Origins The Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex originated in the first wave of nomadic populations who originated in the parts of Central Asia corresponding to
eastern Kazakhstan or the
Altai-Sayan region, and who had, beginning in the 10th century BC and lasting until the 9th to 8th centuries BC, migrated westwards into the
Pontic-Caspian Steppe regions, where they formed new tribal confederations which constituted the Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex. The arrival of the Central Asian formative element of the Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex in Europe was thus part of the larger process of westwards movement of Central Asian Iranic nomads towards South-East and Central Europe which lasted from the 1st millennium BC to the 1st millennium AD, and to which also later participated other Iranic nomads such as the
Scythians,
Sauromatians, and
Sarmatians. The formation of genuine
nomadic pastoralism itself happened in the early
1st millennium BC due to
climatic changes which caused the environment in the Central Asian and
Siberian steppes to become cooler and drier than before. These changes caused the sedentary mixed farmers of the
Bronze Age to become nomadic pastoralists, so that by the 9th century BC all the steppe settlements of the sedentary Bronze Age populations had disappeared, and therefore led to the development of population mobility and the formation of warrior units necessary to protect herds and take over new areas. These climatic conditions in turn led nomadic groups become
transhumant pastoralists constantly moving their herds from one pasture to another in the steppe, and to search for better pastures to the west, in
Ciscaucasia and the forest steppe regions of western Eurasia. The archaeological and historical records regarding the migrations which formed the Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex are however scarce and permit to sketch only a very broad outline of this complex development. The Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex thus developed natively in the North Pontic region over the course of the 9th to mid-7th centuries BC from elements which had earlier arrived from Central Asia. Therefore, three main cultural influences are contributed to the development of the Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex: • present in the development of the Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex is a strong impact of the native Belozerka culture, especially in the form of pottery styles and burial traditions; • the two other influences were of foreign origin: • attesting of the Inner Asian origin from the
Minusinsk region accompanied by connections with the
Ananyino culture, a strong material influence from the
Altai,
Arzhan and
Karasuk cultures from Central Asia and Siberia is visible in the Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex; of Inner Asian origin were especially dagger and arrowhead types, horse gear such as bits with stirrup-shaped terminals, deer stone-like carved stelae and Animal Style art; • in addition to this Central Asian influence, the
Kuban culture of Ciscaucasia also played an important contribution in the development of the Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex, especially regarding the adoption of Kuban culture-types of mace heads and bimetallic daggers. The Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex thus developed natively in the North Pontic region over the course of the 9th to mid-7th centuries BC from elements which had earlier arrived from Central Asia, due to which it itself exhibited similarities with the other early nomadic cultures of the Eurasian steppe and forest steppe which existed before the 7th century BC, such as the
Aržan culture, so that these various pre-Scythian early nomadic cultures were thus part of a unified Aržan-Chernogorovka cultural layer originating from Central Asia.
Spread In Europe Thanks to their development of highly mobile mounted nomadic pastoralism and the creation of effective weapons suited to equestrian warfare, all based on equestrianism, these nomads from the Pontic-Caspian Steppes were able to gradually infiltrate into Central and Southeast Europe and therefore expand deep into this region over a very long period of time. Graves of both the Chernogorovka (Chornohorivka, in
Siversk,
Ukraine) and
Novocherkassk phases of the complex are spread across a large area ranging from north-eastern
Bulgaria and
Moldavia in the west through Ukraine and
Crimea and up to the
Kuban and
Volga-Kama regions in the east. The Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex thus covered the area ranging from Central Europe and the
Hungarian Plain in the west to the
Pontic and
Ciscaucasian Steppes in the east. In the 8th century BC, a part of the Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex expanded into the Pannonian Steppe, where it contributed to the formation of the
Mezőcsát culture. This in turn allowed the Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex itself to strongly influence the
Hallstatt culture of Central Europe: among these influences was the adoption of trousers, which were not used by the native populations of Central Europe before the arrival of the Central Asian steppe nomads.
In West Asia Another direction of expansion of the Arzhan-Chernogorovka cultural layer was represented by the movements of the Cimmerians and Scythians to the south of the Caucasus into West Asia during the 8th to 7th centuries BC.
End The arrival of the Scythians and their establishment in this region in the 7th century BC corresponded to a disturbance of the development of Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex, which was thus replaced through a continuous process over the course of to by the early Scythian culture in southern Europe, which itself nevertheless still showed links to the Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex. ==Characteristics==