Configurations of Fortified Settlements of the Sintashta-Petrovka Type: Forms, Sizes, Transformations
Authors:   Institute of History and Archaeology, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Yekaterinburg, Russian Federation), Soldatkin Nikolai V. 
Published: June 2021

The article aims to analyze the configurations of fortified settlements of the Sintashta-Petrovka type (SPT settlements). Sources of information about the configurations are the results of remote research (aerial photographs, geomagnetic maps, topographic maps) and data from archaeological excavations. The study of configurations is one of the aspects of settlement archaeology at the level of research of the structure of the whole settlement. The article summarizes and compares the characteristics of forms, layouts, sizes, variants of transformations. The forms of SPT settlements can be divided into two types: rounded, with a radial arrangement of rows of dwellings, and subrectangular, with a linear arrangement. Eight sites are classified as rounded, sixteen are subrectangular. In the forms of many settlements there are mixed signs that emphasize the common architectural tradition: rounded settlements have separate straightened segments and straight rows of buildings, and subrectangular ones have rounded bends of building lines and rounded corner sections. In summarizing the size indicators, small, medium and large settlements were identified. The small ones have an area from 6 to 13 m2; thousand nine sites – subrectangular, with two rows of dwellings, and rounded, with one ring of buildings – are small. The small m2. settlements have about 20 to 30 buildings. The number of medium settlements is also nine, their area is from 15 to 21 thousand Most medium-sized sites are either subrectangular, with four rows of buildings, or rounded, with two rings of buildings. The medium m2. sized settlements have about 40 to 60 buildings. There are six large settlements; their area is 23 to 32 thousand Two of the large settlements are oval, four subrectangular, with traces of significant rearrangements. Due to the small volume of field research, it is difficult to estimate the number of dwellings in large settlements. The generalization of the remote data and the results of the excavations allows the author to propose a scheme of transformations of the SPT settlements. The structural component of their configurations is a row of closely spaced dwellings, enclosed by a line of fortifications. Several rows, most often two or four, oriented linearly or radially, form the inner space of the closed fortified settlement. While the fortified settlements functioned, they were restructured, with preservation of the general principles of regularity and isolation of the living environment. There are three main scenarios for rebuilding: the completion of rows to the early section, the overlapping of fortified villages, the reduction of the area of a fortified settlement. The final stage of the life of settlements is associated with the gradual abandonment of the cramped and closed configurations. The Srubnaya-Alakul settlements, successors of the SPT settlements, use more spacious, dispersed layouts, with partial preservation of the tradition of building rows of closely spaced dwellings and with refusal to build fortifications.