North-West Caspian Sea Steppe: Environmemt and Migration Crossroads of Pastoral Culture Population During the Third Millennium BC

The study is focused on the development of Eneolothic cultures on the background of environmental changes. Analyses of the geomorphologic location of the Yamnaya, Early Catacomb, North-Caucasus and Predkavkazskaya Catacomb cultures’ kurgans; the topography of burial grounds; climatic characteristics of 3,000 BC; 14C data; analyses of planigraphy of burial grounds and seasonality of graves enable us to develop a model of migration of pastoral culture populations within the study area, i.e. Kumo-Manich depression — the South Ergenui hills.Gradually the climate deteriorated starting from 2,600-2,500 BC. Newcomers representing different cultures arrived from the South and maybe from the South-West. At first the population of the North Caucasus and Early Catacomb cultures exploited river valleys and watershed areas only during summer. Such a situation could have developed not only due to climatic changes but also thanks to consent of the Yamnaya culture bearers that were the first to use these areas. Appearance of “mixed” (multiritual) graves, multiritual funeral goods found in the graves of both autochthonous populations and newcomers allow us to suppose that this coexistence could be quite peaceful.