German-Russian Excavations on the Don. Results of the 2008–2010 Campaigns

Abstract

The German-Russian excavations launched in 2004 in Taganrog and the surrounding area as well as in the Don delta were concluded in 2010. With numerous settlement sites, the late and final Bronze Age have emerged as key stages in the cultural-historical development. Following the collapse of this dense settlement landscape (Dally u. a. 2009, 104 f.), the early Iron Age trading post of Taganrog, presumably founded by Ionian Greeks, was successfully able to establish itself (Dally u.a. 2009, 105). Taganrog was integrated in a regional and transregional sphere of communication that extended as far as the eastern Mediterranean region. It was from Taganrog that a new network of settlements in the Don delta originated; among these Elizavetovka grew to be the most important centre in the 5th and 4th century B.C. (Dally u. a. 2009, 105 f.). Many other, smaller settlements existed as well, such as Novo Zolotovka which, like Elizavetovka, was incorporated in a network in the north-east Azov region in the 4th century and 1st quarter of the 3rd century B.C. Nomadic and semi-nomadic groups must have been no less significant than the sedentary population in the cultural development of the Don delta in the Iron Age; their presence is attested by a number of kurgans in the region (van Hoof – Schlöffel [in Vorbereitung]).