Dereivka
Dereivka is a site associated with the
Sredny Stog culture dating ca. 4500—3500 BC of the middle
Dnieper region.
This site is known primarily for its status as a site (and perhaps as
the site) of early horse domestication. Radiocarbon dates of the most famous horse head, however, have been disappointing, due to contamination of the evidence (they range from the late 3rd millennium BCE to the early 1rst millennium BCE). Since the rest of the site is securely dated, the earlier of these conflicting radiocarbon dates is compatible with a timeframe several hundred years older.
Of interest is some apparently equivocal evidence for
fenced houses. Two cemeteries are associated, one from the earlier
Dnieper-Donets culture and one from the aforementioned Sredny Stog culture.
As a part of the Sredny Stog complex, it is considered to be very early
Indo-European, and probably,
Proto-Indo-European, within the traditional context of the
Kurgan hypothesis of
Marija Gimbutas, though Sredny Stog is itself pre-kurgan as to burial rite.
*
Domestication of the horse*
J. P. Mallory, "Dereivka",
Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997.
