Nataliya P. Matveyeva
Tyumen State University, Russia
E-mail: nataliamatveeva1703@yandex.ru

Keywords: Trans-Urals, forest-steppe, nomads, the Gorokhovo culture.

The paper analyzes the discussion on the place of the Gorokhovo culture in the system of the early Iron Age antiquities in the Trans-Urals. The author proves functional diversity of the two types of ware: Vorobyevo type is interpreted as kitchen utensils and package, while Gorokhovo type is tableware. They are found together in all settlements that makes it possible to unite them in one single Gorokhovo culture. Originality of the dwelling structures, fortified settlements, pottery techniques, cult objects, and burial sites prevent us from treating the Gorokhovo culture as a period or a local variant of the Sargat culture. Their areas, chronological intervals, and main features of the material sphere differ. The population of the Gorokhovo culture occupied the northern and eastern parts of periphery of Ural nomads’ lands in the 6th – 3rd centuries BC. They were mediators in trade and competitors in the struggle for control over caravan routes and pastures against foreststeppe groups. It is assumed that the cause of disappearance of Gorokhovo culture was its carriers’ migration in the 4th – 3rd centuries BC to the Southern Urals under the pressure of their eastern neighbours, the population of the Sargat culture.

DOI: 10.31857/S086960630004109-8