We obtained radiocarbon dates between 1950-1700 calBC for five separate excavated locations. The dates are interesting for two reasons. First they establish that the landscape we examined was occupied at the beginning of the LBA, when the shift in settlement pattern began. Second, they provide an absolute date in the Samara Oblast for the transition from the Pokrovka phase, the earliest component at both the settlement and the herding camps, to the classic Srubnaya phase in the early LBA.

Pokrovka is recognized as the transitional ceramic/funerary phase between MBA and LBA traditions, a proto-Srubnaya, earliest LBA stage (Semenova 2001). According to our dates, the Pokrovka phase dates between about 1950-1800 calBC, an earlier beginning than is usually recognized, although some others have argued for this date for the beginning of the LBA (Trifonov 2001). Table 1

With the possible exception of the copper mine, all of these sites were in use during the 1950-1700 calBC period--the excavated structure at Krasnosamarskoe, the submerged part of the settlement, activity area Y by the stream to the south, the kurgan cemeteries at KS and Spiridonovka, and the herding camps in Peschanyi Dol (PD). They are the dated anchors for the landscape that interests us. Other undated landscape elements, like the Srubnaya settlement and kurgan cemetery at Barinovka, near the PD camps, probably also date to this period.