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By the middle of II millennium BC. e. In the forest-steppe zop of Eastern Europe, the Abashevsk cultural and historical community formed mainly of the cattle-breeding population, the monuments of which are now known on the territory from the left bank of the Dnieper in the west (the Desna and Seym basins) to the river. Tobol – in the east, and the chronological limits are determined by the second – third quarter of II millennium BC. e. The study of Abashev antiquities dates back more than 100 years (Pryakhin, 1981). Abashev culture itself was first isolated only after the excavation of prof. V.F.Smolin in 1925 of the Abashevsky burial ground in the territory of Chuvashia (Smolin, 1928; Smoline, 1927). Intensive studies of the Abashev burial grounds on the territory of the Chuvash Republic and the Mari ASSR in the post-war decades (Merpert, 1961; Halikov, Lebedinskaya, Gerasimova, 1966a) gradually outlined the idea of Abashev culture in the Middle Volga region and determined the comprehension of all Abashev antiquities (Yevtyukhov, 1964;. N., 1961; Halikov, 1966).

People of Abashevskaya culture are mainly engaged in cattle-breeding with subordinate importance of agriculture. The herd was dominated by cattle with a significant role of small cattle. The latter is especially characteristic for the early stage of development of this population and for those groups of Abashevists who continued to maintain a certain mobility at a later time. Separate groups in the late Abashev time show a tendency to the development of settled cattle-breeding and farming (the appearance of significant long-term villages, the presence of pig bones in these settlements, an increase in the number of evidence of farming, etc.) – a whole group of the late Abashev villages in the lower reaches of the river is especially indicative. Voronezh. There are horses in the herd of this population. In the more northern regions, on the territory of the modern Mari-Chuvash Volga region, the Abashev population was more mobile and, obviously, was more involved in pastoral cattle breeding. But I must say that in this region, and even now, people have always been engaged mainly in dairy cattle breeding, which did not make them nomads. In modern Finland, agriculture is also predominantly occupied by dairy farming, which does not make them nomads. The level of development of livestock breeding has led to wide opportunities for the use of livestock by Abashevites for transport and military purposes. The latter, in turn, not only contributed to their distribution over significant territories, but also was one of the conditions for the formation of a huge cultural and historical community. Here you need to understand the specifics of cow breeding and their needs, the abundance of water and grass, and in addition, the cow loves to sit in the water in the summer, escaping from gadfly. It was among the Abashevites, especially at the late stage of their development, that disc-shaped psalms with spikes became widespread, the most impressive are two ivory-ornamented psalms from the main burial of the mound 2 of the Old Yuryevsky burial ground in the Upper Don region. The finds of such psalms record the first appearance of chariot transport in the Eurasian steppe and forest-steppe (Pryakhin, 1972, p. 238; 1976 a, p. 124; Cherednichenko, 1976, p. 147 – 148; Smirnov, Kuzmina, 1977, p. 42 – 45,) The very fact of using disk-shaped psalies in the harness of chariots was undeniably confirmed during excavations of the Sintashta burial ground in the Trans-Urals, in the burials of which it was possible to trace the remains of such chariots themselves (Gening, 1977, p. 59, 66).

This population was the first in a sufficiently large volume to begin the development of the Ural copper deposits, especially the Trans-Ural copper deposits Tash-Kazgan and Nikolskoye, using the copper sandstones of the Urals, as well as the Volga region (Salnikov, 1962; Chernykh, 1964; 1970, p. 27 – 28, 108—111, etc.). Abashevsky masters developed their form of tools, weapons, and jewelry. The Abashevites are known for lamellar implements (knives, sickles, brackets) that have different functional purposes, their types of bent-axes: Kamsky, according to B. G. Tikhonov (Tikhonov, 1960, pp. 59—62), narrow-billed, according to E. N. Chernykh (Chernykh, 1970, p. 58, fig. 50), Abashevsky, according to S. A. Korenevsky (Korenevsky, 1973, p. 44—47, fig. 4), flat tesel axes, according to B. G. Tikhonov (Tikhonov, 1960, p. 66), type of elongated tesel axes with an expanded heel, according to E.N. Chernykh (Chernykh, 1970, p. 62), forged tip tips with an open sleeve, several varieties of knives and daggers, etc.. Abashevo masters produced petaloid plaques, rosettes, bracelets, which have not closed, often priostrennye ends, small grooved suspension and so on. D. For abashevtsev characteristic rich decoration of clothes, especially headgear, sewed small semicircular plaques wire pronizkami and other ornaments.

The very scale of development of the Abashev metallurgy is also determined by the findings of the series of the Abashev metal, considered in the literature under the concept of “treasure”, which geographically gravitate to deposits in the Urals and Trans-Urals (Krasnoyarsk, Verkhne-Kizylsky, near Dolgaya Gora, etc.). Their finds do not go to the right bank of the Volga. Moreover, some of the “treasures” are hardly left directly by the Abashev population.Some of them (Galich, Korshunovsky, Morozovsky) may indicate not so much the direct resettlement of the Abashevites in the forest regions of the Volga region, but rather the spread of the Abashev metal to the more northern territories. This population built at first large two-chamber or multi-chamber, having a gable roof, slightly deepened into the mainland dwellings, and then large in area, also slightly deepened into the mainland, but already single-chamber buildings with an adjoining vestibule.

An abyssal burial rite with the construction of flattened embankments is characteristic of the Abashev population. There is an interval between the time of the burial and the construction of the embankment. A feature of the funeral rite of this population was the construction of ring (less often rectangular) extra-grave structures that limit a significant area around one or more graves. The presence of independent rectangular pillar structures around individual graves is sometimes noted. The funeral rite of the Abashev population is characterized by a varying degree of the cult of fire (burning of ground constructions, pouring of burning coal into the grave, etc.) and animal sacrifice (the position of parts or skins with head and legs). Grave pits are most often elongated-rectangular, sometimes have a wooden or stone decoration. The dead were laid on their backs with their legs extended or raised. The eastern and southeastern orientations of the dead are more common. The presence of dissected, partial, i.e., repeated burials, is noted. Finally, the complete absence of bones in a number of grave pits testifies to cenotaphs, which confirms the presence of some complex, yet incomprehensible funeral traditions among the Abashevites, which also brings them closer to the Hellenic tradition. Single burials are common. But in the outlying regions, especially in the zones of contacts with foreign cultural tribes, collective burials such as mass graves are frequent: Pepkinsky and Staro-Ardatovsky mounds in the Middle Volga region, I Yukalekulevsky mound in Bashkiria. For barrows, stone extra-grave structures not characteristic of other Abashev cultures are most characteristic. Only here the stone was widely used in the design of grave pits. In some cases, powerful bonfires were noted that burned over the grave pits after the burial. More often than in other territories, the presence of partial and repeated burials is recorded. The dead were laid on their backs elongated or with raised legs. There is no stability in the orientation of the dead.

Among the forms of ceramics, there are more bell-shaped bowls and fewer bell-shaped pots. Bell-shaped vessels here often have a significantly lower corolla height. Images of a meander and a swastika appear on the vessels. Dishes are also blackened or ground, traditional for Indo-Europeans.

Vessel from the State Historical Museum, Abashevskaya culture. Meander.

Temporal lobed rings

Differences are manifested even in small pointed rib vessels – the presence of a direct fall in the neck region from the inside is especially significant. In the decoration of vessels, meander and lobed patterns are much more often noted, the tradition of decorating their lower part with a drawn vertical herringbone, etc. In the Ural territory, rounded bracelets with non-closed blunt ends, metal overlays, plate plaques are common. The bracelets are spiral, and also from the time of the catacomb culture, temporal lobed rings have been used.

Only here, multi-turn small grooved pendants and metal beads are known. A significant set of metal tools and weapons. The outlined solution to the question of the origin and future fate of the Abashev population is also responsible for the approach to elucidating the ethnic group of this population. The denial of the genetic connection with the Abashevites of the preceding cultures of the Volga forest, as well as the lack of direct inheritance of the Abashev traits by the Finno-Ugric cultures of the early Iron Age of the Volga region, is a serious argument in favor of the denial of the Finno-Ugric ethnic group of the Abashevites. At the same time, the definition of their ethnic group as Indo-Iranian is becoming more and more obvious (for the first time such a point of view was expressed by A. Kh. Khalikov). This interpretation of the ethnic group of the Abashevites receives additional arguments in connection with new arguments in favor of the fact that the Abashevites, with their historical roots, development and further fate, are connected with the world of the masses of the population of the ancient, Srubnaya and Alakul cultural and historical communities, which are now more and more definitely viewed directly connection with the problem of the early history of the Indo-Europeans, and then their group of Indo-Iranian branches.