Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Analysis of variations in the regime of rivers and lakes in the Upper Volga and Upper Zapadnaya Dvina based on archaeological-geomorphological data

  • Water Resources and the Regime of Water Bodies
  • Published:
Water Resources Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The geomorphological and altitudinal positions of occupational layers corresponding to 1224 colonization epochs at 870 archaeological sites in river valleys and lake depressions in southwestern Tver province. A series of alternating low-water (low levels of seasonal peaks, many-year periods without inundation of floodplains) and high-water (high spring floods, regular inundation of floodplains) intervals of various hierarchical rank was identified. In low-water epoch, an increase was recorded in the share of settlements on low elevations, including river and lake floodplains now subject to inundation. The archaeological epochs 2–3 Ky in length were found to form the following series from high-water to low-water: Mesolithic (11.8–8.0 Ky ago)-Iron age (2.8–0.3)-Neolithic (8.0–5.0)-Bronze epoch (5.0–2.8). The first half of the Iron age (2.8–1.8 Ky ago) was extremely water-abundant, while its second half (middle ages) was dry (relative to the present time). A correlation between the hydrological and temperature regimes was identified: low-water epochs closely correlate with warm epochs, while high-water ones correlate with cold epochs. This can be associated with the specific features of the present-day type of water regime with dominating spring flood; this regime is supposed to have existed during the most part of the Holocene: the runoff and the levels of floods decline during warming epochs and increase during cooling epochs.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Avdusin, D.A., Chapters from Monograph “Gnezdovo”, in Gnezdovskii mogil’nik: Issledovaniya i publikatsii (Gnezdovskii Cemetery: Studies and Publications), Moscow, 1999, part 1, pp. 7–20.

  2. Akimenko, T.A. and Evstigneev, V.M., Zoning of Territory by the Synchronicity of River Runoff Variations, Vestn. Mosk. Univ., Ser. 5, Geography, 1999, no. 3, pp. 3–7.

  3. Aleksandrovskii, A.L. and Aleksandrovskaya, E.I., Evolyutsiya pochv i geograficheskaya sreda (Evolution of Soils and Geographic Environment), Moscow: Nauka, 2005.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Aleksandrovskii, A.L., Krenke, N.A., and Nefedov, V.S., Paleorelief of High Dnepr Floodplain on the Territory of Gnezdovskii Archaeological Complex, Rossiiskaya Arkheologiya, 2005, no. 1, pp. 112–123.

  5. Borzenkova, I.I. and Zubakov, V.A., Climatic Optimum of Holocene as a Model of Global Climate in the Early XXI Century, Meteorol. Gidrol., 1984, no. 8, pp. 69–77.

  6. Velichko, A.A., Klimanov, V.A., and Belyaev, A.V., Reconstruction of Volga Runoff and Water Balance of the Caspian Sea during Optimums of Mikulinskoe Interglacial and Holocene, Izv. Akad. Nauk SSSR, Ser. Geogr., 1988, no. 1, pp. 27–37.

  7. Vinnikov, K.Ya. and Lemeshko, N.A., Soil Moisture Content and Runoff for USSR Territory under Global Warming, Meteorol. Gidrol., 1987, no. 12, pp. 96–102.

  8. Georgiadi, A.G., Reconstruction of River Runoff by Historical Data and Indirect Natural Indices, Vodn. Resur., 1992, no. 4, pp. 106–114.

  9. Georgiadi, A.G. and Milyukova, I.P., River Runoff in Volga Basin during Epochs of Global Climate Warming, Ekstremal’nye gidrologicheskie sobytiya v Aralo-Kaspiiskom regione. Tr. mezhdunar. nauch. konf., (Extreme Hydrological Events in the Aral-Caspian Region. Proc. Intern. Sci. Conf.), Moscow, 2006, pp. 87–91.

  10. Gorodtsov, V.A., Materials to the Archaeological Map of Oka Valley and Banks, in Tr. VIII Arkheologicheskogo s”ezda (Proc. VIII Archaeological Congr.), Moscow, 1905, pp. 39–42.

  11. Gorodtsov, V.A., On the Establishment of the Natural Time Scale by Alluvial Deposits in the Valleys of Oka System Rivers, Tr. Sektsii Arkheologii RANION, 1928, vol. 2, pp. 12–25.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Gusakov, M.G., Systematics of Unfortified Settlments (Villages) by Materials on D’yakovskaya Culture, in Arkheologiya Podmoskov’ya (Archaeology of Moscow Region), Moscow: Inst. Arkheologii RAN, 2008, issue 4, pp. 357–366.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Efimova, N.A., Changes in the Moistening Conditions on Part of Eurasian Territory under Possible Global Climate Warming, Meteorol. Gidrol., 1987, no. 11, pp. 54–58.

  14. Zhilin, M.G., Mezolithic of the Volga-Oka Interfluve: Some Results of Recent Studies, in Problemy kamennogo veka Russkoi ravniny (Stone Age Problems in East European Plain), Moscow: Nauch. mir, 2004, pp. 92–139.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Zaretskaya, N.E. and Kostyleva, E.L., Radiocarbon Chronology of the Initial Statge of the Upper Volga Early Neolithic Culture (Based on Materials of Sakhtysh 2a Dwelling Site), Rossiiskaya Arkheologiya, 2008, no. 1, pp. 5–14.

  16. Kislov, A.V. and Toropov, P.A., Modeling of Variations in River Runoff on the East European Plain under Different Climates of the Past, Vodn. Resur., 2006, vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 515–526 [Water Resour. (Engl. Transl.), vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 471–482].

    Google Scholar 

  17. Klige, R.K., Voronov, A.M., and Selivanov, A.O., Formirovanie i mnogoletnie izmeneniya vodnogo rezhima Vostochno-Evropeiskoi ravniny (Formation and Long-Term Variations in Water Regime of East European Plain), Moscow: Nauka, 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Klimanov, V.A., Khotinskii, N.A., and Blagoveshchenskaya, N.V., Climate Variations over the Historic Period in the Central East European Plain, Izv. Akad. Nauk SSSR, Ser. Geogr., 1995, no. 1, pp. 89–96.

  19. Klimenko, V., Klimanov, V., Sirin, A., and Sleptsov, A., Climate Changes in the Western Part of European Russia in the Late Holocene, Dokl. Akad. Nauk, 2001, vol. 376, no. 5, pp. 679–683 [Dokl. (Engl. Transl.), vol. 377, no. 2, pp. 190–194].

    Google Scholar 

  20. Kovalenko, V.V. and Khaustov, V.A., Experience in Retrospective Assessment of the Hydrological Regime of East European Plain, in Modelirovanie i prognozy gidrologicheskikh protsessov (Modeling and Prediction of Hydrological Processes), St. Petersburg: RGGMU, 1999, pp. 10–18.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Mazurkevich, A.N., On the Early Neolithic in Lovat-Dvina Interfluve, in Peterburgskii arkheologicheskii vestnik (Peterburg Archaeological Herald), St. Petersburg, 1994, issue 9, pp. 77–84.

  22. Mazurkevich, A.N., First Evidence of the Appearance of Production Economy in Northwestern Russia, in Pushkarevskii sbornik (Pushkarevskii Collection), St. Petersburg: IIMK RAN, 2003, issue II, pp. 77–83.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Mazurkevich, A.N., Culture of Piling Settlements in the III Millenium BC in Northwestern Russia, in Radiouglerod v arkheologicheskikh i paleoekologicheskikh issledovaniyakh (Radiocarbon in Archaeological and Paleoecological Studies), St. Petersburg: IIMK RAN, 2007, pp. 236–243.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Miklyaev, A.M., Stone-Iron Ages in the Zapadnaya Dvina-Lovat Interfluve, in Peterburgskii arkheologicheskii vestnik (Peterburg Archaeological Herald), St. Petersburg, 1994, issue 9, pp. 7–39.

  25. Miklyaev, A.M. and Dolukhanov, P.M., From the History of Economic Development of Ancient Population on the Right-Bank Region of the Zapadnaya Dvina and the Upper Lovat (XX Thous. BC-the Early II Thous. A.D., in Arkheologicheskii sbornik (Archaeological Collection), Leningrad, 1986, issue 27, pp. 3–7.

  26. Nefedov, V.S., Arkheologicheskaya karta Rossii. Tverskaya oblast’. Ch. 2., (Archaeological Map of Russia. Tver Province. Part 2), Kashkin, A.V. and Korol’, G.G., Eds., Moscow: Institut arkheologii RAN, 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Nikitin, A.L., Ancient Settlements and Hydrosphere Rhythms, Priroda (Moscow, Russ. Fed.), 1978, no. 1, pp. 24–31.

  28. Panin, A.V., Secular Trends in the Development of the Upper Parts of River Systems, in Sovremennye global’nye izmeneniya prirodnoi sredy (Current Global Changes in the Natural Environment), Moscow: Nauch. mir, 2006, vol. 1, pp. 404–409.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Panin, A.V., Ivanova, N.N., and Golosov, V.N., The River Network and the Processes of Erosion and Accumulation in the Upper Don Basin, Vodn. Resur., 1997, vol. 24, no. 6, pp. 663–671 [Water Resour. (Engl. Transl.), vol. 24, no. 6, pp. [609–617].

    Google Scholar 

  30. Panin, A.V. and Karevskaya, I.A., History of the Formation of Protva River Floodplain within the Territory of MSU Satinskii Testing Ground, Vestn. Mosk. Univ., Ser. 5, Geography, 2000, no. 4, pp. 55–62.

  31. Pushkina, T.A., Murasheva, V.V., and Nefedov, V.S., News in Studying the Central Village in Gnezdovo, Tr. GIM, 2001, no. 124, pp. 12–33.

  32. Sidorchuk, A.Yu., Panin, A.V., and Borisova, O.K., Climate-Induced Changes in Surface Runoff on the North-Eurasian Plains during the Late Glacial and Holocene, Vodn. Resur., 2008, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 406–414 [Water Resour. (Engl. Transl.), vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 386–396].

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Moscow State University, Leninskie gory, GSP-1, Moscow, 119991, Russia

    A. V. Panin

  2. Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Dm. Ul’yanova 19, Moscow, 117036, Russia

    V. S. Nefedov

Authors
  1. A. V. Panin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. V. S. Nefedov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Original Russian Text © A.V. Panin, V.S. Nefedov, 2010, published in Vodnye Resursy, 2010, Vol. 37, No. 1, pp. 18–34.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Panin, A.V., Nefedov, V.S. Analysis of variations in the regime of rivers and lakes in the Upper Volga and Upper Zapadnaya Dvina based on archaeological-geomorphological data. Water Resour 37, 16–32 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0097807810010021

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0097807810010021

Key words

Search

Navigation