Das spätchalkolithische Steinkistengrab von Dolinka, Kr. Krasnoperekopsk, Ukraine: Neue spektralanalytische Untersuchung and absolute Chronologie

The richly furnished grave of Dolinka in the Crimea finds parallels in graves of the Maikop period (second half of the 4th millenium BC) in the footgills of the North Caucasus. New chemical analyses, confirming the presence of arsenic-rich metal artefacts among the grave inventory of Dolinka, further substantiate this association. Artefacts made of pure copper, on the other hand, provide a clear indication for the use of non-Caucasian ore deposits in this period. The radiocarbon dating of the wooden handle of an axe from the burial of Dolinka confirms its dating to the middle of the 4th millennium BC and emphasises that this grave should not be placed in the context of the Yamnaya Culture, which belongs to a period some five hundred years thereafter (i.e. to the first half of the 3rd millennium BC). Several further graves from the Kemi-Oba culture in the Crimea, showing typological parallels in the Caucasus, may also predate the Yamnaya phase. With its outstanding set of weapons, the gave from Dolinka appears to mark the beginning of a phenomenon of warrior graves which became widely establishes across Europe in the 3rd Millennium BC