast or northwest orientation. The Mariupol cemetery contained numerous stone tools including microliths, flint axes, bone beads, necklaces of animal teeth, boar-tusks, bone tutuli and other objects of bone. There was almost no pottery, though. In addition to the name site mentioned above, similar sites include

Vasylivka Vasylivka ( uk, Васи́лівка, ; rus, links=on, Васильевка, p=vɐˈsʲilʲjɪfkə) is a city in Zaporizhzhia Oblast (province) in southern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Vasylivka Raion. The city is situate ...

, Deriivka I, Vovnigi (on the

Dnipro River } The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and B ...

), Dolinka (

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

), Staronizhesteblievskaya (

Kuban Kuban (Russian language, Russian and Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Кубань; ady, Пшызэ) is a historical and geographical region of Southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Pontic–Caspian steppe, ...

Region) and many others. The identity of these sites is disputed, with some scholars assigning them to the Dnipro-Donets, Azov-Dnieper or the Lower Don culture. D. Ya. Telegin, an expert on Neolithic and Eneolithic

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

, asserts that the Mariupol-type cemeteries seem to have had their origins in the late

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymous ...

and endured into the

: a period of more than two thousand years (c. 6500–4000 cal BC). They were primarily fisher-hunter-gatherers familiar with livestock through exchange or

pastoralism Pastoralism is a form of animal husbandry where domesticated animals (known as "livestock") are released onto large vegetated outdoor lands (pastures) for grazing, historically by nomadic people who moved around with their herds. The animal ...

. In terms of biological anthropology, Mariupol remains appear to be Caucasoid and physically larger than their contemporaries.

References

External links

Basic facts in English

* ttp://www.antiquity.ac.uk/Ant/077/Ant0770456.htm Settlement and economy in Neolithic Ukraine: a new chronology. (by D.Ya. Telegin & co.) Antiquity, September 2003.
Neolithic cultures of the Ukraine and adjacent areas and their chronology.(by D.Ya. Telegin) Journal of World Prehistory, 1987.
{{coord, 47.1086, N, 37.6106, E, source:wikidata, display=title History of Mariupol Archaeological cultures of Eastern Europe Chalcolithic cultures of Europe Archaeological cultures in Russia Archaeological cultures in Ukraine 5th millennium BC

See also

References

External links