AGRICULTURE OF GREATER SOCHI FROM THE ENEOLITHIC TO THE MIDDLE AGES BASED ON ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOURCES

The territory of Greater Sochi is one of the oldest regions in the Russian Federation where crop production originated. The available archaeological sites give numerous confirmations. The loss of a number of these monuments during urbanization, of course, deprives science of the opportunity to study the processes of agricultural development in the region more deeply. However, the materials preserved from the lost monuments and from the newly discovered ones allow us to get a relatively objective picture of agriculture genesis on the territory of Greater Sochi. The paper describes some historical stages and directions in the development of agricultural crops and tillage technologies from the Eneolithic to the early Middle Ages, and presents the reasons for the change in the area of agricultural land cultivation. The analysis and results of experimental approbation of agricultural implements are given. The genesis of crop production is considered in the context of historical changes in political, technological and climatic conditions.