Spatial distribution of ceramics in the layer of the fortified settlement of Kamennyi Ambar: to the reconstruction of the main building phases

The article presents the results of studying the spatial distribution of ceramics in the layer of the fortified settlement of Kamennyi Ambar (Bronze Age, Southern Trans-Urals). The multilayer nature of the site determined the main tasks of the work: identification of stratigraphic correlation of ceramic groups and establishment of their relationship with the identified structures. The study was based on the method of individual fixation of finds. The spatial analysis was carried out in successive steps in four excavated areas located in the north-eastern, northern, western and eastern parts of the settlement. During the work stratigraphy and planigraphy of cultural remains were considered, a quantitative ratio of typological groups and conditions of their deposition in objects were determined. Obtained observations allow us to define the sequence of habitation on the settlement the representatives of different cultural traditions and, accordingly, to distinguish three main building phases (Sintashta, Petrovka and Srubnaya-Alakul'). During these phases significant changes occurred in the structure of the settlement, apparently, to some extent conditioned by demographic processes, and architectural stereotypes have undergone a transformation.