Olga Sergeevna Khokhlova

The results of morphogenetic studies of soils in the forest-steppe zone (Venevsky district of the Tula region) are presented. Soils are formed under conditions of paleocryogenic microrelief, represented by blocks and interblocks, on which the soils differ in a number of morphological and physico-chemical characteristics, allowing them to be classified as leached slightly covered medium-depth slightly humus (Luvic Chernozems) and podzolic deep-gley medium-depth slightly humus (Luvic Phaeozems), respectively. They are formed on paleocryogenically transformed soil-forming rocks, have passed the stage of a complex process — cryolithopedogenesis, and soils on different microrelief elements should be considered as a genetically related two-unit body. A comprehensive methodological approach based on macro- and micro-studies of soil features allowed us to identify soil combinations (complexes and spots) in the structure of the soil cover. However, since this territory has passed the stage of periglacial cryogenic transformation, and the soils were formed on a paleocryogenic microrelief, the term "paleocryolithogenic" soil combinations is proposed for such and similar territories.
The concept of the role of cryolithogenic processes in the Late Pleistocene, which determined the formation, evolution and differentiation of modern chernozems in the center of the East European Plain, is proposed.

This article compares the earthen kurgan constructions and building technologies of seven kurgans of the Bronze Age Yamnaya culture in the Orenburg region. We conducted a comprehensive analysis to determine the source materials for kurgan construction and the primary earthen building techniques used to create kurgans, focusing on macro-, meso-, and micromorphological properties. It made it possible to prove that ancient people did not simply pile up earthen materials in a chaotic manner but always used specific building plans, skills, and technologies available. We have noted the similarities and differences in the structure of earthen constructions, using the results of studying the kurgans of the Yamnaya culture from the beginning of the developed stage A to the end of the developed stage B (3300–2600 cal BC). Some of the identified differences are because of even slight changes in environmental conditions and, consequently, in the available raw materials that affect construction materials and technologies. Based on the analysis of all the kurgans, the primary way of their building has been identified — the creation of a “pestrotsvet” (patchy-colored material) and the techniques used for this — kneading, tamping, and inclusion of artificially introduced material. Local soils formed the primary material, to which various inclusions were added (river silt, bones, coals, etc.). Kurgan size, the original material's particle-size pattern, and its resulting cementing properties determined whether the material was extensively kneaded and tamped, or if a more complex design was employed.

The article aims to test the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) technique for studying earthen archaeological sites of the steppe zone of Russia. The earthen material of the Maikop culture kurgan (the 4th-3th millennia BC) in the Western Caucasus and two “black platforms” of the Sintashta culture (the 19th-18th centuries BC) in the Southern Pre-Urals are examined using a JEOL JSM 6060 A SEM with an EX-2300 BU energy-dispersive spectrometer (JEOL, Japan). The elemental composition of the surface was determined in each instance, and variations in the structure of earthen buildings were exposed based on their visibility during SEM investigations. The samples from earthen constructions are unique because nearly all of their interior surfaces are covered with a clay film of various thicknesses. The earthen “cement” used by the Maikop people to hold the stoneworks on the kurgan's slopes and the cromlech at its base was characterized by especially smoothed clay forms, consolidated structure, and a comparatively high content of Al and a low content of Si in the clay film. In contrast, the material inside the kurgan has a higher Si content, a looser structure, and a fragmented clay coating. The structure of the two “black platforms” of the Suntashta culture was found to differ; one was looser, while the other was consolidated and essentially monolithic (“stone-like”), and the elemental makeup of its substance showed an increase in Al and Fe concentration. In terms of building technology, the SEM studies enabled us to assume that the sedimentation process contributed to the smooth (clay-based) surfaces of the earthen structure fragments in the Maikop kurgan, and that the application of specific compaction techniques produced an artificial stone-like body of the black platform of the Sintashta culture.