ИСТИНА

A new methodological approach used to detect seasonal campsites occupied by Bronze and Early Iron Age pastoralists living in the desert and steppe area in the South-East of the Russian Plain helped identify different subsistence and economic activities. Comprehensive studies of two types of the sites by employing the methods of archaeology, soil stud ies, geography, geomorphology, geoinformatics, geochemistry, paleobotany provid ed an opportunity to obtain conceptually new data on the location and operation pattern of winter and summer pastures and camps themselves. To identify temporary camps, it is important to identify those land areas located in proximity to the camps where grazing was the most suitable at certain times of the year, taking into account natural features. For the winter season it has been demonstrated that deeply cut gullies withrather steep slopes facing south, south-west and south-east are most suitable for winter grazing, determining the existence of temporary winter camps in suchareas. The arrangement of summer temporary camps demonstrates a reverse pattern. It is assumed that summer camps and pastures were located near streams on open windswept watershed sections rather than near subordinate features of the relief. Such camps can be discovered only if the soil was overlaid by natural deposits, which may occur on sections with sand.