Introduction
The Uch-Bash settlement is located on a secluded rocky outcrop in the upper reaches of the Sevastopol Bay on the right bank of the river Chorna in south-western Crimea (Figure 1: 1). It is one of the few fortified large settlements of the Final Bronze Age in the northern Black Sea region. Their emergence during the Final Bronze Age in the upper reaches of navigable bays and estuaries in this region is owed to a coordinated system. This heralded a new stage in the history of the region and laid the foundations for the beginning of the Iron Age (Kravchenko, Reference Kravchenko2023a). The palaeobotanical and artefactual assemblages recovered at the Uch-Bash settlement and the contemporaneous satellite settlement of Sakharna Holovka (Figure 1: 2) make it possible to identify a number of innovations in the economy of the people who founded and occupied these settlements and developed the Inkerman Valley. Some of the most important innovations are metalworking, iron metallurgy, and cereal cultivation. During the Final Bronze Age to Early Iron Age in the northern Black Sea region, the presence of large quantities of cereal grains and their impressions on ceramics at Uch-Bash and Sakharna Holovka are of special significance, throwing light on the economy of the people who lived there, given that finds of grain are scarce in the region.
Figure 1. The settlements of Uch-Bash (1) and Sakharna Holovka (2) in the Pontic region.
Archaeological Context
In previous studies (e.g. Kravchenko, Reference Kravchenko2007, Reference Kravchenko2009, Reference Kravchenko2010b, Reference Kravchenko2011), we paid particular attention to the chronology of various features, areas, and layers of the Uch-Bash settlement. Five chronological horizons, i.e. narrow time intervals characterized by a specific traits of material culture, everyday life, or economy, were identified. Based on recurring elements in the ceramic assemblage, the horizons were combined into periods that correspond to the historical periods in the region. The five horizons (I–V) identified at Uch-Bash were combined into three periods: the Older Pre-Taurian, the Younger Pre-Taurian, and the Taurian (named after the tribe recorded in historic accounts of the area). These periods are synchronized with the corresponding cultural periods of the northern Black Sea region, as presented in Table 1. Traditionally the Uch-Bash settlement is attributed to the Crimean Kyzyl-Koba archaeological culture, without further correction or clarification. We do not think that the early sites of the Kyzyl-Koba culture and the sites of the Greek colonization period of the northern Black Sea region belonged to the same ethnic group or tribes. (Kravchenko, Reference Kravchenko2007, Reference Kravchenko2020). Therefore, we refer to the first two periods as Pre-Taurian (Early and Late), and the third as Taurian, indicating its association with the Taurian tribes (Kolotukhin, Reference Kolotukhyn1996; Kravchenko, Reference Kravchenko2011).
Table 1. Chronology and synchronization of Inkerman Valley sites and complexes of the Kyzyl-Koba culture.
In terms of absolute dates, the settlement was founded at the end of the twelfth century bc and occupation ended in the eighth–seventh centuries bc. This is one of the few settlements in the northern Pontic region that continued to exist after the decline of the Late Bronze Age Bilozerkа culture in Ukraine and Moldova, remaining active during the so-called Cimmerian stage (from the turn of the tenth/ninth centuries bc to the late eighth or early seventh centuries bc), specifically the Chornohorivka period (from the turn of the tenth/ninth centuries bc to the mid of the eighth century bc). It declined only after the invasion of the so-called Novocherkassians (middle of the eighth century bc) or during the Early Scythian period (probably in the early seventh century bc). All archaeological material analysed in this article has its own strict context, i.e. connecting with specific layers or features, as shown in the tables. The contexts and features were examined in detail in previous publications (Kravchenko, Reference Kravchenko2011). Economic issues were also raised, but a comprehensive study devoted to agronomy and grain farming has not been presented by previous researchers (Strzheletskiy, Reference Strzheletskiy1951a, Reference Strzheletskiy1951b) or in our syntheses. This article is the first contribution to further research on the economy of the region of the Final Bronze and Early Iron Ages, allowing its conclusions to pave the way for further work outlining the directions of historical processes in Eastern Europe.
Our goals were the following: to analyse the palaeobotanical remains from the Uch-Bash settlement associated with the cultivation, storage, and processing of crops; identify similarities and differences in features at horizon level; correlate palaeobotanical and archaeological data; recognize patterns and differences in feature complexes; and combine the findings of our analysis of the Uch-Bash data with the chronology and conclusions on Uch-Bash’s economy that we had reached in previous work. It should also be noted that no special studies have been conducted to analyse agriculture in the Crimea and most other adjacent regions at the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. This is mainly due to a lack of evidence. In this regard, Uch-Bash provides a unique collection of finds that can contribute to further long-term research.
Archaeobotanical Context
The archaeobotanical data from Uch-Bash come from research conducted in the early 1950s, headed by Stanislav Frantsevich Strzheletskiy (Strzheletskiy, Reference Strzheletskiy1952, Reference Strzheletskiy1953). At that time, several thousand grains were obtained by sieving material from the pits and buildings of Uch-Bash, which were identified by specialists of the Nikita Botanical Garden in Crimea. The results were collated in a field reports (Strzheletskiy, Reference Strzheletskiy1952, Reference Strzheletskiy1953), and the grains were kept at the Nikita Botanical Garden (Table 2). The excavation reports (Strzheletskiy, Reference Strzheletskiy1952, Reference Strzheletskiy1953) indicate that charred grains were present in such quantities in the household refuse pits that they could be seen without specialist equipment. The soil from the pits was drily sieved through specially made screens with different mesh sizes (Strzheletskiy calls them ‘grokhoty’) several times and the charred grain was picked out manually during this process. The excavation reports of the Uch-Bash settlement from 1952 and 1953 mention 4272 identified grains of Triticum sp. and Hordeum sp. In addition, the quantities of charred grain from pit 16 in the excavation area are labelled I (eastern) and from pit 10 in area II (central) are called ‘a box’. It is likely that they were not counted during identification and were stored at the Botanical Garden in the same box. Other unidentified biological remains were not examined and stored in the archive collection of the National Preserve of Tauric Chersonesos until recently, for example fish bones and scales in large numbers, were kept in large wooden boxes together with the soil from which they were extracted from the settlement. The exact amount of grain that such a box could have contained is unclear, but its presence nevertheless confirms that the settlement yielded significant quantities. After examining the available archaeological material and combining the chronology of the features with our palaeobotanical material results (Table 2), grains of Triticum sp. and Hordeum sp. were seen to be distributed across all horizons of the settlement: I-UB (158 grains), II-UB (2000 grains), III-UB (42 grains), IV-UB (70 grains), V-UB (+Ia-UB according to Kravchenko’s (Reference Kravchenko2020) revised chronology; 384 grains). The significant difference in the number of grains in different horizons is generally associated with the specifics of the economic activity represented in the features that were excavated. The large quantity of grains in a small number of features in the last horizon (V-UB) compared to other horizons is worthy of note. Strzheletskiy’s excavations hardly touched the settlement areas where this horizon was present; it was represented by only a few pits and hence such a large quantity of grain from a small number of features in horizon V-UB seems significant.
Table 2. Carbonized palaeobotanical remains from features of the Uch-Bash settlement, excavations of 1952–1953 (after Strzheletskiy, Reference Strzheletskiy1952, Reference Strzheletskiy1953) with horizons identified according to Kravchenko (Reference Kravchenko2011).
During our excavations in 2006–2013 at Uch-Bash (Savelia & Kravchenko, Reference Savelya and Kravchenko2006, Reference Savelya and Kravchenko2007, Reference Savelya and Kravchenko2008; Savelia et al., Reference Savelya, Kravchenko, Lysenko and Shevchenko2009; Kravchenko, Reference Kravchenko2010a, Reference Kravchenko2013; Kravchenko, et al., Reference Kravchenko, Razumov and Ovchynnykov2011, Reference Kravchenko, Razumov, Kvitnyts’kyy and Moskalenko2012), no grains were found due to excavation priorities and a lack of flotation, which was not possible because of the working conditions (demining of ammunition depots in the galleries of the rock on which the site is located (Kravchenko, Reference Kravchenko2023b) and the distance from the water source. Therefore, we analysed the ceramics from Uch-Bash, i.e. the collection of the 1950s excavations and recent finds, to identify the impressions of grains on their surface and fabric. This proved effective, not only providing palaeobotanical (archaeobotanical) data, but also correlating with the results presented in Strzheletskiy’s field reports (Table 2).
All collections from the excavations conducted by Strzheletskiy (1952–1953), Savelia and Kravchenko (2006–2009), and Kravchenko (2010—2013) were analysed (National Preserve of Tauric Chersonesos, coll. nos. 35971–36028, 36293–36359, 37510, 37519, 37542, 37559, 37576, 37593, 37615; Scientific Archive of the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, coll. nos. 1571, 1572, 1575). Materials from 2011 were reviewed before selection for further storage. In addition, finds from the settlement of Sakharna Holovka (1944 collection, excavated by O.K. Takhtai; excavations by S.F. Strzheletskiy in 1952; National Preserve of Tauric Chersonesos, coll. nos. 36194–36210) were also reviewed. A total of 148 impressions of grains and seeds from cultivated and weed plants were identified (Tables 3 and 4), of which 144 belong to cultivated species, and four to weeds. Impressions of grains of Hordeum sp. were found on pottery from horizons I and IV, while those of Triticum sp. were found in horizon II. On one small fragment of pottery from the excavation of surface deposits, eight impressions of Hordeum sp. were found and counted as a single case. Mass impressions of Panicum sp. on the bases of the pots were not taken into account, as they would introduce a statistical error (for details, see Gorbanenko, Reference Gorbanenko2011, Reference Gorbanenko2014, Reference Gorbanenko and Kravchenko2016).
Table 3. Impressions of grains and seeds of cultivated plants from Uch-Bash, by horizons and quantity, excavations of 1952–1953 (after Gorbanenko, Reference Gorbanenko and Kravchenko2016: 180).
Table 4. Impressions of grains and seeds of cultivated plants from Sakharna Holovka, by horizons and quantity, excavations of 1952 (after Gorbanenko, Reference Gorbanenko and Kravchenko2016: 180).
Overall, the grain impressions on ceramics showed the same trends as the charred grain found in the features excavated in 1952–1953. The cereal impressions on ceramics from different horizons were unevenly distributed across the site, with a significant number of impressions found on ceramics from the last horizon, V-UB (Table 3). In addition, the number of impressions of emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccum) grains tends to increase from the first to the last horizons of Uch-Bash. This is also supported by the small amount of material from Sakharna Holovka (Table 4).
The ceramics from the excavations conducted between 2007 and 2013 also yielded some grain impressions. In addition to Triticum sp. and Hordeum sp., impressions of grains of Panicum sp. and rye (Secale cereale) were found in the pottery fabric. The pottery from the latest excavations was analysed as thoroughly as possible, including body sherds and indeterminate fragments that had not been transferred to the stored collections from the 1952–1953 excavations. Compared to the material recovered in 1952–1953, more impressions were identified. This increase is based on the analysis of all materials, and not just of those selected for storage. It is possible to compare it with the information from the early excavations only in general terms, since the methodology used for studying palaeobotanical remains from previous years, as can be seen from the published results, differs significantly from that used for the most recent excavations. The fragmentary nature of the collection from the 1952–1953 excavations also plays a role. However, the trend towards an increase in the number of grains in the last V-UB horizon is still evident (Table 5).
Table 5. Impressions of grains and seeds of cultivated plants from Uch-Bash, by quantity, excavations of 2006–2013.
Cultivation, Storage, and Processing of Grain
In addition to the finds of charred grain and the impressions of grains on pottery, the early horizons revealed a complete assemblage related to the cultivation, storage, and processing of grain. These include agricultural tools, i.e. hoes, sickles with large flint inserts (Figures 2 and 3), which were found in abundance, large vessels used for roasting or drying (Figure 4: 4, Figure 5), large pithoi (Figure 4: 1–3) used for storing grain, grain pits and grinders (Figure 5).
Figure 2. Flint inserts (a, b) and fragments (c). b: nos. 5, 7, 9, 11, and 12 belong to a ‘hoard’ of flint inserts found in pit 17. Reproduced by permission of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NAN Ukrayiny).
Figure 3. Bone frames from the floor of Building 1 (a); reconstructions of frames and inserts as sickles, from the floor Building 1 (b), and variant from a different context (c). Reproduced by permission of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NAN Ukrayiny).
Figure 4. Vessels: pithoi (1, 2, 3) for storing grain and fragments of roasting or drying vessels (4, 5) (after Kravchenko, Reference Kravchenko2011: 143). Reproduced by permission of Volynski starozhytnosti and the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NAN Ukrayiny).
Figure 5. Grinders and fragments of grinding stones. Reproduced by permission of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NAN Ukrayiny).
A set of five flint inserts for sickles was found in pit 17 (Figure 2b: 5, 7, 9, 11, 12), one of which was not used after manufacture. The reason these items were found in a household pit is unknown but may be explained by a need for their urgent concealment. At the same time, the fact that these items were found together (perhaps as a ‘hoard’) suggests that such sets may have been personal possessions and that their production was specialized.
Other sickle inserts, their fragments, sickle blanks, and items in secondary use were found in the Uch-Bash features and layers: about fifty items in all (Razumov, Reference Razumov and Kravchenko2016: 100, 102). This is a significant number compared to other settlements in the northern Pontic region and a significant number for the Uch-Bash settlement itself, representing twenty per cent of the flint assemblage (Razumov, Reference Razumov and Kravchenko2016: 102). It is worth emphasizing that there is no evidence for the manufacture of these artefacts at the settlement; only signs of their repair, secondary use, and a few sickle blanks. The shine, so-called lustre, on the working blade of the sickles confirms that they were used for harvesting cereals (Shnyrelman, Reference Shnyrelman1989: 47; Razumov, Reference Razumov and Kravchenko2016: 101).
Several artefacts and sickle blanks come from a closed context: the floor of Building 2, which was destroyed in a fire. One item is a fragment of a sickle frame (Figure 3: 1), found next to a flint insert belonging to it (Figure 2a: 4), suggesting that the bone sickle broke during use. The handle was made from the mandible of a domestic cow. The spongy tissue from the alveoli was completely removed and the insert was apparently fixed in the centre with some unknown substance. The outer surface of the handle fragment is heavily polished; the right side is slightly damaged from use, as can be seen from the dents in the surface. Another cow mandible was found next to it (Figure 3: 2). The spongy tissue from this mandible was not entirely removed. It is likely that the bone had been softened before processing, as the piece was somewhat flattened by the collapse of Building 2’s ceiling in the fire, and the processed parts of the bone, where the sponge tissue had already been removed, was chipped off (Figure 3: 3). The inner edge of this jaw had traces of polishing, which may indicate that it had been used as a tool for removing meat from hides. However, traces of further unfinished processing of this bone, such as, for example, the removal of spongy tissue from the alveoli, probably indicates an attempt to make a handle from it, similar to the handle described above. The broken handle and insert refit perfectly, as shown in the reconstruction (Figure 3b). Further experiments with inserting flint inserts from different contexts, somewhat different in shape, also fit with a broken sickle (Figure 3c) (Razumov, Reference Razumov and Kravchenko2016: 102, 103, fig. 3.2.5; Sergeeva & Kravchenko, Reference Sergeeva, Kravchenko and Kravchenko2016: 171, 172).
Another specialized activity of the Older Pre-Taurian period (late twelfth century bc to the turn of the tenth/ninth centuries bc) may have been the processing of grain, as attested by the remains of a brazier and parts of grinding stones (Figure 5) found at the level of a layer of soil (without anthropogenous influence) over the bedrock in the north-eastern part of the northern excavation area, possibly in the courtyard area, subsequently covered by later strata. These grinders, together with other stone items, were analysed in detail by the author in a monograph dedicated to the economy of the inhabitants of the Inkerman Valley. It should be noted that fragments of grinders are mentioned quite often in Strzheletskiy’s excavation reports in features that we attribute to the early horizons.
Items associated with harvesting (sickles) and the primary processing of grain, such as vessels used for roasting grain (Figure 4: 4, 5), together with grinding stones and their fragments were concentrated mainly in the northern part of the settlement, where grain pits from the earliest horizon (late twelfth century bc to late tenth century bc) were found: these pits, originally used for grain storage, had a secondary use as refuse pits, into which the clay paste typical for pithoi in the walls and bottom were partly saved (Kravchenko, Reference Kravchenko and Kravchenko2016a: 245). The pithoi (Figure 4: 1–3) and most of the pits that contained the remains of charred grain were excavated in the central part of the settlement. These were abandoned as a result of a fire, approximately at the turn of the tenth to the ninth century bc. The pithoi are large-volume storage vessels with thick walls made from clay mixed with much straw, and were reported as household vessels in the 1952–1953 excavations. The number of their fragments is substantial; for example, thirty-seven rim fragments, seven base fragments, and 430 body sherds were found on the floor of house 1, which comprised one large vessel (Figure 4: 1). Since the large number of fragments indicates the large size of these vessels, rather than an abundance of different vessels, the sherds from such pithoi found in household pits were not counted within the context of refuse disposal. Nevertheless, the presence of pithoi fragments in almost all features and contexts from the early horizons indicates their widespread use. The statistics for all finds at Uch-Bash and Sakharna Holovka are presented in alongside an analysis of all categories of finds and their chronology, including that of the early periods of the Kyzyl-Koba culture. The features and stratigraphy of Uch-Bash and Sakharna Holovka are analysed in a separate monograph (Kravchenko, Reference Kravchenko2011).
The activities associated with the cultivation and harvesting of cereals, as well as the processing and storage of grain and a large number of tools connected with these tasks, indicate that cereal production was a primary aspect of Uch-Bash in the Older Pre-Taurian period. Although the source material does not allow us to reconstruct the yields or sown areas, the significant number of grain residues and the large number of grinders and sickles are noteworthy. The numerous sickles and the presence of five sickle inserts hidden in a pit from the early horizon also testify to the widespread use of these tools for harvesting cereals. This suggests the accumulation of a considerable harvest at the settlement in the autumn, followed by storage and processing until the next harvest. Hypothetically, it can be assumed that harvest could have been used as a unit of exchange for obtaining imported metal or flint. This economic cycle was seasonal and occurred during the warm season. Adjusted for the climate of south-western Crimea, it may be possible to propose that there were two cycles for growing barley (Hordeum vulgare).
Grain and other produce
According to previous studies (Gorbanenko, Reference Gorbanenko and Kravchenko2016: 185), for horizon IV at Uch-Bash the main cultivated grain crop was emmer (Triticum dicoccum), followed by barley (Hordeum vulgare) (a little less than a third); other crops (in descending order) included rye (Secale cereale), millet (Panicum miliaceum), and bread wheat (Triticum aestivum)—each accounting for less than a tenth. Horizon V presents a slightly different picture. Hordeum sp. is best represented (one third), emmer (Triticum dicoccum) accounts for one quarter, Secale cereale. The indicators for bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) are few (one eighth), but there is no doubt that it was cultivated. Low proportions of millet (Panicum miliaceum) complete the list (Gorbanenko, Reference Gorbanenko and Kravchenko2016: 186). At the beginning of the Tauric period (second half of the eighth century bc to first half of the seventh century bc), Uch-Bash changed entirely (Kravchenko, Reference Kravchenko and Kravchenko2016b: 255). Agriculture also underwent changes. Triticum dicoccum, Triticum aestivum, and Hordeum vulgare show an increase in the palaeobotanical material and Secale cereale also rises. The absence of flint inserts in sickles from the horizons of the Tauric period is notable. All sickle fragments in these layers were reused to make other items or as strike-a-lights. There is no evidence for oval grinders in the Tauric period, but small one-handled upper stones of querns are present. A Vitis vinifera seed from a pit of the Tauric period (pit 8, horizon V-UB) suggests that it continued to be grown or harvested (a seed of Vitis vinifera was also found in an earlier context, pit 2, horizon III-UB, late tenth early ninth century bc) by the inhabitants of the Inkerman Valley at that time.
The analysis of the palaeobotanical data indicates that agriculture played an important part in the food supply of the inhabitants of Uch-Bash. The presence of weeds indicates the long-term use of plots of land for cultivation. The increase in the share of Secale cereale in horizon V (second half of the eighth century bc to first half of the seventh century bc) in comparison to the previous horizon IV (ninth to mid-eighth century bc) also speaks for the importance of agriculture. In addition, the growing role of Secale cereale alongside Triticum dicoccum, against the background of the decline of Triticum aestivum, may indicate some improvement in tillage techniques that took place alongside a change in the population of Uch-Bash (Kravchenko, Reference Kravchenko2007, Reference Kravchenko2020). Perhaps agriculture was supplemented by horticulture and viticulture. Agricultural produce may also have served as raw materials for spinning and weaving, and potentially for oil production, but this requires further research.
Discussion
Currently, Uch-Bash is the only settlement in the northern Black Sea region to have yielded such significant evidence for agriculture from the twelfth to the seventh centuries bc. Other settlements have produced much sparser palaeobotanical data in the form of grains and grain impressions on ceramics, quantity and variety of agricultural tools, and means of processing and storing grain.
Crimea had agriculture in earlier times, during the Neolithic-Eneolithic period (Motuzaite-Matuzeviciute et al., Reference Motuzaite-Matuzeviciute, Telizhenko and Jones2013; Salavert et al., Reference Salavert, Messager, Motuzaite-Matuzeviciute, Lebreton, Bayle and Crépin2014) or in the later Bronze Age (Cordova et al., Reference Cordova, Lehman, Gerasimenko and Carter2001a). However, the cultural diversity of Crimea was transformed dramatically, in terms of its economy and the composition of the population, during the period of historical change in the Pontic steppe in the Bronze Age. Migrants brought their own traditions to the region that differed from local customs. Special studies dedicated to the economy of the Bronze Age of the Crimea have not been conducted in the last half century and it is therefore not currently possible to trace a continuous line of agricultural development in the Crimea from the Neolithic-Eneolithic period onwards.
There is no trace of continuity between the assemblages of the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Ages from Uch-Bash and Sakharna Holovka, and those from the first ancient Greek settlements in Crimea. No special correlation of materials from the pre-Classical and Classical layers of the Crimean sites has been carried out, and individual studies bypass this issue, citing verbal reports by previous researchers about the futility of such an undertaking (Cordova & Leman, Reference Cordova and Leman2003, Reference Cordova, Lehman, Peterson, Popova and Smith2006: 435; Cordova et al., Reference Cordova, Lehman, Gerasimenko and Carter2001a, Reference Cordova, Rybak and Leman2001b). Without delving into the reasons why the Soviet generation of Sevastopol archaeologists did not want to cooperate in this area with Western scientific institutions, I would point out, in light of our research, that such an endeavour is far from futile. Some palynological data obtained from Crimea shed light on climatic and vegetational change in Crimea during the period of Greek colonization and later during the Byzantine period (Cordova et al., Reference Cordova, Lehman, Gerasimenko and Carter2001a: 43–46). However, this research did not provide information on agriculture in pre-Greek times, or other specific data on the palaeoecology of Crimea during the Bronze and Early Iron Ages, probably due to a lack of systematic archaeological research of sites from this period in the region.
The Bilozerka culture settlements, where quantities of grain, including Triticum sp., and finds associated with agriculture, including sickles, pithoi storage vessels, braziers, and oval grinding stones, were also found, offer the closest parallels for the early Uch-Bash horizon. Flint inserts in sickles are typical for the Bilozerka culture, but they are found in much smaller quantities there. For example, in the publications of the assemblages from the Bilozerka culture settlements in the left bank of the Middle Dnipro (river Dnieper), only some flint sickles are reported (Romashko, Reference Romashko2013: 109, 207): these are small inserts with a retouched working edge, except for a few items, such as a sickle found at the Balta settlement in Budzhak in the Middle Dniester (Vanchugov, Reference Vanchugov1990: 102). As for finds of flint sickles on the Middle Dniester, they are not as numerous as those at Uch-Bash but include not only small inserts with a retouched working edge, but also completely retouched subtriangular inserts, including quite large exemplars (Krushelnytska Reference Krushelnytska1998: passim). The Neporotove settlement of the Final Bronze and Early Iron Age on the Middle Dniester also yielded flint drills similar to those from Uch-Bash (Krushelnytska, Reference Krushelnytska1998: figs. 37, 12; 43, 9). At the sites of the Forest-Steppe Dnipro region, similar flint inserts (but not identical to those from Uch-Bash) appear only on sites of the Final Bronze Age; their appearance is more in line with the Chornyi Lis culture than the Bilohrudivka culture dated to the Final Bronze Age and Early Iron Age of the Middle Dnipro (Kushtan, Reference Kushtan2013: fig. 46, 27). Finally, at sites in the Middle Dnipro region, inserts from the Subotiv settlement of the Final Bronze and Early Iron Age (Terenozhkin, Reference Terenozhkin1961: 84) look more archaic than those from Vovkivka of the Final Bronze Age in north-eastern Ukraine (Kushtan, Reference Kushtan2013: fig. 46, 27) and are more similar to those found on Late Bronze Age settlements in Crimea (Kolotukhin, Reference Kolotukhyn2003: fig. 65).
Flint artefacts are present in the period immediately preceding the appearance of the Uch-Bash settlement in the Final Bronze Age, and possibly the Crimean sites partially synchronous with it, such as Chuyuncha, Druzhne 2, or Alma 1. However, judging by the publication of these items, they differ from the Uch-Bash inserts both in size and form (Leskov, Reference Leskov and A.M.1970: 34; Kolotukhin, Reference Kolotukhyn2003: fig. 65). Flint inserts typologically similar to those from Uch-Bash are presented among the finds from the Kyzyl-Koba settlement (Kolotukhin, Reference Kolotukhyn1996: 127), which is synchronous with the Uch-Bash III and IV horizons, and the Ashlama-Dere settlement (Kris, Reference Kris1981: pl. 6, 1, 4), which is synchronous with Uch-Bash’s horizons IV and V. The Kyzyl-Koba assemblage is, however, dominated by smaller inserts compared to those from Uch-Bash, and Ashama-Dere contains one such small subtriangular flint insert.
In Uch-Bash, intact flint inserts in sickles are found mainly in the horizons of the Older Pre-Taurian period, including a possible ‘hoard’ of five intact inserts discovered in pit 17 of the Eastern excavation area in horizon I. Elsewhere on site, whole sickles are found in layers in the northern part of the settlement. Fragments of sickles, in addition to those assigned to the Older Pre-Taurian period, are found in the loamy layers of the Younger Pre-Taurian period in the Western excavation area; one whole sickle insert was also found in the layers of the Central excavation area from these periods. The ash and refuse layers of the Western area primarily contain fragments of sickle inserts in secondary use.
The extremely narrow range of published palaeobotanical results from the Bilozerka culture settlements does not allow us to compare these directly with the Uch-Bash data. Nevertheless, the published results from the late Sabatinovka culture settlements such as Novokyivske and Vynohradnyi Sad I dated to the Late Bronze Age of the Lower Dnipro (Triticum dicoccum, Triticum aestivum, Triticum monococcum, Hordeum vulgare, Panicum sp., Vicia sp.; Gershkovish, Reference Gershkoviсh, Sava, Govedarica and Hänsel2011: 169) generally coincide with the palaeobotanical results from Uch-Bash.
Grain and grape seeds were found in the contemporaneous fortified settlement of Dykyi Sad in Mykolayiv in southern Ukraine, at the settlement of Etulia on the Lower Danube in Moldova (Yanushevich, Reference Yanushevich1986: 14–16), and on several other sites on the Ukrainian Black Sea coast. During the Late Bronze Age, Eastern Europe also saw a transition to broomcorn millet, rye, spelt, bread and glume wheat cultivation (Kvapil, Reference Kvapil, Hollander and Howe2021: 249). In particular, the role of Triticum durum varieties was increasing (Wardle et al., Reference Wardle, Halstead and Jones1980; Jones et al., Reference Jones, Wardle, Halstead and Wardle1986). So far, such varieties have not been identified in Late and Final Bronze Age layers on sites in the northern Black Sea region, but the large quantities of different grains of the genus Triticum may indirectly suggest that the agricultural practices and origin at Uch-Bash were influenced from the West, the Balkans, and the southern Carpathian regions of Eastern Europe, where the tendency towards increased wheat cultivation can be traced from the Late Bronze Age onwards and is likely to have been caused by climate change.
Conclusions
The finds at the Uch-Bash settlement include a complete set of tools used for growing, storing, and processing grain. The large number of harvesting tools (sickles) is mirrored by a significant quantity of grain found in the Uch-Bash features. Moreover, large grain harvests are indicated by the size of the pithoi (large grain storage vessels), the abundant fragments of such vessels, and the so-called braziers found in refuse deposits.
The cereals grown by the people in the Inkerman Valley, in the form of charred grains recovered from excavated features and as impressions on ceramic at Uch-Bash, namely Hordeum sp., Triticum sp., Secale cereale, Panicum sp., have been identified at various times and using different methods; impressions of Pisum sp. are also mentioned among the results of the ceramic analysis. The distribution of these species is attested across all chronological horizons.
Currently, archaeological investigations suggest that agriculture did not play a predominant role in the economy of the tribes that inhabited Crimea during the Bronze Age, but this is contradicted by the early features excavated at Uch-Bash. The people inhabiting the Inkerman Valley at the turn of the Bronze Age to the Iron Age (twelfth to seventh century bc) not only practised simple agriculture, but also used their agronomic skills to cultivate cereals.
The presence of developed agriculture, starting from the early horizons of Uch-Bash, speaks for the availability of soils suitable for growing cereals as one of the main factors for the choice to found a settlement. Areas of loamy soils without rubble located near the settlement may have been tilled. In this part of Crimea, the soil formation is characterized by soils with crushed stone (Hrunty Kryms’koyi Oblasti, 1967). The absence of stones may thus be associated with intentional cultivation, but it is not currently possible to determine when this occurred.
The discovery of Vitis vinifera seeds in the early period of Uch-Bash, which is synchronous with the Late Mycenaean period in Greece, also suggests a deep knowledge of the cultivation or domestication of wild plants. Anthony Snodgrass (Reference Snodgrass1971: 378–80), on the issue of changes in the social organization of the Greek population between the Mycenaean and Classical periods, raised the question of a detailed study of agriculture. While providing data on the mainly meat-based diet of the Mycenaean settlements, Snodgrass highlighted the emergence of a significant cereal component at the beginning of Greek history, with numerous questions related to the transitional period. It is important to note that charred Vitis vinifera seeds are rarely found in the northern Black Sea region in this transition period; its presence at Uch-Bash indicates established connections of the northern Pontic region with the Balkans and the Mediterranean.
The large quantity of cereals retrieved from Uch-Bash is so far unique among the contemporaneous settlements of the northern Black Sea coast. In this article, we have summarized all the evidence from the settlements of Uch-Bash and Sakharna Holovka related to the agricultural practices of their inhabitants. While this is insufficient to reconstruct the full story of the emergence and direction of the economy in the Inkerman Valley, or to compare our data with the agriculture of other centres of the Black Sea region and the Mediterranean, the available studies and materials testify to the existence of agriculture as one of the main aspects of the economy of the Inkerman Valley at the turn of Bronze Age to the Iron Age.
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