RUSSIAN-GERMAN COOPERATION IN THE BRONZE AGE STUDIES IN THE SOUTHERN URAL
The article presents a brief overview of the Russian-German multidisciplinary study of the Bronze Age enclosed settlements in the Karagaily-Ayat river basin in the Kartaly district (Chelyabinck Oblast, Southern Trans-Urals). The project was an example of active cooperation between the German and Russian archaeologists and specialists from various scientifi c research disciplines. The aim of the project was obtaining new knowledge about the nature, culture and societies of the Southern Urals during the Bronze Age period based on materials from a particular area. The results of the project were of great importance both for the study of enclosed settlements and the Sintashta culture in general. They allowed correcting and updating the existing ideas about the architecture and structure of settlements, as well as of the environment, and economic activities of the population,and the cultural changes in the region in the beginning of the second millennium BC.