The Blumenfeld Complex in the Southern Urals and the Sites of the Filippovka Cultural Tradition

By now, researchers have developed key methodological approaches to address archaeological issues and history of Eurasian nomads in the context of archaeological cultures linked, in their turn, to specific areas and chronological stages. At the same time, considering new complexes and general evolution of scientific co cepts, a more complex picture of cultural genesis which is increasingly more difficult to interpret through the prism of cultures (or their stages) singled out in the middle of the 20th century is becoming apparent. With this in mind, modern researchers review cultural and historical processes in the steppe belt of the Southern Urals within the interaction of three cultural components which determined the nature of the Southern Urals nomadic culture at the end of the 6th – early 3rd centuries BC. The paper explores a complex of funerary sites which the modern literature defines as Blumenfeld. The author analyzes its ritual characteristics and culturally specific features. The outcome of this interaction of the cultural characteristics identified is the description of the sites attributed to the Filippovka cultural tradition which characterize the culture of the early nomads in the Southern Urals at the end of the 4th – early 3rd centuries BC.