NO. 13 SOVIET ANTHROPOr.OCY — I-IELD 5 



and the labor skills involved in each particular craft. A study of the 

 cast forms, for example, and of craftsmen's marks, throws lij^ht on the 

 social position of the latter, their organizations, and similar matters. 



Materials relating to various periods of the I5ronze Age liave l)een 

 unearthed at Shengavit settlement, at Shresh-Blur, and in Eilar. 

 Particular interest attaches to the fmclings ma<lc by the expedition 

 of the Georgian Academy of Sciences in the 'I'rialeti burial mounds. 

 Excavations of a tomb near Mtskhcta, just north of Tbilisi (formerly 

 Tillis], furnished valuable material relating to the ancient Georgian 

 kingdom. New finds, which shed light on the later Urartu epoch, 

 have been unearthed on the hill of Kamir-Blur by expeditions of the 

 Armenian Academy of Sciences. I^xtcnsive research has been carried 

 on in Azerbaidzhan concerning cyclopean edifices. Investigations of 

 medieval cities in Armenia and Georgia have been launched on a large 

 scale. All these and many other excavations have produced material 

 on the ancient history of the peoples inhabiting the Caucasus and 

 Transcaucasia and their relations with ancient eastern states. 



Excavations in Central Asia have unearthed Kelte-Minar and later 

 Tazabagiab cultures which indicate historical connections between 

 the population of ancient Khwarazm (Khoresm) and the north (the 

 Afanasiev and Andronovo cultures), and the east (the .Anau culture). 

 Expeditions in Shakhrasiab, Urgench. and Khwarazm. and the ex- 

 cavations of ancient Taraz, all of which unearthed material on a later 

 period in the history of Central Asia, have proved the existence of 

 cultural relations between the ancient population of Central .\sia and 

 the Near East. 



Prior to 25 years ago only 3 Paleolithic sites were k!iown in Siberia, 

 whereas more than 60 are known today. This has made it possible 

 to establish the various periods in Siberian Paleolithic cultures, and 

 of Neolithic settlements in the lower reaches of the .\mur, on the 

 shores of Lake Baikal, on the Angara, the Yenisei, and the Dim 

 Rivers. A study of the Bronze Age established the first appearance 

 of livestock breeding, agriculture, and the snnlting of metal. Three 

 stages of Siberian Bronze Age culture have been established — the 

 Afanasiev, the Andronovo, and the Karasuk. The dissemination of 

 northern Chinese bronze as far west as the present cities of Molotov 

 and Gorki raises the question of the role of cultural relations with the 

 Far East as well as with the Near East, in forming a cultural unity 

 among the peoples inhabiting the territory of the U.S.S.R. in ancient 

 times. Remains corresponding to Scytho-Sarmatian culture in the 

 southern regions of European Russia have been discovered in Sil^cria. 



In archeological research concerning the peoples of the N'olga and 



