The Settlement Complex Orlovka-Kartal and the Early Copper Age in the Northwestern Black Sea Area

柏林自由大学和德国柏林考古研究所与来自摩尔达维亚共和国和乌克兰的学者共同开展的联合项目致力于调查黑海西北部草原的早期铜器时代文化体系，该地区由于其地理位置注定要成为史前两个文化圈之间的接触区。调查的重点是定居的Bolgrad-Aldeni文化和早期Ochre-Grave文化的持权杖游牧群体之间的相互作用，这种相互作用标志着当地早期铜器时代的发展，同时体现了上述地理文化框架内迄今为止第一次已知的文化接触。由于与乌克兰和摩尔达维亚同事的出色参与工作，可以实现跨学科研究项目，包括考古学，气候学，考古植物学，考古动物学和人类学领域。因此，我们有机会在Reny（乌克兰）附近的Orlovka-Kartal进行系统的调查，这是黑海西北部草原地区唯一的多层和分层良好的史前遗址，以及在塔拉克利亚（摩尔达维亚）附近的Cealic和敖德萨（乌克兰）附近的Kosary同样重要的遗址进行研究。从这些工作中获得的结果使我们能够在很大程度上完成我们的努力，调查文化的历史相关性的奥尔洛夫卡-卡尔塔尔解决，并解决复杂的问题所发挥的作用，西北黑海地区在欧洲铜器时代的出现和发展的背景下。

The joint project conducted by the Free University Berlin and the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin together with scholars from the Republic of Moldavia and the Ukraine is devoted to the investigation of the early Copper Age culture system in the steppes of the northwestern Black Sea, an area that owing to its geostrategical position was predestined to become a contact zone between two cultural spheres in prehistory. The investigations focus on the interactions between the sedentary Bolgrad-Aldeni culture and the nomadic Sceptre-bearing group of the early Ochre-Grave culture, interactions that marked the development of the local early Copper Age and at the same time embody the first hitherto known cultural contacts within the above-named geocultural framework. Thanks to the outstanding participative work with colleagues from the Ukraine and Moldavia, interdisciplinary research project could be achieved, which embraces the fields of archaeology, climatology, archaeobotany, archaeozoology and anthropology. Thereby, we had the fortuitous opportunity to carry out systematic investigations at Orlovka-Kartal near Reny (Ukraine), the sole multilayered and well-stratified, prehistoric site in the steppes of the northwestern Black Sea area, as well as to initiate research at the likewise important sites of Cealic near Taraclia (Moldavia) and Kosary near Odessa (Ukraine). The results gained from these undertakings have enabled us to largely accomplish our endeavours to investigate the culture historical relevance o the settlement of Orlovka-Kartal, and to address the complex of questions concerning the role played by the northwestern Black Sea area in the context of the emergence and development of the European Copper Age.