Maikop pottery in archaeological context – collecting basic data

The subject of the proposed research is Maikop “culture”, a phenomenon that emerged and existed in the 4th millennium BC (ca. 3950-3100 BC) between the Black Sea in the west to Chechnya in the east, from the Kuma and Manych Rivers in the north into the northern slopes of the Great Caucasian Mountains in the south. The appearance and existence of the phenomenon is explained by theories about migration, cultural emulation and participation in exchange networks/”networks of transmission”, to mere migration of artisans. Focusing on the metal objects or very special feature, prestigious finds and burials of the phenomenon neglected the main subjects and information sources. Scholars have been dealt with the Maikop phenomenon without analyzing its basic components.Maikop settlements remained in the shadow of kurgans and prestigious finds and most studies are characterized by a circular reasoning, exacerbated by a poor understanding of material culture and contexts. The material culture of the inhabitants of the Maikop settlements should be described before the discussion about contacts, influences, migrations and social stratification. Such discussions can not be based on fragmentary studied settlements and dozens of published kurgans. Theories on migration, long-distance trade and chiefs does not supply a sufficient description of the Maikop phenomenon, nor does it explain what does it mean to be Maikop.Systematic, high-resolution excavations, along with environmental and technological studies of various aspects of Maikop settlement material-culture are necessary for further discussion of the period. The proposed project is intended to address this gap through typo-technological definition of the pottery assemblage, based on high-resolution excavation, contextual analysis, and full publication of a key-site of the phenomenon. High-resolution, well-controlled research and excavations of Sereginskoe in the Kuban Valley form a procedure necessary to get out of the vicious circle of theories, built on a vague understanding of the material culture. A “thick” description of the Maikop material culture in its settlement context, based on close examination of various aspects of the material culture, will allow to identify basic behavioral traits of the Maikop people and to start telling the story of the phenomenon.

拟议的研究的主题是Maikop的“文化”，这一现象在公元前第四千年（约公元前3950年至3100年）中出现并存在，西部的黑海与东部的车臣，从Kuma和Manych Rivers的北部北部的北部山脉北部的北部山脉。现象的外观和存在是由关于移民，文化仿真和参与交换网络/“传播网络”中的理论来解释的，以仅仅是工匠的迁移。着眼于金属物体或非常特殊的特征，享有声望的现象发现和埋葬忽略了主要主题和信息来源。在没有分析其基本组成部分的情况下，学者已经与Maikop现象进行了处理。Maikop定居点仍然存在于库尔根人的阴影和享有声望的发现中，大多数研究的特征是循环推理，对材料文化和环境的理解不佳，这加剧了循环推理。在讨论有关接触，影响，迁移和社会分层的讨论之前，应描述Maikop定居点影响者的物质文化。这样的讨论不能基于零碎的研究案定定居点和数十个已发表的库尔根人。关于移民，长途贸易和酋长的理论没有提供对Maikop现象的充分描述，也没有解释Maikop是Maikop的意义。系统性的，高分辨率的发掘以及对Maikop设定物质文化各个方面的环境和技术研究，需要对该时期进行进一步讨论。拟议的项目旨在通过基于高分辨率发掘，上下文分析以及对现象的关键点的全面发布，通过对陶器组合的错别学技术定义来解决这一差距。高分辨率，控制良好的研究和库班谷（Kuban Valley）中塞雷斯科（Sereginskoe）的发掘形成了一种以理解物质文化的理解为基础的奇妙理论圈子所必需的程序。基于对物质文化的各个方面的仔细研究，对Maikop物质文化的“厚”描述将允许识别Maikop人的基本行为特征，并开始讲述该现象的故事。