Amnya complex

Amnya complex
Map of Amnya I and II, with aerial photography overlayed
Amnya complex is located in Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug
Amnya complex
Location within the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug
Amnya complex is located in Russia
Amnya complex
Amnya complex (Russia)
LocationBeloyarsky District, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Russia
Coordinates63°41′26″N 67°19′50″E / 63.69056°N 67.33056°E / 63.69056; 67.33056
TypeFortified settlement
History
Foundedc. 6000 BCE
PeriodsNeolithic / Chalcolithic

The Amnya complex (Russian: городище Амня, romanizedgorodishche Amnya) is an archaeological site near the Amnya River [ru] in the lower Ob basin of western Siberia, dating to the early Neolithic and Chalcolithic. It comprises two sections, Amnya I and Amnya II, each a series of ten pit-houses of varying sizes about 50 meters apart. They are built atop a steep escarpment formerly overlooking a river, now adjacent to a series of peat bogs. Unlike Amnya II, Amnya I has significant defensive earthworks in the form of banks and ditches.

Although the region had been occupied since the Mesolithic, the first fortifications were built at Amnya I some time after 6100 BCE, preceding a main settlement phase for both sites for much of the 6th millennium. The houses were frequently destroyed by fire, linked to endemic violent conflicts in the region. Both settlements were abandoned before a period of reoccupation during the 4th millennium BCE.

Amnya I is one of the oldest known fortified settlements, as well as the northernmost Stone Age fort. Built by a hunter-gatherer population, Amnya I significantly predates the arrival of agriculture in the region. The sites were first excavated in 1987, with later excavations taking place in 1993, 2000, and 2019. A related Neolithic site, Kirip-Vis-Yurgan-2, has been linked to the Amnya culture due to similarities in recovered artifacts.