The stratigraphy of the yamnaya and catacomb culture graves in the Northwestern Pontic region revisited

Currently the Northwestern Pontic region is thought to have been an integral part of the Catacomb culture area. However, the first finds demonstrated that the Late Yamnaya (Pit-grave) and Catacomb populations had co-existed for some time. Nonetheless, stratigraphically, the Pit-grave burials always precede the Catacomb burials. There are various reasons that explain this situation such as a caste system of society, allocation of the burial space and the spatial structuring of dug-in graves in the kurgan. However, the most likely reason of linear stratigraphy is that the local Yamnaya population was ousted from some areas of the northwestern Black Sea region by the newcomers and that the Late Yamnaya and Catacomb populations lived side by side.