What are the reasons for the disappearance of the Late Bronze Age civilizations in the 13th-12th centuries BC? It was then that cultures collapsed or changed dramatically throughout almost the entire space from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean and the transition to the Early Iron Age began. Recently, scientists believe that significant climate change caused this disaster.

More than 3,200 years ago, the mighty Hittite Empire and Egypt flourished under the scepter of the great Pharaoh Ramses II. The island of Cyprus was famous as a copper mining center. Mycenaean culture reached its apogee in Attica. It was noisy on the streets of the city of Ugarit on the Syrian coast. In the land of Canaan, the city-states of Hazor and Megiddo, which were under Egyptian hegemony, prospered. A century and a half later, this entire flourishing ancient world has sunk into eternity.

In the period 1206-1150 BC, the Hittite kingdom in Anatolia and Syria fades and Egypt's dominance in Syria and Canaan ends. The population left many cities forever, including Ugarit, Hattusa and Mycenae. The decline in literacy led to the disappearance of the Mycenaean Linear and Luwian writing. There were rare exceptions that only confirmed the rule. Despite the bronze collapse, Cyprus came to life, since the island served as a starting point for the expansion of the Sea Peoples into the Levant.

Experts put forward various reasons for the Bronze Age catastrophe, traditionally seeing them in wars, earthquakes and disease epidemics, only occasionally glancing in the direction of Lady Famine. The first documented fact dates back to the middle of the 13th century BC, when in her message to Ramses II the Hittite queen complained that there was no grain in her land.

Palynology, the study of pollen and spores, has long gone hand in hand with paleoarchaeology to help historians peer into the past. Palynological or spore-pollen analysis is used to reconstruct the vegetation cover and climate of past eras. Pollen grains and spores are some of nature's most durable organic materials, best preserved over thousands of years in reservoir sediments and deserts. Each plant has pollen in a special shape, like a fingerprint, so pollen analysis allows us to reconstruct the plant cover and therefore determine what climate changes have occurred.

Recently, the results of a completed three-year study conducted by a group of scientists from different countries were published in the latest issue of the archaeological journal of Tel Aviv University Journal of the Institute of Archaeology. By studying palynomorphs, that is, pollen of angiosperms and gymnosperms, as well as spores of plants and fungi, plant stomata, remains of algal cells, microscopic remains of animals taken from sedimentary rocks below the level of the Sea of ​​Galilee and the western coast of the Dead Sea, the scientific community has rendered its verdict.

According to radiocarbon dating, the collapse occurred between 1250 and 1100 BC and was caused by the fact that in the late Bronze Age in the southern Levant there was a sharp decline in the number of trees typical of the Mediterranean, and not only wild ones like oak, pine and carob tree, but also olive trees grown in some places. According to some experts, the data obtained indicates a series of dry periods.

Somewhat earlier, geographer and historian Professor Ronnie Ellenblum from the University of Jerusalem reports New York Times, based on another collapse that occurred two thousand years later than that which occurred at the end of the Bronze Age, showed that the reduction in rainfall in the steppe regions had a more catastrophic effect than similar climatic changes affecting fertile valleys and populated areas located there, such as as the city-state of Megiddo (now in Israel). In addition, the drought is likely to be exacerbated by colder temperatures and, as the study has shown, is causing famine and mass migrations from north to south by crowds of desperate people and plunderers.

Features of the Bronze Age.

In the Bronze Age (beginning of the 2nd millennium BC), the metallurgy of copper and bronze arose and developed, i.e. The technology for producing bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, was invented. Therefore, this era was called the Bronze Age.

The Bronze Age is divided into three periods:
1) Early Bronze – ХVІІІ – ХVІ centuries. BC.
2) Middle Bronze – XV – XIII centuries. BC.
3) Late Bronze – XII – VIII centuries. BC.

In the Bronze Age, the archaic forms of economy and life of the Neolithic era are replaced by cattle breeding and agriculture; temporary camps for wandering hunters - permanent, with elements of improvement. At the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. The steppe tribes of Kazakhstan are developing a complex cattle-breeding and agricultural economy. The Bronze Age is a time of development of cattle breeding as a form of economy, hoe farming also develops, and new tools are used in agriculture. In the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. In the steppe zone of Eurasia, pastoral tribes are distinguished.

At the end of the 2nd - beginning. 1st millennium BC (Late Bronze Age) the majority of the population of the steppe regions of Kazakhstan switched to a new form of economy - nomadic cattle breeding. The separation of pastoralists from the rest of the tribes was the first major social division of labor.

In the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. the tribes inhabiting modern Kazakhstan mastered the production of bronze products. Mining developed. There are many known ancient ore developments in the areas of Dzhezkazgan and Zyryanovsk (copper), in the Atasu Mountains, the Kalby and Narym Rivers (tin), in Kazangunkur, Stepnyak and Akdzhal (gold). More than 100 settlements and 150 burial grounds of the Bronze Age have been discovered. Foundry workshops were found, and the production of products from alloys of various metals was improved: tools (knives, sickles, scythes, axes), weapons (daggers, spear and arrowheads), jewelry (plaques, bracelets, beads, hryvnias).

The ancient masters of the Bronze Age were well versed in the techniques of casting, chasing, stamping, grinding, sawing and polishing. Stone tools (grain grinders, mortars, pestles) continued to be used for grinding grain. The production of products from other materials (horn, bone, silicon) developed; ceramics, fabrics, leather and wool products were produced.

There is a change in public attitudes. The rapid development of cattle breeding and metallurgy required mainly male labor, which led to a strengthening of the role of men in society and to the replacement of the maternal family with the paternal one. A patriarchal-tribal system is emerging. The products of labor accumulated, exchange developed, which entailed the emergence of property inequality, the isolation of individual patriarchal families, family property, and led to the disintegration of the primitive communal system.
In religious beliefs there was a cult of fire, a cult of ancestors, and cosmogonic1) cults arose.

Andronovo culture of the Bronze Age.

In the early (XVIII-XVI centuries BC) and middle (XV-XII centuries BC) periods of the Bronze Age, Kazakhstan was inhabited by tribes of the Andronovo culture, covering, in addition to Kazakhstan, Siberia, the Urals and Central Asia. The Andronovo culture is one of the largest Bronze Age cultures in Europe and Asia. Its monuments are spread over a vast territory from the Yenisei in the east to the Urals in the west, covering vast areas of Southern Siberia, Kazakhstan, the Urals, Central Asia to Southern Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Northern Pakistan. Andronovo culture is a conventional name for a number of cultures whose bearers are related in historical destinies and development.

In 1914, the expedition of B.G. Andrianov excavated the first monument of the Andronovskaya culture near the village of Andronov, near the city of Achinsk in Southern Siberia, so this culture was called Andronovskaya (established by A.Ya. Tugarinov). Archaeological monuments of the Andronovo culture indicate that the tribes that belonged to it led a sedentary lifestyle and built dwellings in floodplains. Patriarchal families settled in large dugouts, semi-dugouts, adjacent to which were various types of outbuildings, and were engaged in raising livestock and cultivating crops.
The Andronovo culture is characterized by the presence of metal (usually bronze) tools, weapons, decorations (made of gold, bronze, copper), ceramics decorated with geometric patterns.

The main ethnographic difference of the Andronovo culture is in the burial features: the deceased are on their sides, in a crouched position, in “boxes” made of stone slabs or rectangular ground pits, the walls of which are lined with stone, with a stone lid on top. Sometimes the corpse was burned.

Some of the centers of the Andronovo culture were found in Central Kazakhstan (Atasu, Buguly, Nurtai, Belasar), Eastern Kazakhstan (Trushnikovo, Kanai, Malokrasnoyarka), Northern Kazakhstan (Stepnyak, Borovoe, Alekseevskoye, Sadchikovskoye, Petrovka and Bogolyubovo in the Irtysh region). One of them is the city of Arkaim (on the border of the Kustanai and Chelyabinsk regions), in Semirechye and Southern Kazakhstan the largest concentrations of drawings were discovered - Tamgaly, Karatau.
In the lower reaches of the Syrdarya, in the Aral region, there is the mausoleum of Tegisken and Tautary. Dozens of monuments have been discovered in Western Kazakhstan - the settlements of Tasty-butak, Akhmet-auyl, Besbay, Kirgeldy, Uralysay, etc. Researchers of the Andronovo culture - A.Ya.Tugarinov, S.A.Teploukhov, M.P.Gryaznov, K.V.Solnikov, Kazakh scientists - A.H.Margulan, K.A.Akishev, A.G.Maksimova, S. S. Chernikov, A. M. Orazbaev.

The Andronovo culture of the Early Bronze Age (XVIII-XVI centuries) is called Fedorovsky for Northern Kazakhstan, and Nurinsky for Central Kazakhstan.

The middle bronze in Northern Kazakhstan is called the Alakul period, in the Central - the Atasu period (XV - XIII centuries BC). Since the 12th century BC. (third period XII - XIII centuries) Andronovo culture is replaced by nomadic cultural communities of the Late Bronze Age: Srubnaya - in Western Kazakhstan and Begazy - Dandybaevskaya - in Central Kazakhstan, named after finds near the village of Dandybay near Karaganda and in the Begazy tract in Northern Balkhash. In Northern Kazakhstan, monuments of the Early Bronze Age are known in the Petropavlovsk region.

Features of the Begazy-Dandybaevskaya culture.
1) Economic life was based on nomadic cattle breeding.
2) Construction of a special type of gravestone structures.
3) A kind of funeral rite.
4) The emergence of new forms of pottery.
5) The presence of a large number of copper mines.

Farming.

The invention of bronze gave a powerful impetus to the development of economic and social relations in society.

The predominant type of occupation of the Andronovo people was pastoralism. They mainly bred cows, sheep, goats, horses, and Bactrian camels.

During the Late Bronze Age, the yailage (semi-nomadic) type of cattle breeding arose to increase the number and productivity of cattle breeding. Home-based livestock farming, when livestock grazes close to the settlement, became unprofitable, as pastures were gradually trampled and became scarce. Yaylazh cattle breeding involves constant summer and winter migrations; the length of such seasonal migrations in different natural zones was different. For example, in Semirechye the distance from winter to summer pastures reached from 50 to 80 km. In Western Kazakhstan, migrations stretched for hundreds of kilometers, crossing steppes and deserts.

So, gradually, from the home-based cattle breeding, yailazh or transhumance cattle breeding grew, and then nomadic cattle breeding, in which both steppe and desert pastures were used, which made it possible to sharply increase the number of herds, where the number of cattle in it decreased, and the number of sheep and horses increased. In X-IX BC. Horse breeding predominates among Andronovo residents.

The Andronovo people led a sedentary lifestyle until 1 thousand BC. Their economy was mixed: pastoral and agricultural. The land was loosened and cultivated using stone hoes, which is why farming was called hoe farming. Mostly barley, millet and wheat were sown. The harvest was harvested with bronze and copper sickles, and grain graters were used to grind grain into flour.

Metallurgy played an important role in the life of the tribes of that time. Raw materials for production
tools and weapons were bronze - an alloy of copper and tin. It was distinguished by its hardness, low melting point, and beautiful golden color.

Ore was mined by simple pickling. When making their way to ore-bearing veins, they also used the method of fire penetration, if there were dense rocks: a fire was lit on their surface and then watered. Ancient miners dug through adits and secured the roof. Ore was smelted in forge-type furnaces. Charcoal was used for smelting; quartz and ocher were used as flux. Copper and tin ore were smelted separately, and when casting a particular item, tin and copper were added.

During the Bronze Age, crafts and weaving developed, ceramic dishes were made by hand modeling, using the tape technique, and formed on blanks; The dishes were polished, ornamented, and fired. Weapons were made: arrows with bronze leaf-shaped tips, spear tips, axes, bronze daggers.

During the Bronze Age the art of jewelry developed. Jewelry from the Andronovo culture testifies to the emergence of jewelry art on the territory of Kazakhstan in the 2nd millennium BC. (XVI-XIV centuries). They are few in number and mostly found in relatively rich burials.

Among Andronovo jewelry, the most common are earrings in the form of rings with closed ends. The archaeological symbol of the Andronovo culture are earrings and pendants made of one and a half turns of plate, covered with sheet gold. Mirrors, beads, pins, plaques, stripes are of high perfection.

Women of the Bronze Age wore bronze earrings in their ears. The neck was decorated with bronze hryvnias, and the hands were decorated with bracelets and rings. Andronovo residents produced works of art needed in everyday life. For example, a stone pestle with a sculptured image of a man’s head was found on the Nura River.

Social system.

During the Bronze Age, noticeable changes occurred in the organization of social life. The maternal line was replaced by the paternal line. Primitive communal relations gradually decomposed, and property differentiation intensified. This is evidenced by the Andronovo burials, some of which were built in the form of large mounds, where rich weapons and jewelry were located along with the deceased. But there were also poor burials, in which clay pots, modest jewelry, and parts of sacrificial animals were placed.

By the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. The tribal community of Andronovo decomposed, as a result, three solo groups were identified: the military aristocracy, priests and tribal community members.

Wars, as a means of enrichment, are becoming commonplace, therefore, from among the community members, a military aristocracy-warriors - charioteers stand out. Priests are included in a special group. The priests were stewards of religious rites, keepers of ancient traditions and knowledge; their distinctive feature was a wooden bowl and a special hat. Thus, groups of the population appeared in society that were not directly involved in production. Regulation of relations in society took place through the people's assembly. It decided all matters - it elected and mixed the elders of the clan, and strictly monitored the observance of clan customs and traditions. The tribal elite concentrates power and control over the surplus product in their hands, which leads to the emergence of property inequality in society. The Andronovo people lived in half-dugout type dwellings, covered with branches, skins and turf.

In terms of their anthropological make-up, the Andronovo people were representatives of the Europoid race - broad-faced, with open eyes, a developed glabella, and a sharply protruding nose. Most scientists believe that the Andronovo culture was formed on the basis of the natural development of local tribes of the era
Neolithic and Chalcolithic. There are different versions regarding the definition of the ethnicity of the Andronovo people. According to one of them, they belonged to the Finno-Ugric ethnic group. In recent years, a hypothesis has been put forward about the Turkic-speaking nature of the Andronovo tribes. However, the most well-reasoned and established position is their Indo-Iranian, Aryan affiliation. This is confirmed by the analysis of ancient written sources, anthropological data, linguistic research, toponymy, and onomastics of archaeological materials.

Andronovo people worshiped the sky, the sun, sacred fire, and believed in the afterlife. They had a cult of ancestors, a custom of commemoration, and a ritual of sacrifice. The main altar was the horse. A custom of prohibition - “taboo” - arose. Religious ideas were quite developed.

Thus, during the period of the primitive communal system, man, waging a harsh and intense struggle with nature, created new, more and more carefully finished tools from stone, and then, after the discovery of matella, he began to make metal tools. From simple collection of finished products of nature and primitive hunting, man moved to cattle breeding and agriculture. From the initial herd state, humanity has passed through the following stages: maternal clan, paternal clan, the formation of tribes and the separation of separate families. The improvement of tools, as well as methods of making fire and taming animals, all this was carried out in the process of daily human labor.

We settled on a miracle. It began approximately 11,600 years ago, and is called the Holocene, or more understandably, the “last interglacial.”

To continue, I need to explain where, from what data, I take all subsequent temperature graphs.

Various methods are used to reconstruct the climate of early eras. This includes studies of tree rings, determination of the rate of accumulation of silt in closed lakes, the nature of pollen entering swamps, and determination of temperature in glaciers. In a good way, all these methods should be used in combination to determine the climate in a particular place.

However, my graphs have only one source - research on drilling of the Greenland ice sheet. Namely GISP2. (The richer you are, the happier you are.)

Why Greenland, and not, for example, the data from the Vostok station in Antarctica? Because Greenland is the North Atlantic Ocean, close to Europe, the Middle East and North Africa - the places where civilization, writing and history itself arose.

Here is a graph of temperatures over the last 50,000 years. Let me note once again that by the beginning of the Holocene, Homo sapiens populated all continents, simultaneously freeing themselves from competitors and relatives.


The Stone Age occupied more than half of the Holocene. Our tinkering with metals has a short history.

You see where the gray background begins, where the temperature graph went up. This was the beginning of the Holocene, and at the same time a significant event occurred. Around 9.250 BC e. people began collecting fallen wild and cultivation non-falling domestic wheat in Anatolia in the territory of modern Turkey. People stopped collecting and began to independently plant plants!

A note aside. When reading about early history, it is easy to get confused about dates. Historians use dates, either counting from “common era” (began 2015 years ago), or counting from “present time” (began in 1950 AD). That is, the dates 1500 BC, 1500 AD, 1500 bp are completely different times, but to the eye they are very similar. Thus the date is 9.250 BC. e. = 11,200 bp (years from 1950 AD). This is what we see on the graph.
I would like to note that further in the story, for the sake of consistency, I will mention some “years ago.” This date, counting from 2000 AD, if you want, add 15 years yourself.

The Holocene began, and the New Stone Age, or Neolithic, began, the time of agriculture. Amazing coincidence, isn't it!

Characteristic features of the Neolithic - stone polished And drilled(for example, an axe) tools, development spinning And weaving. The entry into the Neolithic is a transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture and/or cattle breeding, and the end of the Neolithic dates back to the time of the appearance of metal tools and weapons, that is, the beginning of the Copper, Bronze or Iron Age.

It seems to me personally (I may be wrong) that the reason for the transition to agriculture was that notch down in the graph above, at the very beginning of the Holocene, when warming began sharply. An event occurred that interrupted the warming and sharply dropped the temperature by 5 degrees. In my opinion, the descent into the ocean of the Baltic glacial lake, which occurred 11,700-11,600 years ago, fits well into the role of this event. The process was extremely rapid, took 1-2 years, 7-8 thousand km3 of cold fresh water entered the ocean, which disrupted the pattern of currents in the North Atlantic. A similar descent of the North American Lake Agassiz into the North Atlantic caused a significant cooling 8,200 years ago, we will remember it later. So, since it got colder, it means that the excess population must have died out. BUT the “surplus” population chose not to die out, but to work harder and invent agriculture...

It should be noted that different cultures entered the Neolithic era (we write Neolithic, we read agriculture) at different times. In the Middle East (well, where Turkey, Syria, Iraq are), the Neolithic began around 9500 BC. e. And some cultures of America and Oceania have still not completely transitioned from the Stone Age to the Iron Age. That is, the Middle East was at the forefront of progress.

However, what kind of progress was this? The transition to agriculture is often called the “Neolithic Revolution.” We have somehow accepted since 1917 that revolution is progress and movement for the better, that is, the word has a positive connotation. However, let's figure it out.

Imagine yourself for a moment as a member of a tribe. Your position in this group and the attitude of your fellow tribesmen depends on your physical qualities. For example, you are hungry, you want to eat. Well, in front of you is a forest, a meadow, a river. Your well-being depends on your dexterity, strength, and even cunning. Luck won't hurt either, but it depends on the will of the gods. If you are dexterous and strong, you will get, for example, a deer. How much joy and positive emotions you will experience!!! People still go fishing and hunting for these emotions. So, you can’t eat the deer yourself, so you will share it with others. Grateful fellow tribesmen will feed you afterwards if you suddenly get sick. And if you are a good organizer, then after a successful hunt, they will probably take you on the next hunt, and will even obey you. Everyone wants to eat barbecue. And if someone envies you, let him first prove his superiority with deeds. By the way, if you are full, then you lie down and scratch your belly or draw pictures, or dance with women, or play the bone flute, or discuss the latest hunt with the men. In general, relax. As a last resort, you can repair the net or patch the skin.
As you can see, there is no opposition to nature, balance and harmony, proper physical activity and the joy of victory. Everything is in place. In general, for those who have not read it, I advise you to read “Vamirekh”.

What did people get as a result of the Neolithic revolution and the transition to agriculture? It is known that it is an opportunity not to depend on the whims of nature, and to steadily plan your future. But at what cost!

So, you have collected the seeds. You must immediately set aside part of the crop for planting and keep it intact and safe. Then you won’t be able to simply chew them - you must either grind them or cook them over a fire. But there is no cast iron! Bread in the form of a flatbread made of flour and water, fried on a hot stone, is from here, from the Neolithic. Moreover, the food is the same every day. What's it like? So that's not so bad. In the spring you need to loosen the soil and plant the seeds. (Did you dig a vegetable garden with an iron shovel? How fun?) Then protect the crops from weeds, birds, and drought. And after all this, if you are lucky enough to harvest. Same too. That is, you “plowed and worked hard” but there was no “joy of victory” at all.

In addition, grain must be stored somewhere, distributed, and coordinated sowing and harvesting. So you need a special guy, a “priest.” And then he will tell you how he communicated with the gods and what they advised him. And he’ll sneak a couple of grains home for lunch. But what can we do - he knows when it’s best to plant, and there’s enough grain for everyone - we’ll feed them.

Hmm, the evil neighbors have their eyes on our grain, they want to rob us, because they are not far from us! This is not “10,000 acres in person” from past eras. You will also have to feed your strong uncles, the “warriors,” so that the adversaries will be discouraged.

You can not only fight with your neighbors, but also trade. Again, we need a surplus of “what is not needed” and a special “trader” guy. And he exchanges grain, for example, beautiful skins. You look more respectable in them. For the “priest”, for his wife, and even for his wife, it is not good to forget. Here's the breakdown...

And if you are sick, then you need to go to bow to the barn guy. And ask! After all, it’s not he who owes you, but you who owe him! He is in charge of the barn. But the barn doesn’t need sick people... That’s where debt slavery grows its legs.

More work, less pleasure - this is the price to pay for a more or less stable future... Although the drought and frost have not been canceled...
“The small mobile bands of hunters and gatherers who dominated the previous Mesolithic era settled in cities and towns near their fields, radically changing the environment through cultivation (including irrigation) and storage of harvested crops in specially constructed buildings and structures.
An increase in labor productivity led to an increase in population, the creation of relatively large armed detachments guarding the territory, division of labor, revitalization of trade, the emergence of property rights, centralized administration, political structures, ideology and new systems of knowledge that made it possible to transfer it from generation to generation not only orally, but also in writing. The appearance of writing is an attribute of the end of the prehistoric period, which usually coincides with the end of the Neolithic and the Stone Age in general.
The Neolithic revolution can be interpreted as the destruction of the harmonious coexistence of man with nature; from now on he finds himself in opposition to it, adjusting the environment to his needs, which leads to the emergence of civilization and technological progress.”
The “Golden Age” is over... Man kicked himself out of Paradise.

Let's go further through the periods in the Holocene.


Temperature chart of the last interglacial (Holocene).

We will conduct all subsequent dances with a tambourine around this schedule. The graph emerges from somewhere below. This is, as we remember, the Ice Age, which ended approximately 11,690 years ago. At the top of the graph I have duplicated the years from 2000 uh. Below are the years from the birth of Christ.

There is a horizontal red line on the graph - the current temperature. As can be seen, even compared to the Holocene it is quite low. It was warmer and no one sounded the alarm!

In addition, the chart contains the caption “Bond Event” with a number. What does it mean? Uncle Bond, but not the one who is 007, revealed " 1470-year Holocene climate cycles based primarily on petrological indicators of North Atlantic ice drift" In general, the climate is variable, sometimes there are droughts (Bond No. 2, Bond No. 3, Bond No. 4), and cold snaps (Bond No. 5). I don’t know the exact reasons for the “walking” temperature on the graph, but trying to figure it out, I superimposed on the Holocene temperature graph a graph of solar activity (naturally reconstructed), well, the one about sunspots. It turned out interesting.


Temperature peaks (as well as dips, which indicates a trend reversal) coincide with peaks of solar activity. This indicates a significant influence of the activity of our sun on temperature. But this influence is complemented by other reasons unknown to me. The second observation is that the “Bond event” always stands on a cliff, followed by a decline in solar activity (the “Bond event 5” is especially indicative; it is observed not at the beginning of the cold snap, but later).

But we digress.
Before continuing, I have to introduce the concept of the “fertile crescent”. Here's what it looks like on the map.


Here are the main places of our subsequent story: Egypt, Mesopotamia (Upper - “Assyria”, Lower - “Babylon”), Anatolia (present-day Turkey). Plus, let’s remember the Greeks and Romans who were not part of the Fertile Crescent.

The red arrow is a reminder to us that during the change between glaciation and interglacial, animals and plants migrated across this land bridge, escaping from the glacier, or vice versa, developing the vacated spaces. Because of this, the Fertile Crescent had an enviable diversity of animal and plant species. The wild ancestors of 8 major Neolithic cultures grew here ( Einkorn wheat, einkorn wheat, barley, flax, chickpeas, peas, lentils and bitter vetch) and were inhabited by the ancestors of 3 of the 5 most important species of domestic animals: goats, sheep and pigs, and the cow and horse were introduced by the nomads of the steppes through the Iranian plateau (inscription "Mass").

Let's return to the temperature graph.


On the graph, periodicals are presented in relation to this very Fertile Crescent.

In the Neolithic, two large periods can be distinguished. Before and after the invention and use of ceramics (fired pots). Accordingly, “pre-ceramic Neolithic” and “ceramic Neolithic”.
What do we know about the early – pre-ceramic Neolithic?

Settlements begin to spread from the foothills to the Iranian and Anatolian plateaus, and finally people populate Mesopotamia. There is an important point here! It may seem that it is more convenient to “farm” near a river than near some hills. But that's the thing: land near the river – This extensive swamps, with accompanying delights (evaporation, vileness, etc.). The lower reaches of rivers (for example, “Babylon” on the map above) were developed much later than the upper reaches (for example, “Assyria”), only in the next era , despite the supposedly greater fertility of the lower reaches.

It’s one thing to just dig up the ground and plant seeds, but it’s quite another thing when you still need to build dams, canals, etc.

The settlements are still autonomous, but a more complex regional system begins to form: settlements are located at closer distances from each other, as good harvests lead to a decrease in the area of ​​individual settlements.

During excavations of settlements of that period, no obvious signs of social stratification were found, or at least during this period it was not noticeable. Almost all dwellings were of the same size and design, and the differences found were minimal.

And then somewhere around 8,500 years ago ( in the textbook they will write the poorly understood “in the first half of the 6th millennium BC.” e.") is coming, as archaeologists would say " a phase of stagnation or crisis, as evidenced by a noticeable decrease in archaeological material evidence" And this simply poured glacial Lake Agassiz into the North Atlantic, causing a significant cooling. Plus, the Sturegg underwater landslide caused a megatsunami that flooded Doggerland and separated England from the mainland. Plus " Bond event #5“probably dried it out (subsequent “Bond events” caused a drought). And such an attack for two centuries. And the name for this is “ cold snap 6.200 BC e. ».

In general, life began to get better, and then... The choice is to “get over it” or die out. Invented. Pots. The ceramic Neolithic began.

I don’t recommend laughing about pots. Try making a pot out of clay, then placing it in the fire to fire. You won't get the pot - it will crack! This is a whole science. And there were probably craftsmen who did it best. Here you have an artisan “potter” who lives by specialization.

Pots are a new word in storage, cooking and transportation food.

The second important innovation that arose during the Ceramic Neolithic was irrigated agriculture(irrigation).

In addition to the introduction of pots and irrigation, it can be noted that settlements became much larger than in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic. Gradually increases craft specialization. Trade was carried out.
Society is becoming more and more hierarchical. In a number of settlements the presence of wealthy people is noted. At the same time, conflicts are increasing both within villages and between them. Gradually, settlements become more and more fortified, and walls .

At this stage, people, in addition to their own farming, are increasingly involved in public works. Through the accumulation of warehouse stocks and the collection of “capital”, a primitive “ private property", this also arises theft. Gradually the beginnings of an organized justice.

Society began to bury its deceased outside the settlements (instead of the previous customs of burying the deceased inside houses, for example, under the bed of the deceased, or near the house).

Inside the ceramic Neolithic one should highlight “ drought 3900 BC e. » ( Bond Event #4 which occurred 5,900 years ago), which represented the most intense desertification of the Holocene era. It was this drought that began the transformation of the Sahara into a modern desert. All behind all previous droughts corresponding to Bond cycles (including " cooling 6200 BC uh.") the restoration of previous climatic conditions took place. However, after the drought of 3900 BC. e. only partial recovery followed, followed by accelerated desertification in the subsequent millennium.

Drought triggers worldwide migration to river valleys , for example, from central North Africa to the Nile Valley, which over time led to the emergence of the first complex, highly organized civilizations (Egypt, Sumer). There is little water - everyone goes to the rivers. And these crowds must be organized, otherwise they will kill each other and ruin other people’s property. And so, you see, they will feed themselves under the strict guidance of the fathers of the nation...

It is believed that this period was associated with the establishment patriarchal social order, social delamination, the appearance regular army.

And just 4 centuries after the drought, 55 centuries ago, the Neolithic (that is, the Stone Age but with the prefix “new”) gives way to Bronze Age.

Bronze is an alloy of copper and most often tin. The alloy has better “consumer” properties than pure metals individually. Metallurgy requires ways to maintain high temperatures ( melting point 930-1140 °C), metal casting methods ( tin bronze is difficult to forge, sharpen, it is a casting metal). Yes, and thoughtlessly fusing metals is bad; you need experience, knowledge and skills. Try to smelt a bronze hatchet in your spare time without using iron saucepans or gas burners! That is, again we need a separate “blacksmith” guy.

Damn, why can’t we live in peace, why bother with metallurgy? Moreover, it was in the Bronze Age that “real” ones appeared cities. It’s simple: the beginning of the Bronze Age in the Middle East 5,500 years ago, and there is a significant dip in the temperature graph. It’s getting colder... “Kume it” or die out.

So, in the Middle East, the Bronze Age is divided into 3 periods: Early Bronze Age (5,500-4,000 years ago), Middle Bronze Age (4,000-3,600 years ago), Late Bronze Age (3,600-3,200 years ago).

The Bronze Age in the Middle East began, as you guessed, in Anatolia (the territory of modern Turkey). The mountains of the Anatolian Plateau had rich deposits of copper and tin. Copper was also mined in Cyprus, Ancient Egypt, Israel, the Armenian Highlands, Iran and around the Persian Gulf. The Fertile Crescent's growing need for tin (which is less abundant in nature than copper) led to the creation trade routes .

The Early Bronze Age is characterized urbanization and the appearance cities-states, as well as the emergence writing .

4,200 years ago the climate helped again, it happened Bond Event No. 3« drought 2200 BC “- the drought lasted a whole century and contributed to the fall of the Ancient Kingdom in Egypt and the Akkadian Empire in Mesopotamia.

In particular, in Egypt, low floods of the Nile led to the destruction of the Old Kingdom; famine, civil unrest and disunity continued for approximately 40 years. Eventually, Egypt was united into the Middle Kingdom. Akkad disappeared in Mesopotamia, which was later replaced by Assyria (in the upper reaches) and Babylon (in the lower reaches).


4,000 years ago. Beginning of the Middle Bronze Age.

We will leave the events of the history of Egypt and Mesopotamia for later, but now we will move on through the periods.

Somehow it is not at all surprising that another dip in temperature 3,600 years ago was replaced by the Middle Bronze Age - the Late Bronze Age. On the temperature graph, it is the Late Bronze Age that is the last period of reaching the highest temperatures in the Holocene. He clearly stands out as a tall cliff, and looks at the current temperatures as unworthy. The further direction (trend) of temperatures may be “saw-toothed,” but only downward.

The Late Bronze Age was characterized by competition between the powerful states of the region and their vassals ( New Kingdom in Egypt, Assyria And Babylon in Mesopotamia, Hittites in Anatolia). Extensive contacts were established with Aegean civilization (in present-day Greece).

The turn of the Bronze Age 3,200 years ago. And again the temperature drop is comparable to the “cooling of 6200 BC.” This failure is called simply and horribly - Bronze Age disaster!!!

In the period 1206-1150. BC e. (3.221-3.165 years ago) occurred invasion “peoples of the sea”, the destruction of all, I emphasize, all large states and many cities of that time, catastrophic changes in the social structure, the loss of many traditions, including writing ( Linear Mycenaean and Luwian writing disappeared). Over a large area, a period begins dark ages ».

Has begun Iron Age. Its scope is 3,200 years ago (1200 BC) - 1,660 years ago (340 AD).
They first learned to process iron in the northern regions of Anatolia (that is, the southern coast of the Black Sea) already in the late Bronze Age. According to established opinion, the tribes subordinate to the Hittites were the first to master the technology of producing iron.

It is impossible not to mention here about “ Axial time » 2,800-2,200 years ago, a period in history during which mythological worldview has come rational, philosophical. New philosophies emerge - Judaism, ancient philosophy, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism.

During the Axial Age, the emergence and widespread dissemination of ideas that society changes over time, that “should” does not coincide with “what is”, that a more just social order is possible and that it can be achieved by making certain conscious efforts for this. Democracy comes from here... All these are attempts to find an answer to the question “who is to blame and what to do,” because “we lived so well, but here...”
The pre-Axial hegemons (Egypt, Assyria-Babylon) were unable to adapt to the changes and ceased to exist. New heroes have appeared on the stage...

In this regard, it should be remembered “ Iron Age cooling ", which lasted approximately 2,900 - 2,300 years ago, with a peak temperature drop 2,450 years ago. Doesn't the coincidence in time with the Axial Time seem strange to you? Plus, 2,800 years ago came “ Bond Event #2" - drought in the Eastern Mediterranean...

It was the Iron Age that was the heyday of the familiar Ancient Greece, the Empire of Alexander the Great and Ancient Rome!

The Iron Age ended 1,660 years ago (340 AD) with the collapse of the Roman Empire, under the onslaught of barbarians as a result Great Migration of Peoples. Have you now guessed what moved these peoples? That's right, on the graph temperature dip , not the same as during the Bronze Age catastrophe, but not much less. In addition, the supported " Bond event #1" Anyone will fall apart here...

I hope you are not tired? Let’s admire the now more understandable graph, leaving minor details for later...


As an elective, I propose to find the mythical dates of the “Creation of the World”:
5493 BC e. - Alexandrian chronology.
5508 BC e. - in the “Byzantine era”. Used in Rus' until 1700 AD.
4004 BC e. - according to the Masoretic text of the Old Testament.
3761 BC e. - according to the Jewish calendar.
3114 BC e. - according to the Mayan calendar.
3102 BC e. - Kali Yuga began.

Kaliev B.A. (NKSU named after M. Kozybaev).
October 11, 2013
Modern Northern Kazakhstan is divided into two parts: southern steppe and northern forest-steppe.
The forest-steppe zone, or Priishimskaya province, covers the North Kazakhstan region and the northern part of the Kokchetav region. In the Priishimskaya province there are two districts - Petropavlovsky and Sergeevsky.
Tselinogradskaya, as well as significant parts of the Kokchetav and Kustanai regions, from the standpoint of modern physical-geographical zoning, belong to the steppe landscape zone of the temperate zone. This territory is united by geographers into the North Kazakhstan-Small Hills Province, which is divided into two districts - Ubagan-Ishimsky and Chaglinsky.
The uniqueness of Northern Kazakhstan lies in its geographical location at the junction of two natural zones - forest-steppe and steppe - and the various economic and cultural types of antiquity arising from this proximity. Economic changes that began in the Neolithic era led to the 2nd millennium BC. to the formation of a pastoral-agricultural economy and highly developed metallurgy.
The transition to a producing economy radically changed the entire situation on the territory of Kazakhstan. The progress of Bronze Age society is due to two factors.
One of them, defining the new era, was the industrial development of paleometals. Natural and climatic changes also led to economic restructuring. Thus, in the Bronze Age, the long cool-humid phase was replaced by more than a thousand years of gradual climate change towards warming and greater dryness. The dry period is accompanied by a decrease in river flow, a slow drying out of the terraces above the floodplain, a decrease in lake levels, and a decrease in the overall moisture content of the continents of the Northern Hemisphere. .
In the XXVII-XXV centuries. BC. In all three regions, long-term aridization begins, which continued in the Eastern European and Mongolian steppes until the 17th-16th centuries. BC, and in Siberian-Kazakhstan - until the 7th century. BC. The era was also characterized by increased continental climate. Aridization and a sharp increase in temperature fluctuations across seasons and in short series of years have led to a deterioration in living conditions in the arid regions of Eurasia. In the regions of the steppe zone, the duration of arid epochs, the depth of aridization and the scope of displacement of natural zones were different, the course of moisture was metachronous. .
Changes in natural and climatic conditions are accompanied by the manifestation at this time of sharp fluctuations in solar activity, the maximums of which were associated with less favorable environmental conditions, and the minimums - more favorable ones. In the Siberian-Kazakh steppes, aridization was not only longer, but also more pronounced - especially from the second half of the era. The shift in natural zones in this region was significant - by an entire zone, in contrast to the Eastern European region, where it did not go beyond the subzone.
There is no doubt that the state of the natural environment, even its minor changes, had a great influence on human economic activity. Moreover, ecosystems of different landscapes, as well as societies, often responded differently to the same changes in climatic conditions. According to I.V. Ivanova and T.S. Lukovskaya, we can distinguish five main types of reaction of ancient societies to the improvement or deterioration of environmental conditions: 1) lack of reaction - with minor changes in environmental conditions or with a significant diversity of habitat conditions, when loads are redistributed on local landscapes; 2) complete or partial changes in economic and cultural types, types of farming, aimed at increasing or decreasing productivity in accordance with changes in the ecological capacity of the territory; 3) migration influx or outflow of population: from insignificant to complete abandonment of the territory or a sharp increase in population; 4) significant changes in social and public life (changes in land, water, and other property relations), in politics (direction towards the inside of society or towards conquest); 5) gradual or rapid degradation and death of societies that failed to adapt to changed environmental conditions.
However, during the Bronze Age, the vast steppe spaces of Siberia, the Urals, Kazakhstan and Central Asia were inhabited by tribes of related origin, who left a vibrant, original culture. In science, it was called “Andronovo” after the place where the first monument was found. For a long time, in the Kazakh steppes, researchers identified one culture - Andronovo. Currently, instead of one culture, several are distinguished, uniting them into the Andronovo cultural and historical community. In the modern era of searching for more productive research methods to clarify the general concept of evolution and identify the main patterns of climatic pulsations, regional research is becoming increasingly important. Since at this time it is generally accepted that in historical research it is necessary to take into account the specifics of natural patterns at three different levels: global, regional and local.
All these levels, one way or another, are reflected in both general and specific patterns of interaction between society and nature. Therefore, in these studies it is necessary to take into account the work of A.D. Tairov. “Climate changes in the steppes and forest-steppes of Central Eurasia in the 2nd-1st millennium BC: materials for historical reconstructions,” in which he gives a description of the paleoclimate of Northern Kazakhstan. Subboreal aridization, which began here around 4700 years ago. lasted until 1700 BP.
End of the 2nd - beginning of the 1st millennium BC was an era of pronounced environmental crisis, when the amount of precipitation was 50-100 mm (on average 75 mm) below the modern norm (325 mm/g), with a continental climate that was higher than at present. Judging by the soils buried 2800 years ago. under the mound of the Kara-Oba and Obala mounds, at the turn of the Bronze and Iron Ages, the climate was still more continental than at present, and the amount of precipitation was 50-70 mm less than modern.
Special paleosoil studies carried out here made it possible to identify changes in natural conditions. Many signs indicate a dry climate during the era of the construction of the ancient mound above the mound. The soils that existed during the era of the construction of the large mound were closer to modern ones: the amount of precipitation increased significantly, and the continental climate weakened. In the 7th century BC. There is a sharp improvement in environmental conditions. The amount of precipitation was close to the modern norm, but the climate remained continental. The dark chestnut soils of the dry steppes evolved into southern chernozems. .
Also, for the study area, the evolutionary scale of N.A. Khotinsky is the closest and reflects the latest achievements of paleobotany. According to it, the gradual accumulation of post-glacial heat reaches an optimum in the Late Atlantic phase, after which a sharp change in temperature regimes and humidity occurs. In general, over the last 10 thousand years, N.A. Khotinsky notes three main thermal maxima: boreal (8300-8900 years ago), Atlantic (5000-6000 years ago) and subboreal (3400-4200 years ago).
Thus, the Holocene climate, within the framework of its general line, develops pulsatingly and its changes are abrupt. More or less long periods of dry and warm times are sharply replaced by lower temperatures and increased precipitation. . It follows that paleoclimatic fluctuations and landscape changes in the second half of the Holocene led to noticeable changes in the ethnocultural map of the study area.
They show that the development of cultural-chronological issues and the socio-economic history of the ancient societies of Northern Kazakhstan is impossible without taking into account the environmental features and specifics of this territory of Eurasia as a region located at the junction of steppes and forest-steppes.
The zone of contact between forest-steppe and steppe cultures during various periods of the Bronze Age included vast territories of the Priishim province of Northern Kazakhstan and a significant strip of southern Western Siberia. The latitudinal boundaries of the contact boundaries were variable and depended to a large extent on landscape and climatic changes.
They either separated or pitted various human groups with different cultural and economic types against each other. It is necessary to take into account that the connection between nature and society is a dialectically contradictory process. It, of course, does not come down only to the influence of nature on man and society; its most important aspect is the influence of man on the natural-geographical environment, which is included in the socio-historical process. .
Literature:
1. Atlas of the Kazakh SSR, vol. 1. Natural conditions and resources. Moscow: Publishing house GUGK, 1982.
2. Baipakov K.M., Taymagambetov Zh..K. Archeology of Kazakhstan. Almaty, 2006.
3. Tairov A.D. Climate changes in the steppes and forest-steppes of Central Eurasia in the 2nd-1st millennium BC: materials for historical reconstructions. Chelyabinsk, 2003
4. Zdanovich G.B., Ivanov I.V., Khabdulina M.K. Experience of using paleosol research methods in archeology (Kara-Oba and Obaly mounds in Northern Kazakhstan) // S.A. 1984. No. 4.
5. Khotinsky N.A. Holocene of Northern Asia. Moscow: Nauka, 1977.
6. Khotinsky N.A. Holocene chronosections: controversial problems of Holocene paleography. Moscow: Nauka, 1982.
7. Khabdulina M.K., Zdanovich G.B. Landscape and climatic fluctuations of the Holocene and issues of the cultural and historical situation in Northern Kazakhstan. // Bronze Age of the Ural-Irtysh interfluve. Interuniversity collection. Chelyabinsk, 1984.
8. Gurevich A.Ya. General law and specific patterns in history. // VI, 1965, No. 8