Bondarykha culture

Bondarykha culture. An archeological culture of the late Bronze Age, discovered between 1951 and 1953. This culture was widespread in the forest-steppe zone of Left-Bank Ukraine. Its ceramic artifacts have an original style. Settlements of the Bondarykha culture, which tended to be small, unfortified, and situated on mounds, consisted of earthen huts. In the earliest stages these tribes based their existence on hunting, fishing, and primitive animal husbandry; in the late stages they evolved towards an agrarian-pastoral economy and lived in small settlements based on kinship. Archeologists have found stone molds used to make bronze celts, as well as flint, clay, iron, and bone implements. The Bondarykha culture dates from the late second millennium to the 8th century BC. The disappearance of its tribes in the 6th century BC was caused by the incursions of Scythian tribes, which took over the entire forest-steppe zone of Left-Bank Ukraine.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]