"New" Bronze Age settlement in Russia

[bixaorellana]

Traces of a previously unknown Bronze Age civilization have been discovered in the peaks of Russia's Caucasus Mountains thanks to aerial photographs taken 40 years ago, researchers said Monday.

Stone foundations from the 16th to the 14th centuries BC have been discovered, all "visibly constructed according to the same architectural plan and connected by roads."

An excavation participant credits old black-and-white photographs taken in the Soviet Union for the discovery.

The aerial picture below right, taken around 1970, shows a stone structure located in the mountains, south of Kislovodsk
source

Above is an artist's depiction of the Kuban civilization, which was discovered at the end of the 19th century at the foot of Mount Kazbek and is known for its artistic bronze works.

The decorations and forms of bronze items found in the newly discovered area indicate the civilization is linked to the Kuban civilization.

[frenchmystiquetour]

Cool! I'll have to google a little more info on this.

[bixaorellana]

Oh, please post what you find, Fmt! I was really frustrated, as I kept finding the same story repeatedly. I guess it's the official press release. Be sure to click on the red word "source" in the OP for the rest of the story, such as it is.

[bixaorellana]

a few more details:

Russian claims to uncover "Caucasian Stonehenge"
By Mansur Mirovalev (AP) – 2 days ago

MOSCOW — A Russian archaeologist claimed Tuesday to have found the well-preserved ruins of a "Caucasian Stonehenge" built by a previously unknown Bronze Age civilization in southern Russia.

Andrey Belinskiy said that unusual circular settings made of stones were found at one of some 200 settlements that date back to 1600 B.C. and are located in the North Caucasus mountains. The settlements have been uncovered in the past five years by a Russian-German expedition he heads, Belinskiy said.

He referred to the structure as a "Caucasian Stonehenge," drawing a comparison with the famous monument in southwest England.

"Any structure of unusual shape could be related to a calendar," Belinskiy told The Associated Press adding that the structures did not resemble barns and houses his expedition found in other settlements.

He said that ceramics found in the area had ornaments that suggested that their creators were familiar with astronomy and calendars. The civilization he found left no written records and its ethnic origins are unknown, he said.

Valentina Kozenkova, a Caucasus history professor at the Russian Academy of Sciences called the finding "unique and unparalleled."

Russian and Soviet historians have found several Bronze Age structures in Russia and Central Asia that were used as calendars and were surrounded by ritual landscapes.

The North Caucasus is one of the world's most ethnically diverse regions, located between the Caspian and Black seas. The region had millenia-long contacts with civilizations of Mesopotamia, Central Asia and Iran.

Belinskiy said the dwellers of the settlements he uncovered were cattle-grazers who occupied the Alpine areas ideal for their livestock. "It was their climatic niche," he said.

The settlements had carefully designed houses and oval courtyards for cattle and were built on the mountain plateau between the Kuban River and today's city of Kislovodsk, he said.

"They were built by one standard, one measurement system, with landscape and climate factors taken into consideration," he said.

Belinskiy said the highlanders later merged with the so-called Kuban culture, known for exquisite bronze artifacts and extensive agriculture.

"They were superfarmers who left no patch of land uncultivated," Belinskiy said. "But that led to an environmental disaster, and the area was reclaimed only centuries later."

[frenchmystiquetour]

Sorry Bixa. I can't find anything new on this site. Just the same info you already uncovered. I saw there was some debate over whether these structures were cattle pens, houses or ritual structures and I believe they are the latter. They look too small to be cattle pens and the objects recovered within them seem to me to be quite ornate for everyday life associated with a housing settlement. I also didn't see anything in any of the photos that much resembled an opening to allow for either human or animal ingress/egress. Also there are no burials nearby, which apparently have been discovered at other settlements nearby from this culture. It sounds like we'll learn more about this only slowly in upcoming years.