For a number of years, researchers have associated Late Bronze Age (LBA) (2100 – 1300 BCE) settlements in the Trans-Ural steppe with nomadic pastoralism. This would have involved entire populations making periodic movements between pastures. To test this claim, I have synthesized eight lines of data from more than 40 archaeological sites. The analysis of settlement architecture, material culture accumulation rates, herd composition, osteological seasonality markers, stable isotopes, the degree of transportability of artifacts, haymaking activities, and symbolic behavior has allowed me to conclude the following. First, the settlements of the Sintashta, Petrovka, Alakul, and Srubnaya-Alakul cultural types were sedentary, i.e., occupied year-round by at least a portion of the population. If herder groups left their respective communities for extended periods of time, these moves were localized (within a 15 km radius). Furthermore, if separate nomadic pastoralist sub-groups were present, they were not numerous (∼10 % of the total population). The long-term tendency to see LBA communities as nomadic is rooted in the strong influence of ethnography on Eurasian steppe scholars. Based on these findings, I argue that LBA societies of the central steppes require no special approaches to account for community-level seasonal mobility in the context of settlement pattern studies. This opens up the possibility of focusing on the previously understudied theme of regional demography. Finally, this paper adds the Trans-Urals to the list of world regions where crop cultivation was not a necessary prerequisite for large-scale sedentism.

中文翻译：

---

游牧民族志的暴政：重新接近青铜时代晚期（公元前 2100-1300 年）在欧亚草原中部的流动性


多年来，研究人员将外乌拉尔草原的青铜时代晚期 （LBA）（公元前 2100 – 1300 年）定居点与游牧业联系起来。这将涉及整个种群在牧场之间定期移动。为了验证这一说法，我综合了来自 40 多个考古遗址的 8 行数据。对聚落结构、物质培养积累率、畜群组成、骨季节性标志物、稳定同位素、人工制品的可运输程度、干草制作活动和象征行为的分析使我得出以下结论。首先，Sintashta、Petrovka、Alakul 和 Srubnaya-Alakul 文化类型的定居点是定居的，即至少有一部分人口全年居住。如果牧民群体长时间离开各自的社区，这些迁移是局部的（半径 15 公里以内）。此外，如果存在单独的游牧牧民亚群，他们并不多（约占总人口的 10%）。长期以来，将 LBA 社区视为游牧社区的趋势植根于民族志对欧亚草原学者的强大影响。基于这些发现，我认为在定居模式研究的背景下，中部草原的 LBA 社会不需要特殊方法来解释社区层面的季节性流动性。这为关注以前未被充分研究的区域人口学主题提供了可能性。最后，本文将跨乌拉尔地区添加到作物种植不是大规模定居的必要先决条件的世界地区列表中。