A Comparative Study of the Layout of Bronze Age Fortifi ed Settlements in the Southern Urals (3rd to 1st Millennia BC)

A Comparative Study of the Layout of Bronze Age Fortifi ed Settlements
in the Southern Urals (3rd to 1st Millennia BC)

DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2019.47.1.064-072

O.A. Ulchitsky, E.K. Bulatova, E.K. Kazaneva, and O.M. Veremey
Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University, Pr. Lenina 38, Magnitogorsk, 455000, Russia

The earliest (Bronze Age) fortified settlements in the Southern Urals are described with regard to their defensive function, as well as their production and residential quarters. Their parallels are discussed. The article focuses on the architecture of the earliest Indo-European forts and compares it to that of their later Eurasian counterparts. The relations between the layout of the Sintashta-Petrovka forts and the architecture of Central Asia and of the early Indo-European states are revealed. Bronze Age fortified settlements of the Southern Urals, Northern Kazakhstan, and Central Asia are compared on a unified scale with reference to their function. The results can be used in future research on ancient architecture.

Keywords: Fortified settlements, Southern Urals, comparative method, Bronze Age