NEWLY DISCOVERED MIDDLE BRONZE AGE BURIAL COMPLEXES IN THE NORTH-EASTERN CAUCASUS

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32653/CH211194-208

Keywords:

Dagestan, Khasavyurt 5th mounds, Middle Bronze age, burial, grave goods, piled rock

Abstract

This article presents a burial complex from mound 7 of the Khasavyurt 5th mounds burial ground (Northern Dagestan), excavated in 2024, and introduces it into the scholarly record. The primary interment in the mound (burial 8) contained the remains of an adult male, associated with a distinctive burial rite involving piled rocks placed over a wooden grave roof and cattle skulls placed atop of the mound. The individual was interred in a large pit, positioned in a flexed posture on his left side with the head oriented to the south. Grave goods included ceramic vessels, a 1.5-turn gold pendant, a bronze knife and awl, and a stone arrow shaft straightener. Additionally, a polished bone and horse tail vertebrae were recovered, potentially representing components of a “bunchuk,” a symbol of power. The characteristics of the burial ritual and the associated artifacts suggest the high social status of the individual in burial 8 during his lifetime. Two contemporary children’s burials (burials 5 and 6) were located outside the primary mound, with a separate mound constructed over them, covering the initial one. Both children were placed in individual graves in a flexed position on their left sides, with their heads oriented to the south. Accompanying grave goods comprised ceramic and wooden vessels, and beads. Situation 2, located beneath the secondary mound and consisting of ceramic vessels and an obsidian flake under a stone slab, is also dated to the same period. The burial complex within the mound is dated to the third quarter of the 3rd millennium BC. These findings suggest that during the Middle Bronze Age, the steppe zone of Northern Dagestan participated in the broader cultural development of the Ciscaucasian and North-Western Caspian steppes, experiencing influences from both the piedmont zone and steppe communities.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

  • Mihail Vasil'evic Krivoseev, Волгоградский государственный университет
    кандидат исторических наук, заведующий лабораторией археологических исследований им. А.С. Скрипкина ВолГУ
  • Vladimir Ivanovic Moiseev, Volgograd State University
    Researcher, Laboratory of Archaeological Research,
  • Dibir-Ali Alievic Hazamov, Dars LLC
    Researcher
  • Anna Viktorovna Krivoseeva, Volgograd State University
    Senior Lecturer, Department of History and International Relations

References

Andreeva MV. East Manych catacomb culture: analysis of burial sites. Moscow: TAUS, 2014. (In Russ)

Gak EI. Indications of metal production of the catacomb cultures in the steppe zone of the Ciscaucasia and the southern part of the Don-Volga interfluve. Brief reports of the Institute of Archeology. 2011; 225: 69-87. (In Russ)

Kanivets VI, Berezanskaya SS. Mounds of the Bronze Age on Sulak. Materials on the archeology of Dagestan. Makhachkala, 1959; 1: 60-85. (In Russ)

Kleshchenko AA. Bronze knives and awls of the early stage of the Middle Bronze Age in the Kuban basin. Brief reports of the Institute of Archeology. 2011; 225: 88-99. (In Russ)

Mimokhod RA. Mounds of the Bronze Age — Early Iron Age in the Saratov Volga Region: Characteristics and Cultural and Chronological Attribution of the Complexes. Moscow: Taus, 2009. (In Russ)

Mimokhod RA. Cultures and cultural genesis in the east of the post-catacomb world. Dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Historical Sciences. In 3 vols. Moscow, 2022.

Munchaev RM., Sarianidi VI. Bamut burial mounds of the Bronze Age. Brief communications of the Institute of Archeology. 1964, 98: 90-99. (In Russ)

Shishlina NI. North-Western Caspian region in the Bronze Age (V-III millennium BC). Moscow: State Historical Museum, 2007. (In Russ)

Downloads

Published

2025-04-14

Issue

Section

Expedition

How to Cite

1.
Krivoseev MV, Moiseev VI, Hazamov DAA, Krivoseeva AV. NEWLY DISCOVERED MIDDLE BRONZE AGE BURIAL COMPLEXES IN THE NORTH-EASTERN CAUCASUS. ИАЭК. 2025;21(1):194-208. doi:10.32653/CH211194-208