The Rykan 3 settlement in the context of sites belonging to the range of catacomb cultures in Eastern Europe's forest-steppe zone

In this article an assessment is made of materials from the Rykan 3 settle-ment - one of the most informative and well investigated domestic sites from the northern(forest-steppe) periphery of the range of catacomb cultures (fig. 1). In their cultural andgeographical context the landscape and topographical conditions of the settlement areexamined and also the features of its habitation levels (tab. 1), of its lay-out and its infra-structure (figs. 2-5; tab. 2). It is demonstrated on the basis of an analysis of pottery andother finds (figs. 6-9; tab. 3) that the settlement dated from the first half and middle of theadvanced stage of the Middle Don Catacomb Culture. In the light of data obtained with thehelp of radiocarbon dates (tab. 4) it was established that this settlement and similar sitesin the forest-steppe zone belonged to the early phases of the Ingul and Manych catacombcultures of the steppe zone.