The Sargat Culture: Between Archaeological Evidence and Historiographical Tradition

Researchers consider unity or cohesion throughout many centuries to be a key feature of the Sargat culture. However, the distribution map of the Sargat antiquities reflects our level of knowledge about this culture rather than the density of forest-steppe population dispersal. Besides, the sites on the periphery of its area have been ascribed to the Sargat culture based on specific features, whereas the ‘core’ includes different local chronological groups. Proposed hypotheses (cultural dynamics, center of cultural genesis, community) are not sufficient to explain this phenomenon because of a lack of continuity recorded both in the habitation horizons at the settlements and in the chronostratigraphy of the kurgans remains outside this explanation perimeter. New materials and their analysis using existing collections actualize the review of the Sargat development model and its spatial and chronological characteristics.