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Eurasian Steppe Nomad

Yamnaya, Katacombnaya

  • Chapter
Encyclopedia of Prehistory

Abstract

In the second half of the Atlantic period, the climate was warm and humid. Steppe vegetation predominated in the watersheds; mixed grass and gramineous steppes gave way to gramineous and gramineous-wormwood steppes farther in the south; pine and birch forests grew in the river valleys. The climate was close to contemporary, but the winter temperature was lower than contemporary. Fluctuations in the climate were typical for the period under consideration, however, and resulted in shifting the borders of some zones for specific trees and grasses. At the turn of the Atlantic and Subboreal periods between 4800-4500 b.p., the climate worsened and became drier, and the area of valley and stream forests decreased. The final stage of the tradition coincides with a sharp aridization in climate, reduction in valley deciduous forests, replacement of forest-steppe landscapes with steppe landscapes, and steppe landscapes with semidesert.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Archaeology, State Historical Museum, Moscow, Russia

    Natalia Shishlina

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  1. Natalia Shishlina
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  1. Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin, USA

    Peter N. Peregrine

  2. Human Relations Area Files/Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

    Melvin Ember

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Shishlina, N. (2001). Eurasian Steppe Nomad. In: Peregrine, P.N., Ember, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Prehistory. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1187-8_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1187-8_10

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