Potapovka culture (Russian: Потаповская культура, romanized: Potapovskaya kul'tura) was a Bronze Age culture which flourished on the middle Volga in 2100—1800 BC.

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Potapovka culture

Geographical range	Middle Volga
Period	Bronze Age
Dates	ca. 2100–1800 BC
Type site	Potapovka
Preceded by	Poltavka culture, Abashevo culture
Followed by	Srubnaya culture, Andronovo culture

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The Potapovka culture emerged from the Poltavka culture with influences from the Abashevo culture. It had close relations with the Sintashta culture in the east, with whom it shares many similarities. Like the Sintashta culture, its people are believed to have spoken a form of Proto-Indo-Iranian. It was directly ancestral to the Srubnaya culture, and probably influenced the emergence of the Andronovo culture.

The Potapovka culture emerged on the middle Volga around 2100 BC.^[1][2][3] It came to flourish around the middle Volga, the southwest Urals and western Kazakhstan.^[4] Potapovka sites are eventually found also on the Don and the Dnieper.^[5][4] The Potapovka culture has been considered a western variant of the Sintashta culture,^[6][7][8] with which it is closely related.^[9][10]

The Potapovka culture is thought to have emerged as a northern outgrowth of the Poltavka culture, with possible influences from the Abashevo culture.^[4][11] Influences from the Catacomb culture^[12] and the Multi-cordoned ware culture have also been detected.^[13] It is considered to have been part of an eastward expansion of cultures originating on the Pontic steppe.^[4] The expansion of the Potapovka culture, Sintashta culture and other cultures ultimately of Eastern European origin into western Kazakhstan and the southern Urals is believed to have occurred as an elite dominance migration.^[14]

The Potapovka culture came to an end about 1800 BC.^[1][2][3] The Potapovka culture and the Sintashta culture played major roles in the emergence of the Andronovo culture.^[15][16] The Andronovo culture is in turn considered ancestral to the Indo-Iranians.^[4] The early phases of the Srubnaya culture grew out of the Potapovka culture^{[16][17][11][18][19][20]} and the late Abashevo culture.^[21][22]

The Potapovka culture is especially distinguished by the presence of bone cheek-pieces for controlling horses.^[4] One cheek-piece of the Potapovka culture was found to be decorated with a Mycenaean ornament.^[13] The Potapovka culture has many similarities with the Sintashta culture and the earlier phases of the Andronovo culture. These similarities include animal sacrifices (horse burials), burial rituals, chariot-gear, cheek-pieces and ceramics.^[7]

The Potapovka people were massively built Caucasoids/Europoids. Their skulls are similar to those of the Catacomb culture.^{[lower-alpha 1]}

Potapovka skulls are less dolichocephalic than those of the Fatyanovo–Balanovo culture, Abashevo culture, Sintashta culture, Srubnaya culture and western Andronovo culture. The physical type of the Potapovka appears to have emerged through a mixture between the purely dolichocephalic type of the Sintashta, and the less dolichocephalic type of the Yamnaya culture and Poltavka culture.^{[lower-alpha 2]}

In a study published in Nature in 2015, the remains of three individuals of the Potapovka culture was surveyed. One male was found to be carrying haplogroup R1a1a1b and U2e1h, while the other carried haplogroup P1 and C1. The female carried haplogroup T1.^[6]

In a genetic study published in Science in 2018, the remains four individuals ascribed to the Potapovka culture was analyzed. Of the two males, one carried R1a1a1b2a2a and U2e1, while the other carried R1 and C. The two females carried U2e1a1 and H2a1e. People of the Potapovka culture were found to be closely related to people of the Corded Ware culture,^{[lower-alpha 3]} the Sintashta culture, the Andronovo culture and the Srubnaya culture. These were found to harbor mixed ancestry from the Yamnaya culture and peoples of the Central European Middle Neolithic.^{[lower-alpha 4][lower-alpha 5]} The genetic data suggested that these related cultures were ultimately derived from a remigration of Central European peoples with steppe ancestry back into the steppe.^{[lower-alpha 6]}

The Potapovka culture is thought to belong to an eastward migration of Indo-European-speakers who eventually emerged as the Indo-Iranians.^[4] David W. Anthony considers the Potapovka culture and the Sintashta culture as archaeological manifestations of the early Indo-Iranian languages.^[27]