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| Geographical range | NorthwestBlack Sea: eastern Romania, Moldova and southern Ukraine |
|---|---|
| Period | Copper Age |
| Dates | ca. 3650–2740 BCE |
| Preceded by | Mikhaylovka culture,Kemi-Oba culture,Cucuteni–Trypillia culture,Cernavodă culture |
| Followed by | Yamnaya culture,Ezero culture,Coţofeni culture,Baden culture, possiblyTroad,Aegean civilisation (?) |
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Archaeology Chalcolithic (Copper Age) Pontic Steppe Caucasus East Asia Eastern Europe Northern Europe Bronze Age Northern/Eastern Steppe Europe
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TheUsatove culture (Usatove inUkrainian,Usatovo in Russian) is an Eneolithic group of the northwest and west Pontic region (ca. 3650-2740 BCE),[1] with influences from theCucuteni–Trypillia culture as well as the Eneolithic steppe cultures of the North Pontic. Usatove culture flourished west and northwest of theBlack Sea in easternRomania,Moldova and southernUkraine, in more than 50 sites.[2]The culture got its name from the village ofUsatove in theOdesa Oblast ofUkraine.[3]
The Usatove culture appears to be a mixture of the Eneolithic agrarian cultures ofSoutheast Europe, with influences from the steppe cultures from thePontic–Caspian steppe. The Eneolithic farming culture influences on Usatove include clay figurines and painted ceramics, while it sharestumulus (kurgan) burials and shell-tempered coarse wares with steppe cultures. It also displays items made of metal, such as arsenical bronze and silver, which suggests contacts with theNorth Caucasus as well asAnatolia.
In Ukraine, Usatove culture sites are predominantly located in the Dniester-Danube interfluve. The two largest Usatove archaeological sites in Ukraine, Usatove-Velykyj Kuyalnik andMayaky,[4] contain kurgan and ground cemeteries (necropoli).
Within theKurgan hypothesis, the Usatove culture represents the domination of native Cucuteni–Trypillia agriculturalists byIndo-European peoples from the steppe. According to Anthony, the roots of thepre-Germanic languages lay in the Usatove culture.[5]
While the generally accepted chronological placement of Usatove is in the second half of the 4th millennium BCE, radiocarbon dates on human remains identified as Usatove are consistently older. Most of these dates cluster around the last quarter of the 5th - first quarter of the 4th millennium BCE.[6][7] It is likely that the dates on human remains are influenced by aquaticreservoir effect, the precise quantification of which is not possible at the moment due the lack of radiocarbon and stable isotope data from contextual faunal remains.
Radiocarbon dates on pottery are between 3400 and 2900 BCE, around 600 years later than analyses in human bones, which indicate Usatove culture would have lasted (c. 4000-3500 BCE).[8]
![Arsenical bronze swords and copper axe, Ukraine[9]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aHoard_with_copper_axe_and_five_swords_or_long_daggers_from_Ivan%2527ky%2c_Mankivka_District%2c_Ukraine.png)
A number of Usatove artifacts come from rather remote territories, most likely testifying in favor of a multi-stage exchange. In the kurgan near the village of Sadove, on the western bank of the Dniester Estuary, beads made of white faience, jet, Mediterranean horn corals (gorgonians) and an amulet pendant made of typical Egyptian "alabaster" were identified. Bone labrysoid beads from the same burial mound come from the area of the post-Mariupol culture. It is difficult to judge where the bead of red amber known in Usatove came from. Glass beads found in the second burial mound of the Usatove-Velykyi Kuialnyk archaeological complex (along with finds in the Sofievsky burial mound near Kyiv and beads from a hoard near the village of Ketroshika in Moldova, in the Middle Dniester region) are the oldest glass known in the Old World. They were likely made in the Circum-Pontic area (indicated by the presence of arsenic in the glass). These are believed to be of local origin - as a product associated with bronze metallurgy, and imported - from Anatolia or South Transcaucasia.[10]
According to genetic studies, males of the Usatove culture carried such Y haplogroups as E1b1b1a1, J1 (J-FT265222), R1a, and R1b1a2a2. Mitochondrial DNA lineages of Usatove are represented by H5, I5, U4, U4b1b2, U4d3, U5a1a1, U5a1f1, T2h2, W1, X2, and X2d.[11][12]
Recent studies indicate that Usatove ancestry consists of equal parts of the ancestry of the Lower Volga-Caucasus (CLV, PVgroup) and Trypillia.[11]
