Andronovo settlement Shlyapovo in the Upper Ob

The Andronovo settlement complexes of the Upper Ob are studied extremely weak. In this regard, the results publications of the settlements research are important for further study of the Bronze Age history. This work is devoted to analysis of material obtained during excavations in 1952 under the leadership of Gryaznov M.P. at Andronovo settlement Slyapovo in the Upper Ob. Excavation materials are stored in the collections of the State Hermitage Museum, they are represented by a bone implements, bronze, stone, clay products. In this paper particular attention is aimed to the most massive category of finds — ceramic complex. Representative selection (451 samples) allowed to divide the complex in two groups: Andronovo (predominant) and Late Bronze. For Andronovo group was provided the analysis of the ornament and form of the vessel. The methodical base were works of Genning V.F., Rudkovsky I.V., Tkachev A.A. and Tkacheva N.A. It has been revealed 16 ornamental motives. Basically it was vertical herringbone, horizontal grooves and horizontal «herringbones», ranks of the pit depressions. Rarely encountered the lines, short diagonal lines, vertical zigzag and ornaments in geometric style (triangles, «ducks», meanders). The vessels decor was performed in various techniques of the ornament applying, but the most common was a smooth punching stamp, large and small comb. There were two main forms of the vessels from the settlement — cans and pots. Also were revealed the laws in the form of the vessels and ornaments correlation. On the base of the provided analysis were marked the features of the settlement dishes. Accounted ornamental schemes allowed to compare the Slyapovo site with another settlements of the Andronovo culture of the Upper Ob. Topographic data with the founded artifacts allowed to attribute the site to the temporary settlement type. Common features of the settlement Shlyapovo gave the possibility to date the complex within a broad framework of existence of the Andronovo culture in XV–XIII B.C

INTERBALL magnetotail boundary case studies

International audienceWe present two examples of INTERBALL-1 data near both the high and low-latitude tail magnetopause (MP) under disturbed conditions. For the high-latitude case, MAGION-4 data determine the scales of the MP current sheets which are in the order of 100–500 km for the main ones, 50–200 km for Flux Transfer Events (FTEs) and a few km for the fine structures and ULF turbulence. The MP speed was 15–30 km/s. The energetic protons in the magnetosheath (MSH) provide evidence of reconnection upstream of the spacecraft (S/C). The tailward flows grow for the northward MSH magnetic field when the reconnection site is believed to be shifted tailward of the cusp. The inner boundary layer (BL) after the disturbance consists of tailward and earthward flowing plasma of MSH origin and cold mantle plasma flowing tailward The earthward flow is evidence of reconnection tailward of the S/C, which is regarded as a specific feature of the disturbed conditions. Local production of a plasma-sheet-like plasma at high latitudes is argued based on the inner BL plasma characteristics. The following features are observed in both cases: (a) FTEs for both northward and southward MSH fields; (b) waves in the current sheet vicinities over ten mV/m and 15 nT peak-to-peak; (c) electron fluxes with scales down to a few km with extra heating especially parallel to the magnetic field; (d) outer turbulent boundary layers with a deflected magnetic field; (e) ions with time-energy dispersion-like features and deflected ion fluxes. In the downstream dawn region at the transition between the low-latitude boundary layer and the plasma sheet (LLBL/PS), multiple MP encounters are observed. In the LLBL parallel electron intensifications correlate with ULF magnetic fluctuations

The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia

By sequencing 523 ancient humans, we show that the primary source of ancestry in modern South Asians is a prehistoric genetic gradient between people related to early hunter-gatherers of Iran and Southeast Asia. After the Indus Valley Civilization's decline, its people mixed with individuals in the southeast to form one of the two main ancestral populations of South Asia, whose direct descendants live in southern India. Simultaneously, they mixed with descendants of Steppe pastoralists who, starting around 4000 years ago, spread via Central Asia to form the other main ancestral population. The Steppe ancestry in South Asia has the same profile as that in Bronze Age Eastern Europe, tracking a movement of people that affected both regions and that likely spread the distinctive features shared between Indo-Iranian and Balto-Slavic languages