Environment, Culture and Society of the Southern Urals in the Bronze Age: A Multidisciplinary Investigation in the Karagaily-Ayat Microregion, Russia

该项目是德国和俄罗斯在南乌拉尔史前考古领域的第一次合作努力。该项目最初是在2006年12月在莫斯科举行的德俄合作研究古代史研讨会上讨论时构思的。在DFG资助的一项交流方案下，2007年进行了一次交流，并前往横贯乌拉尔研究区域(见旅行报告)。随后，在访问德国(L.Koryakova、A.Epimakhov和S.Sharapova)和俄罗斯(R.Krause和E.Kaiser)期间，继续进行密集讨论，确定了项目目标、基本概念、使用方法和研究领域。这一建议是在两个小组的密切合作下起草的，但Koryakova教授尤其做出了重大贡献。从地理上讲，研究区域位于南乌拉尔草原地带(俄罗斯联邦车里雅宾斯克州的卡尔塔利地区)；从时间上讲，它涉及公元前2个千年的前半个世纪。草原横贯乌拉尔地区位于乌拉尔河和托博尔河的交汇处，北纬50°至54°，东经59°至62°(横贯乌拉尔准平原；图1)。这片领土的西部与乌拉尔山脉接壤，东部为构造台阶，将准平原与大陆的西西伯利亚低地平原分开。Ui河可以被认为是在建设其北部边界，而南部边界可以横跨上Suunduk河和上Bersuat河。

This project represents the first German-Russian collaborative endeavour in the field of prehistoric archaeology in the Southern Urals. The project was initially conceived during discussions at the Symposium on German-Russian Collaboration in the Study of Ancient History, which was held in Moscow in December 2006. An exchange and a trip to the area under study in the Trans-Ural then took place in 2007 (see the travel report), under an exchange programme funded by the DFG. Subsequently, during the course of visits to Germany (by L. Koryakova, A. Epimakhov and S. Sharapova) and to Russia (by R. Krause and E. Kaiser), intensive discussions continued, determining project objectives, basic concepts, methods for use and the area of research. This proposal has been drawn up in close collaboration between both groups, though with Prof. Koryakova, in particular, contributing considerably.Geographically, the research area is situated within the steppe zone of the southern Trans- Urals (Kartaly district of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russian Federation); chronologically, it relates to the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. The steppe Trans-Urals region is located in the interfluves of the Ural and Tobol rivers, between 50° and 54° N latitude and 59°-62° E longitude (Trans-Ural peneplain; Fig. 1). This territory is bordered in the west by the Ural Mountains, in the east by tectonic benching, which divides the peneplain from the continental West-Siberian lowland plain. The Ui river can be considered as building its northern border, while the southern border can be drawn across the Upper Suunduk and Upper Bersuat rivers.