2200–1850 BC,[1] found in the valleys of the middle Volga and Kama River north of the Samara bend and into the southern Ural Mountains.

[5] The pre-eminent expert on the Abashevo culture, Anatoly Pryakhin, concluded that it originated from contacts between Fatyanovo–Balanovo, Catacomb and Poltavka peoples in the southern forest-steppe.

[6] The influence of the Yamnaya culture persisted until approximately 1700 BC with the emergence of new technologies, traditions, and customs.

[6] The Abashevo culture flourished in the forest steppe areas of the middle Volga and upper Don.

[6] A well-known Abashevo kurgan in Pepkino contained the remains of twenty-eight males who appear to have died violent deaths.

Some graves show evidence of a birch bark floor and a timber construction forming walls and roof.

[6] Crucibles for smelting copper and moulds for casting were found in some graves, most likely funerals reserved to bronzesmiths.

[14] High-status Abashevo women are notable for wearing a distinctive type of headband with pendants made of copper and silver.

These headbands are unique to the Abashevo culture, and are probably an ethnic marker and symbol of political status.

[22] The Abashevo culture was an important center of metallurgy, as the southern Urals provided a major source of local copper.

[14] Horses were evidently used, inferred by cheek pieces typical of neighboring steppe cultures and Mycenaean Greece.

[24][25] According to Elena Kuzmina (2007) the first controlling of chariots with cheek-pieces can be attributed to the Abashevo and Multi-cordoned ware cultures.

Mass graves reveal that inter-tribal battles involved hundreds of warriors of both sides, which indicates a significant degree of inter-regional political integration.

Warfare appears to have been more frequent in the late Abashevo period, and it was in this turbulent environment in which the Sintashta culture emerged.

[6] David Anthony assumes that the Abashevo people spoke Pre-Indo-Iranian or Proto-Indo-Iranian, since it is a possible source of Indo-Iranian loanwords in Uralic.