14C Chronology of Burial Grounds of the Andronovo Period (Middle Bronze Age) in Baraba Forest Steppe, Western Siberia

This paper focuses on the chronology of Middle Bronze Age complexes in the Baraba forest steppe (western Siberia). Three sites were radiocarbon dated, Stary Tartas 4, Sopka 2, and Tartas 1. The Late Krotovo culture was dated to the 18–19th centuries BC, the Andronovo complex (Fedorovo stage) to the 15–18th centuries BC, and the Mixed Andronovo complex dated to the 15–17th centuries BC. These values are some 300–500 yr older than previously thought, and the new results are consistent with 14C dates of the Andronovo cultural complex in northern Eurasia. Based on these data, the 15th century BC is the upper chronological limit of the Andronovo period.