Middle to Late Bronze Age Transition in the Southern Urals (Russia):: a Settlement Pattern Perspective

This monograph focuses on the transitional period between the Middle Bronze Age (MBA) and the Late Bronze Age (LBA) in the Southern Urals, Russia. GIS-based analysis of Bronze Age settlement patterns in the Kyzil Area points to a number of important findings. The study concludes the demographic impossibility of an autonomous development scenario of the Sintashta ? Srubnaya-Alakul cultural transformation, rejects the presence of ?proto-city? or urbanization developments in the region during the Bronze Age, and points to the shift to a more collective form of control over natural resources during the LBA period. The study also examines the spatial distribution of ?kurgan? cemeteries in the area. Among other things, this thesis illustrates how settlement pattern studies can add to and complement the heavily burial data - driven research, often relied upon in the archaeological analysis of the Eurasian Steppes.