CULTURAL GENESIS AND THE FINAL FF ZRUBNA TIMBER-GRAVE CULTURE OF THE NORTH AZOV AREA (THE LATE BRONZE AGE)

The article is concerned with the cultural genesis of Zrubna Timber-Grave Culture in the North Azov Area, its emergence in the area and the initial stage of development. The author provides historiographical overview of the problem and considers the main concepts of the genesis and the development of Zrubna Timber-Grave Culture in the region under research. The article also describes a number of ritual and inventory features characterizing the initial burial sites of Zrubna Timber-Grave Culture of the North Azov Area with Pokrovsk features. It was those sites that were recognized the earliest ones typical of the region’s timber-grave culture following the times of the burial sites of Babine Cultural Circle. As far as culture and history, the emergence of Zrubna Timber-Grave Culture in the North Azov Area is associated with migration of Pokrovsk-type sites’ bearers from the Woodland Grass of the Don Area through the basin of the Siverskyi Donets with active participation of the autochthonous Babine population. The article also considers issues concerned with determining the upper chronological limits of Zrubna Timber-Grave Culture on the territory of Left-Bank Ukraine and the North Azov Area, in particular the limits marking disappearance or transformation of Zrubna Timber-Grave Culture into new formations of the final stage of the late Bronze Age.