Middle Volga region

The article presents data on the development of approaches to the reconstruction of the paleo-environment of the habitat of the Lugovo culture by means of the conjugate analysis of the soil-archeological and geochemical parameters of the soils of settlements and buried soils of the burial mounds. As a working hypothesis, it was suggested that meadow-steppe conditions for the formation of geosystems of the period of development of the Lugovsk cultural-historical community, dating back to the 15th–14th centuries. BC.

The article features the results of comprehensive studies of Maklasheevka II fortified settlement carried out at the intersection of natural and humanitarian sciences, and one of the area of this work was integrative soil-archaeological studies. This approach includes a cross-spectrum archaeological and pedological analysis of the ancient soils.

The paper presents the results of petro- and paleomagnetic studies of two sections of Turonian – Santonian on the Samara Right Bank – near Novodevichye, Podval’e villages and detailed geological description of the Novodevichye section. The magnetostratigraphic subdivision and detailed correlation of the sections were carried out. Unknown unconformity in the Podval’e section was recognized.

The analysis of the distribution of the Kimmeridgian–Volgian ostracods in the section near the village Valy made it possible to establish a sequence of eight communities, the change of which reflects changes in the ecological conditions in the basin. Changes in sea level fluctuations, the main physical and chemical parameters of the ostracod habitat – temperature, salinity of water, oxygen content in it, eutrophy and concentration of organic matter in sediment – are reconstructed. Information on the magnetic susceptibility and its increase after heating was obtained.