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Paleoeconomy of the Inkerman Valley

The paleoeconomy of the Inkerman Valley is an interdisciplinary reconstruction of the economic system, subsistence patterns, production technologies, and environmental exploitation of the population of Southwestern Crimea during the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age (12th–7th centuries BCE).

Overview

The reconstruction of the paleoeconomy of the Inkerman microregion is based on the results of integrated archaeological, archaeozoological, paleoethnobotanical, ichthyological, and traceological studies of material from the fortified settlement of Uch-Bash and the settlement of Sakharna Golovka. The synthesis carried out by a team of researchers led by Evelina Kravchenko in the monograph From Bronze to Iron (2016) highlights the transformation of the socio-economic model of the Kyzyl-Koba culture over four centuries.

The paleoeconomic system of the Inkerman Valley was characterized by high adaptability to landscape conditions (the mountainous Chorna River, Sevastopol Bay, limestone plateaus, forest and steppe biotopes) and a gradual transition from specialized Bronze Age crafts to a new type of economy with the widespread adoption of iron.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • Structure of Economic Activities:
  • Subsistence (Appropriative/Foraging): hunting red deer, roe deer, wild boar; seasonal mullet fishing in the upper reaches of Sevastopol Bay; gathering mollusks and crabs.
  • Multi-stage Production (Productive/Food-producing):
    • Agriculture: long-term cultivation of hulled barley, free-threshing (naked) and emmer wheat, and rye; grain processing on oval quern-stones with handstones.
    • Animal Husbandry: herds dominated by caprines (over 55% sheep and goats), adapted to mountain-foothill landscapes and watering from the Chorna River.
    • Metallurgy and Metalworking: casting of tin-arsenic bronzes during the Senior pre-Tauric period; mastering iron smelting from local hematite ores of Chortova Balka at the end of the 9th – 8th century BCE.
    • Pottery and Bone-carving Craft: operation of pottery kilns at Sakharna Golovka and bone-carving workshops at Uch-Bash (manufacturing check-pieces/psalia, sickle handles, spoons, and astragali).
  • Formation of Living Space and Infrastructure: wattle-and-daub frame and stone house construction using bentonite clays; erection of fortifications (defensive walls and towers); cabotage coastal navigation and overland communications.
  • Dynamics and Evolutionary Stages:
  • Senior Pre-Tauric Period (12th–10th centuries BCE): specialized craft production, advanced house building, cabotage navigation, Thraco-Hallstatt cultural contacts.
  • Junior Pre-Tauric Period (9th – mid-8th century BCE): emergence of iron-smelting technology, intensification of production, flourishing of metallurgical and bone-carving centers, growing social differentiation.
  • Tauric Period (second half of 8th – 7th century BCE): post-destruction stage following the assault on Uch-Bash; degradation of certain specialized crafts (stone carving), widespread transition to iron tools, increasing role of bone raw materials, demographic shifts, and simplification of domestic structures.
  • Seasonality and Cyclicity: The autumn peak of food procurement (autumn mullet run, grain harvesting, autumn livestock culling, and hunting) required the development of a long-term food storage system using pithoi and storage pits.