Arkaim

Arkaim () is a fortified archaeological site, dated to 2150-1650 BCE, belonging to the Sintashta culture, situated in the steppe of the Southern Urals, north-northwest of the village of Amursky and east-southeast of the village of Alexandrovsky in the Chelyabinsk Oblast of Russia, just north of the border with Kazakhstan. It was discovered in 1987 by a team of archaeologists which later came under the leadership of Gennady Zdanovich. The realization of its importance unprecedentedly forestalled the planned flooding of the area for a reservoir. The construction of Arkaim is attributed to the early Proto-Indo-Iranian-speakers of the Sintashta culture, which some scholars believe represents the proto-Indo-Iranians before their split into different groups and migration to Central Asia and from there to the Iranian plateau, Indian subcontinent and other parts of Eurasia.

== Location == Arkaim is located along the River, which is a tributary of Ural (river). Sintashta, which is the type site of the Sintashta culture, is located about 30 kilometers from Arkaim. From the source of Bolshaya Karaganka River to the source of the Sintashta River it's a straight line of 6 kilometers across the watershed. The Sintashta site was discovered in 1968 by an expedition from the Ural State University, and studied since that time; this whole nearby area was being explored until 1986.