The Site of the Maikop Culture in the Mountains of the Northwestern Caucasus

Abstract

The Meshoko shelter was first investigated in the 1960s. Along with some other settlements in the vicinity, its materials were interpreted as evidence of the synchronism of the early Maikop and late Eneolithic cultures. Modern excavations have shown that Maikop and Eneolithic finds are concentrated in different layers, with natural deposits between them. The stratigraphic sequence of the Meshoko shelter consisted of six main layers. Maikop artifacts were in the third layer from above. The most interesting object discovered there is the hearth, the base and walls of which were formed by lime stones. No evidence of a dwelling was found, which probably indicates the temporary nature of the settlement. The few Eneolithic materials cannot be confidently synchronized with the Maikop culture. It is more likely that they were introduced into the third layer through pits which dug down from the Maikop level. The bulk of the collection of the third layer is associated with the Maikop culture, most likely with its middle (Inozemtsevo-Kostromskaia) stage of its development. This conclusion corresponds to the radiocarbon dates of the settlement, which were about 3600-3000 BC. The Meshoko shelter is located at the bottom of the mountain gorge. This is unusual for Maikop sites, which, as a rule, occupy the steppe and flat areas of the foothills. Also, the composition of the paleoethnobotany and archaeozoology assemblages does not find close analogies. The study of these ecofacts indicate that the Maikop population probably lived in a forest zone and was well adapted to local environmental conditions.

Keywords:

the Northwestern Caucasus, the Maikop culture, Eneolithic, cultural attribution, chronology