Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Community and Demography in Bronze Age Southern Russia

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Under the supervision of Dr. Bryan Hanks, doctoral candidate, James A. Johnson, will analyze data collected during systematic pedestrian survey of and between the Middle Bronze Age (MBA) (2100 - 1700 BC) fortified settlements of Stepnoye and Chernorech'ye in the Chelyabinsk Oblast in southern Russia. This region has drawn increased attention of regional and international scholars due to the development of twenty-two fortified settlements in what had long been considered a predominately mobile pastoralist region. The fortified settlements are notable due to the similarity in spatial organization and the lack of differentiation in sizes between household structures. In addition, scholars have posited that some, if not all, of these settlements acted as centers for metallurgical production, indicative of not only demographic, but also economic and political centralization. Yet, no studies have been undertaken to actively test if these communities were centralized and if they were, to what degree. Research focusing on the spatial relationships between centers and hinterlands is important as it will contribute vital information to a basic foundation of community social organization and demography shared across geographic regions. Broader social, economic and political processes common to anthropological archaeology such as social inequality, urbanization, and societal collapse cannot be empirically modeled without first developing a better understanding of the community dynamics involved. A logical starting place for such models is to empirically evaluate changes in local and regional demography. The evaluation of demographic changes in community spatial organization (through demographic distribution and density) can indicate the emergence and strength of centripetal trends that coincide with the development of social stratification, and might also reveal changes in human-environment relationships. Furthermore, systematic pedestrian survey can reveal the extent and the intensity to which centralized communities disintegrate and go on to form smaller, more mobile pastoral groups in post-collapse contexts. Documenting such patterns has long been a methodological and theoretical concern in anthropological archaeology and studies of early forms of social complexity, and in particular, early processes of urbanization. This project utilizes data gleaned from surface collections on changes in demographic distributions and densities to further evaluate the changing relationships between centers and their hinterlands as well as sedentary and more mobile groups. Beyond the more specific research questions pertaining to anthropological archaeology, this project seeks to further develop international ties between Russian and American scholarly communities. Working closely with faculty from various Russian academic institutions, as well as Russian and American students from numerous universities, the project seeks to further bring Russian prehistory within the comparative lens of scientific research on the development of early forms of social complexity. By incorporating graduate and undergraduate students from both the US and Russian Federation, and encouraging the training of these students in new field methods, the project will help to overcome traditional obstacles between the two national archaeological traditions. Furthermore, the preparation of databases for publication on the University of Pittsburgh Center for Comparative Archaeology website will allow students and other scholars open access to view and utilize data collected from this research project.