"The origin of the Yamnaya culture is still a topic of debate," with proposals for its origins pointing to both Khvalynsk and Sredny Stog. The Khvalynsk culture (4700–3800 BC) (middle Volga) and the Don-based Repin culture (c. 3950–3300 BC) in the eastern Pontic-Caspian steppe, and the closely related Sredny Stog culture (c. 4500–3500 BC) in the western Pontic-Caspian steppe, preceded the Yamnaya culture (3300–2500 BC). Further efforts to pinpoint the location came from Anthony (2007), suggesting from his research that the Yamnaya culture (3300–2600 BC) originated in the Don–Volga area at c. 3400 BC, preceded by the middle Volga-based Khvalynsk culture and the Don-based Repin culture (–3300 BC), arguing that late pottery from these two cultures can barely be distinguished from early Yamnaya pottery. Earlier continuity from eneolithic but largely hunter-gatherer Samara culture and influences from the more agricultural Dnieper–Donets II are apparent. He argues that the early Yamnaya horizon spread quickly across the Pontic–Caspian steppes between and 3200 BC: Alternatively, Parpola (2015) relates both the Corded ware culture and the Yamnaya culture to the late Trypillia (Tripolye) culture. He hypothesizes that "the Tripolye culture was taken over by PIE speakers by c. 4000 BC," and that in its final phase the Trypillian culture expanded to the steppes, morphing into various regional cultures which fused with the late Serednii Stih (Sredny Stog) pastoralist cultures, which, he suggests, gave rise to the Yamnaya culture. Dmytro Telegin viewed Serednii Stih and Yamna as one cultural continuum and considered Serednii Stih to be the genetic foundation of the Yamna. The Yamnaya (Pit-grave) culture was succeeded in its western range by the Catacomb culture (2800–2200 BC); in the east, by the Poltavka culture (2700–2100 BC) at the middle Volga. These two cultures were followed by the Srubnaya culture (18th–12th century BC). Characteristics The Yamnaya culture was semi-nomadic, with some agriculture practiced near rivers, and a few fortified sites, the largest of which is Mikhaylivka. Characteristic for the culture are the burials in pit graves under kurgans (tumuli), often accompanied with animal offerings. Some graves contain large anthropomorphic stelae, with carved human heads, arms, hands, belts, and weapons. The dead bodies were placed in a supine position with bent knees and covered in ochre. Some kurgans contained "stratified sequences of graves". It has been argued that kurgan burials were rare, and reserved for special adults, who were predominantly, but not necessarily, male. Status and gender