Vladimir I. IONESOV
(Samara Branch of Moscow State University of Service, Russia)
The Bronze Age was historically the first radical and qualitative transition of culture from the primitive state to state organization, from barbarism to civilization, from egalitarianism to social ranking, from the settlement to the early town, etc. The proto-state culture experienced a powerful challenge of the epoch to which ritual was one of the responses. The study of culture in transition seems to be very important as the truth of man existence and predestination of culture are better seen in the time of historical changes.
The object of this report is the Proto-Bactrian culture of the Bronze Age (II Millennium BC) as a most essential proto-state phenomenon in the ancient history of Central Asia. In this work I try to touch on and understand only some aspects of the methodological importance of archaeological artifacts of transitional time in knowledge of anthropological nature of culture.
Proto–Bactrian complexes of early-urban civilization (Sapalli culture) are the largest, the most informing and rather thoroughly archaeologically studied natural location of the monuments of ancient eastern type. This culture belongs the transitional historical epoch and cross-cultural contact area. Artifacts of Sapalli culture are an inexhaustible resource of cultural-genetic and philosophic-anthropological researches of transformation processes and methods of social survival in the situation of changing of the vital cycles of civilization.
The high methodological significance of cultural study of complex objects of Proto-Bactrian culture is in expressed belonging of the culture to a transitional time – epoch of the sunset of the primitive society (post-primitive community) and the foundation of early state system. Another important aspect of this question is connected with boundary location of the cultural objects in cross-contact area of ethnic-cultural interaction of two socio-cultural worlds – settled-agricultural (early-urban) and nomad-cattle-breeding (steppe).
The Proto-Bactrian cultural objects to open us also the great prospect of studying of the articulated forms of transitional culture in the conditions of changing life cycles of civilization – from a monoculture to a complex society.