Sintashta as a Cultural and Historical Phenomenon of the Bronze Age

The Sintashta culture is the most controversial ethno-cultural formation of the Bronze Age, formed in the Ural-Kazakhstan steppes. It appears suddenly and is located on the territory of the Southern Trans-Urals. Fortified settlements and burial grounds of this culture spread in a wide strip along the eastern slopes of the Ural Range. The specificity of fortified urban-type settlements, uncharacteristic for the steppe zone of Eurasia, allowed researchers to conclude that they were imported from other regions where they had been originally developed and canonized. In this regard, the most probable is the gradual migration of the population from the territory of Asia Minor, the architectural and planning standards of which demonstrate features of detailed similarity. The alleged migration took place through the Trans-Asian corridor connecting the Middle East and Central Asia to South Kazakhstan, from where paramilitary groups appear in the South Trans-Urals and create the Sintashta culture. Fortified settlements are accompanied by the appearance of burials with chariot attributes, presented in the form of an already established complex of objects and technologies. In archaeological sources, the chariot complex is represented by the remains of chariots, skeletons of draft horses, cheekpieces, as well as weapons of distance and close combat. In the steppes of Eurasia, the war chariot becomes the most formidable and powerful weapon of the Bronze Age. Keywords: Sintashta, migration, chariot, Southern Trans-Urals, Middle East