NO. 13 SOVIET ANTHROPOLOGY — FIELD 89 



These explorations led to the discovery of more than 200 sites of 

 varying degrees at antiquity. Remains of F.pipaleolithic and Neolithic 

 sites were found, as were gorodishchcs and sclishches of the first 

 millennium B. C. and the first millennium A. D., and dwelling places 

 and cemeteries of the second millennium. Large-scale excavations 

 were carried out on more than 25 of the sites. Several of them were 

 entirely uncovered. 



Before the first millennium B. C. — Tretiakov outlines briefly the 

 early history of the Upper Volga Valley, remarking on its recent, 

 postglacial age. He mentions the Epipaleoliiliic sites of a higher 

 Sviderskian character, found near Sobolevo and Skniatino. During 

 the Neolithic period the population was concentrated in three low 

 plains: (a) near Kalinin; (b) along the lower reaches of the Mologa 

 and the Seksna; and (c) along the lower reach of the Kostroma. In 

 all these three areas, numerous Neolithic stations are known, as are 

 sites of the Bronze Age. Outside of these low plains, other stations 

 occur on the shores of large lakes as, for example, Nero, Pleshcheevo, 

 Galic, and Cuchloma. 



At the end of the second and at the beginning of the first millennium 

 B. C, the inhabitants of the Upper Volga region emigrated from the 

 low plains to higher ground. This migration w-as in accordance with 

 modifications which had occurred in the economic sphere, when there 

 was a transition from the hunter-fisher economy to that of agri- 

 culturist-livestock raiser. 



The character of the dwelling sites was also soon modified. Instead 

 of open sites, the population began to construct small fortresses 

 {gorodishchcs). All these changes in the culture of the early in- 

 habitants of the Upper \'olga region were connected closely with the 

 changes that were occurring in the social order, exemplified by the 

 transition from matriarchy to patriarchy. 



The first fortified sites appeared in the Upper Volga region toward 

 the middle of the first millennium B. C. The materials found in the 

 earliest gorodishchc were completely in accordance with those of the 

 earliest Bronze Age sites, thus proving the existence of a genetic link 

 between the former and the latter. The three earliest gorodishchcs 

 were: (a) near the village of Gorodi.sce, in the suburbs of the city of 

 Kaliazin ; (b) near the village of Gorodok, downstream from the town 

 of Myskin ; and (c) at the mouth of the Nerlia, upstream from 

 Kaliazin. Gorodishchcs dating from the end of the first millennium 

 B. C. have been found in many places. In this group are the Toporok 

 gorodishchc and one in the outskirts of Borok, etc. Their antiquity 

 has been determined as a result of the repeated finding of bronze 



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