Petal-shaped beads from the final stage of the middle bronze age used as a cultural-chronological indicator

This article is devoted to the analysis of a specific kind of jewellery from the final stage of the Middle Bronze Age - petal-shaped beads made of faience and, less frequently, fired clay. The ornaments are numerous and represented by series in the North Caucasus foothills, in the lower reaches of the Don and Volga and in the North-Eastern Caucasus. The beads have a very narrow chronological range - the 22 nd - 20 th centuries BC (calibrated dates). They are typical, mainly, of burials from the early stage of post-catacomb cultural formations and of assemblages from that same period in the North-Eastern Caucasus. Petal-shaped beads were an innovation in the range of jewellery manufactured in the Lola Culture. From that focus isolated specimens and sets of such beads made their way into the territories of other cultures as a result of inter-cultural contacts.