Western Elements in the Late Sarmatian Monuments

The Late Sarmatian culture has oriental origin. This culture practically does not have the features of funeral rite, which can be associated with the influence of ancient word. After the middle of the 2nd century AD, imported items of Roman or Provincial-Roman origin began to occur in the Late Sarmatian burials. The most mass category of findings is represented with metal tableware. As a rule, metal, more often bronze, vessels are represented with jugs, basins, strainers and ladles. In some cases, they are found as parts of table set. The burial complexes with such sets are found throughout the territory of the Late Sarmatian culture – from the Trans-Urals to the Northern Azov region. The Sarmatians started to use the import metal tableware later than the inhabitants of the Roman provinces. The Late Sarmatian burials also contain the antique vessels made of glass. Such vessels are often found in complexes with metal tableware. A few finds of Roman articulated fibulae with enamels are known in the Late Sarmatian burials in the territory of the Southern Urals and the Trans-Urals. Oriental things are often found in burials along with the Roman things: Chinese, middle-Asian, etc. Roman products often mark graves of high social status, which differ in burial rites from ordinary burials. Findings of things of Roman or provincial Roman origin in high-status burial mounds confirm their value in the Sarmatian society. There are several opinions regarding the penetration of Roman imports into nomadic culture. They could get to the Sarmatian leaders as trophies or as a result of trade relations. Standardization of both sets and types of Roman tableware allows assuming their appearance in steppe monuments of late Sarmatians as political gifts

Human and Steppe in the Early Iron Age. Results of Interdisciplinary Research

Introduction. Recent archaeological studies deal with the integration of natural science disciplines. Such scientific interaction includes the reconstruction of climatic changes, human adaptation to the changing conditions of nature, study of sociocultural specifics in nomadic groups as well as rising archaeological cultures, with emphasis on the interconnection between the fluctuations of steppe environmental conditions and steppe populations. Analysis. The article presents the results of the carried out interdisciplinary analysis of classic and modern archaeological studies and natural science disciplines. This allows evaluating the specifics of different factors (paleoclimatic, sociocultural, etc.) influencing the “steppe-human” system in a new way. Such factors as registered climatic changes, spreading areas of archaeological cultures, mortuary funeral rites, results of paleoanthropological examination, written records and ethnographic data provide evidence to reconstructing different time-span events of early nomads’ history in one context. The reconstruction of historical reality shows quite strong correlation between the environment and specific features in the development of ancient steppe societies. Human has high adaptive abilities to changing factors. However, the steppe population mode of life is extremely conservative and it has practically never changed during the Sarmatian or Sauromatian history. Climate fluctuations over the steppe area influenced the demographic and social structure of nomadic society. During auspicious periods, nomadic communities became populous and active politically and military. If negative factors dominated, the population tended to decrease and the social structure tended to simplify. Critical indicators of aridization and humidization in Eurasian steppes are followed with the population outflow, which is evidenced by small amount of archaeological sites or even by vanishing of cultures. Results. Thus, the authors conclude that when studying archaeological sites of the Early Iron Age nomadic cultures, it is necessary to consider the steppe and human as a single organism responsive to changing and a strong impact of environmental and socio-cultural factors

Details of the Horse Bridle from the Burial of the Sarmatian Horseman from Kovalevka Kurgan Cemetery

Introduction. The article publishes and analyzes the materials founded by the kurgan research near the village of Kovalevka in the southern part of the Volga-Don interfluve. Kurgan No. 13 is part of a kurgan cemetery, where the burials look relatively simultaneous and can be interpreted as a cemetery of nomadic migrants, settled in this territory in the confrontation with other Sarmatian groups. Methods. The authors pay special attention to the details of the horse bridle, to the type of the bits and cheek-pieces, and to the plaques, which decorated the straps of the headband. The traditional method of analogies is used for the analysis and interpretation of the material. Analysis. The type of rod cheek-pieces with two rectangular loops for fixing the rein in the central part and disc-shaped tips at the ends became widespread in the Sarmatian environment at the turn of the era. The cheekpieces and plaques were decorated with gold foil applications. Such burials are known in the Lower and Middle Volga region, Lower, Middle and Upper Don region, Kuban and in the Crimea. The authors find the origins of the tradition of making and using bits and cheek-pieces of this type in the East, in the regions of Transbaikal, Tuva, Altai and Northern China. The analysis of the bridle allows making the conclusion that it belonged to professional warriors-riders of upscale status. Results. The appearance of such burials coincides with the process of changing Sarmatian cultures at the turn of the eras, and probably the horsemen were active participants in these historical changes. However, it is impossible to define them as an ethnic group, or even to combine them within one archaeological culture. Therefore, the authors propose to see such riders as representatives of an intertribal aristocratic military group

Early Sarmatian Burials from Verhniy Balykley I Kurgan Cemetery in Trans-Volga Region

The paper introduces into scientific discourse the materials of the early Sarmatian burials from the Verkhniy Balykley I kurgan cemetery from the area of the Volgograd Trans-Volga region. This monument was studied in the course of the 1978–1979 expedition organized by the Volgograd State Pedagogical Institute under the leadership of A.S. Skripkin. Materials. The burial includes four mounds located compactly on the banks of the reservoir and one single mound setting far away in the steppe. Eighteen inlet burials of the early Sarmatian time were found in three Bronze Age kurgans. Some burials contained no burial inventory; others did include a variety of grave goods. The funeral rites present a wide range of grave structures: pits with side chambers, simple rectangular pits and catacombs. The southern body orientation of the buried individuals was dominating. In kurgans 5 and 6, a circular arrangement of graves is traced, which is typical for early Sarmatian mounds-cemeteries. Material analysis. An analysis of the grave goods indicates 3rd – 1st centuries BC is the time of construction of most burials in these kurgans, which does not contradict the funeral rite traditions and reveals a range of features characteristic of the nomads of that period. A military burial with a long sword and arrows is one of the most distinguished in its kind. Ceramic material is represented by various stucco forms of pots, an incense burner and a jug. Fragments of mirrors with rollers along the edge and beads were discovered in several burials. Several stone “miniature hammers”, typical for the South Ural grave materials of this period, is also an interesting find. Conclusions. In general, the studied monuments illustrate the burial traditions of the early Sarmatian population of the Ural-Volga steppes of the early Sarmatian time. The finds of pottery samples, previously unknown stone “miniature hammers” in the west of the Volga, allow us to conclude on the cultural proximity of the nomads who left the mounds near the village Verhniy Balykley with the South Ural nomads. Authors’ contribution. In this paper, Anatoly S. Skripkin prepared a descriptive part of the archaeological material; Vladimir I. Moiseev analyzed the funeral rite and the inventory. Mikhail V. Krivosheev drew and presented conclusions on the analysis of the material

Climatic Optimum as a Factor of the Economic Crisis of Steppe Nomads in the 4th Century AD

Introduction. Archaeological sites of the 4th century AD absent on most of the area of the Late Sarmatian culture. This may be both due to the difficulties of their identification and absence of chronological indicators and due to migrations of nomads from the steppe zone. Perhaps unfavorable climatic conditions for nomadic cattle breeding affected the decrease in the number of nomadic population in the 4th century AD. Methods and materials. The paleosoil data allow reconstructing the ecological situation in dry and desert steppes in the first centuries AD. The initial stage of the Late Sarmatian era (the late 2nd – the early 3rd centuries AD) was marked by arid conditions with cold winters with little snow, which were favorable for cattle breeding in the steppe zone. In the late 3rd century and at the turn of the 3rd – 4th centuries, the processes of humidization began – an increase in climate humidity, which favorably affected the ecological situation in the steppe: high grass, area watering. Such situation provided successful livestock grazing in summer. However, in winter, an increase in humidity led to heavy snowfalls and snowstorms, an increase in snow cover, frequent winter thaws, rain, fog, that were replaced by periods of cooling. At this time, grass icing and ice crust formation occured. Analysis. In those conditions, the number of days, when cattle grazing was impossible, increased. As a consequence, there was weakening and disease of the livestock, until the complete loss of the herd. This was followed by the decrease of population. Results. The humidization processes primarily affected the Southern Urals and in the final of the 3rd century reached the Volga-Don steppes. This could be the reason for the outflow of the Late Sarmatian population from the Southern Urals to the Volga regions. In the 4th century AD, the steppes from the Urals to the Lower Don were practically depopulated. The beginning of the humid period, which was unfavorable for the nomadic economy, had a positive effect on settled agricultural societies. The Early Alanian culture of the Central Caucasus demonstrates the dynamics of active development throughout the Late Sarmatian period, including in the 4th c. AD. The duration of this humid period is difficult to estimate, however, in the Hun Epoch, steppes remained almost uninhabited, as evidenced by the small number of sites of this time

11th All-Russian Scientific Conference “Problems of Sarmatian Archaeology and History”

The article summarizes the results of the All-Russian Scientific Conference with International Participation “Problems of Sarmatian Archeology and History” dedicated to the memory of Prof. Anatoly S. Skripkin. The leading theme of the conference is “Chronology and periodization of the Sauromat and Sarmatian cultures: Regional features”. The conference was held in Volgograd in May 2023 on the base of Volgograd State University

Machine Learning at Microsoft with ML .NET

Machine Learning is transitioning from an art and science into a technology available to every developer. In the near future, every application on every platform will incorporate trained models to encode data-based decisions that would be impossible for developers to author. This presents a significant engineering challenge, since currently data science and modeling are largely decoupled from standard software development processes. This separation makes incorporating machine learning capabilities inside applications unnecessarily costly and difficult, and furthermore discourage developers from embracing ML in first place. In this paper we present ML .NET, a framework developed at Microsoft over the last decade in response to the challenge of making it easy to ship machine learning models in large software applications. We present its architecture, and illuminate the application demands that shaped it. Specifically, we introduce DataView, the core data abstraction of ML .NET which allows it to capture full predictive pipelines efficiently and consistently across training and inference lifecycles. We close the paper with a surprisingly favorable performance study of ML .NET compared to more recent entrants, and a discussion of some lessons learned

Eastern Traditions and Innovations in Sarmatian Monuments of Second Half of the 2nd – 4th cc. AD

The appearance of the monuments of the late Sarmatian culture has been recorded since the middle of the 2nd century AD on a vast territory from the Southern Urals to the Lower Don. The new culture is characterized by its own characteristics that distinguish it from the previous culture. This is the northern orientation of the buried, narrow pits and graves, artificial deformation of skulls, square censers, long stalks, mirrors with a central loop, stone tops and staples of swords. In different regions the formation of culture is characterized by specific features. In the Southern Urals, the late Sarmatian culture is represented in the purest form. In the Lower Volga region, a complex is formed, in which the signs of both late Sarmatian and Middle Sarmatian cultures are combined. This is due to the large number of the previous population which remained here. In the Lower Don region, there is a rapid change of cultures. The given article attempts to determine the area of distribution of elements of the late Sarmatian culture and the degree of their influence in different regions. The analysis shows that as for second half of the 2nd –first half of the 3rd century AD, we can talk about a unified late Sarmatian culture from the Trans-Ural to the Lower Don. Some features of the late Sarmatian culture are revealed in the Northern Black Sea region, but they are disjointed and not dominant. This does not allow to include the Northern Black Sea Coast in the area of distribution of the late Sarmatian culture. Finds of eastern origin in the late Sarmatian monuments indicate the absence of stable trade and economicties with the territories of Middle and Central Asia. The occurrence of such things was of an accidental nature, and they were distributed together with their owners. At present, there is no reason to talk about the possible functioning of the northern branch of the Silk Road through the steppes of the Ural-Don region in the late Sarmatian period

Late Sarmatian Elite Military Burial From the Southern Urals

The article is devoted to the burial of a warrior of Late Sarmatian time from the Southern Urals. The complex from mound no. 4 of the burial mound Taksai I is distinguished by large size of barrow and grave. The reconstructed height of the mound was less than 2 meters. The depth of the burial pit was more than 3 meters. For Late Sarmatian culture such dimensions of sepulchral structures are unique. Under the mound the ritual platform from mainland soil was discovered. The found inventory of a warrior-rider included: horse bridle, a set of bladed weapons consisting of a long sword, dagger and knife, as well as a small bronze cauldron. Analysis of inventory allows us to date this burial to the second half of the 3rd century A.D. This burial belongs to an elite funerary complexes of Late Sarmatian culture and is a burial of professional warriors. This social stratum was formed in Late Sarmatian society at the end of the 2nd - first half of the 3rd century A.D. Most of these graves are dating back to the first half of the 3rd century A.D and were found in the Low Don and in the Volga region. The situation in these regions changed in that period due to the invasion of the tribes of the North-Caucasian origin. Their occurrence is associated with the destruction of the Tanais in the Lower Don region and the spread of graves in the T-shaped catacombs in the steppe monuments. The tradition of burying warriors-horsemen of high social status almost disappears in the Volga-Don steppes after the middle of 3rd century A.D. In the Southern Urals where these processes had an indirect influence, the existence of traditional hierarchies of Late Sarmatian society could continue until the end of the 3rd century A.D. Among the parts of a horse bridle the researchers discovered bronze B-shape buckle. These buckles are widely distributed in the 4th-5th centuries A.D. in the basin of the Kama river and the Danube river. The found buckle is the earliest currently known sample of this type

Environmental analysis in construction company economic activity: approaches, methods, indicators

Taking into account that construction is one of the resource-intensive economic sectors, which is reflected in natural capital consumption and taking out the land resources from the turnover, it significantly affects the environmental situation. The conducted review of the previous research in the environmental analysis confirms the importance of the aforementioned problem and the urgency of research continuation to develop a tool for the environmental subsystem management in terms of companies’ sustainable development management. As a uniting tool for quantitative and qualitative analytical methods providing the basis for the choice and implementation of the strategy taking into account environmental requirements, we proposed a method for building of a construction company environmental profile, a scorecard with specific indicators underlying such profile as well as approaches for their reference level formation. To ensure the growth of the companies' environmental responsibility, it was proposed to increase the range of the estimated figures used for the formation of the construction companies' rankings including the environmental indicators into the system alongside with the economic and social figures with the account of the achieved outcomes both on the basis of the instantaneous and rate indicators