NEW PROTOMEOTIAN BURIAL GROUND IN THE FOOTHILLS OF ADYGEA

Authors

  • Vladimir Roal'dovic Erlih State Museum of Oriental Art 0000-0002-4060-5819 (unauthenticated)
  • Anna Stanislavovna Leont'eva “OOO Kulturnoye Nasledie"
  • Aleksandra Nikolaevna Abramova Felitsyn Krasnodar State Historical and Archaeological Museum-Reserve, Krasnodar

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32653/CH202489-509

Keywords:

North Caucasus, Adygea, transition to the Iron Age, Protomeotian group of monuments, burial ground, decorations, Koban archaeological culture, Bzyb Colchis culture, connections, pass route.

Abstract

This article presents materials from a newly discovered burial ground of the Protomeotian group of sites, located in the foothills of Adygea on the Azishsky Ridge near the village of Dakhovskaya. The burial ground was discovered by the team of the Caucasian Expedition LLC “Kulturnoye Nasledie” in 2023 (chief of the expedition – A.S. Leontieva) during the study of the mound “Azishsky-16,” the main burial of which dates to the Early Bronze Age. The Protomeotian burial ground was found overlaying this mound. The site contains nine burials with Proto-Meotian material, situated on a rocky base under a rock riprap, all in elongated positions with varying orientations. Except for one, all burials are of the single type. Grave goods primarily consist of adornments, including pins with oar-shaped and rounded heads, beads, a bracelet, spiral laces, and button plaques. A whetstone was found in one burial. Some burials, located on the Transcaucasian pass route, contain objects indicating connections with the Koban and Bzyb Colchian cultures. Notably, there are parallels in the grave goods and funeral rites with two burials from the Gagra burial ground (Abkhazia), dated to the 9th century BC. The absence of iron objects in these burials, along with the similarity of the burial material to the early group of the reference foothill burial Fars/Klady, suggests a tentative dating from the 9th to the first half of the 8th century BC. However, a key difference between the newly discovered site and the Fars/Klady burial ground is the lack of weapons and bridles in the male burials. Additionally, horse bones have not yet been found at this site.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

  • Vladimir Roal'dovic Erlih, State Museum of Oriental Art
    Bio Statement: Doctor of Historical Sciences, Principal Researcher, Department of the History of Material Culture and Ancient Art Researcher focus: North Caucasus, the early Iron Age, Bronze Age finals
  • Anna Stanislavovna Leont'eva, “OOO Kulturnoye Nasledie"
    specialist- archaeologist
  • Aleksandra Nikolaevna Abramova, Felitsyn Krasnodar State Historical and Archaeological Museum-Reserve, Krasnodar
    Cand. Sci., Head of the Department of Archaeological Funds

References

Erlikh VR. Northwestern Caucasus at the beginning of the Iron Age. Protomeotian group of sites. Moscow: Nauka, 2007. (In Russ)

Leskov AM., Erlikh VR. Burial ground Fars/Klady. Moscow: State Museum of Art, 1999. (In Russ)

Bzhania VV., Bzhania DS. Ancient burial ground in Gagra. Sukhumi: Alashara, 1991. (In Russ)

Erlikh VR. Pins with a ring-shaped pommel from the Fars/Klady burial ground and their late Srubnaya prototypes. Drevnosti Kubani. Krasnodar: KGIAMZ, 2000; 16: 4-9. (In Russ)

Chernykh EN. Ancient metalworking in the southwest of the USSR. Moscow: Nauka, 1976. (In Russ)

Melyukova AI. Culture of the Pre-Scythian period in forest-steppe Moldova. Sites of the Bronze and Early Iron Age in the Northern Black Sea region. MIA 96. Moscow-Leningrad: Nauka, 1961: 5-52. (In Russ)

Smirnova GI. Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age settlement near the village Magala, Chernivtsi region. Brief communications of the Institute of the History of Material Culture. 1957; 70: 99-107. (In Russ)

Dergachev VA. Bronze objects of the 13th–8th centuries BC from the Dniester-Prut Mesopotamia. Chisinau: Shtiintsa, 1975. (In Russ)

Sharafutdinova IN. Bronze jewelry of the Sabatinovskaya culture (on the issue of contacts). In: I.I. Artemenko (resp. ed.). Intertribal connections of the Bronze Age on the territory of Ukraine. Kyiv: Naukova Dumka, 1987: 69-86. (In Russ)

Ivanov AV. Meotian burial ground “Furozhan” in Western Trans-Kuban region. Krasnodar: IP Volnaya, 2020. (In Russ)

Kozenkova VI. Typology and chronological classification of objects of Koban culture. Eastern version. Collection of archaeological sources. Issues 2–5, vol. 5. Moscow: Nauka, 1982. (In Russ) (In Russ)

Kozenkova VI. The material basis of life of the Koban tribes. Western version. Collection of archaeological sources. Issues 2-5, Vol. 5. Moscow: IA RAS, 1998. (In Russ)

Munchaev R.M. New data on the archeology of Checheno-Ingushetia. Brief communications of the Institute of Archeology. 1961; 84: 56-62. (In Russ)

Uvarova PS. Burial grounds of the North Caucasus. Materials on the archeology of the Caucasus. Vol. VIII. Moscow: A.I. Mamontov’ Typography, 1900. (In Russ)

Akhanov AA. Gelendzhik dolmens under burial mounds. Sovetskaya Arheologiya. 1961; 1: 139-149. (In Russ)

Shamba GK., Shamba SM. Archaeological sites of the upper reaches of the Galidzga (Dzhantukh) River. Tbilisi: Metsniereba, 1990. (In Russ)

Papuashvili R., Esebua T., Jikia L., Papuashvili I. The Tsaishi Cemetery. Tbilisi, Zugdidi, 2015. (In Georgian).

Papuashvili R., Jikia L, Kobalia N., Papuashvili I. Ergeta (Necropolis). Tbilisi, Zugdidi, 2022. (In Georgian).

Vasilinenko DE., Kondrashev AV., Pyankov AV. Archaeological materials of the Pre-Scythian and Early Scythian times from the Western Trans-Kuban region. In: B.A. Raev. (Studia Pontocaucasica. I.) (resp. ed.). Antiquities of the Kuban and Black Sea Region. Krasnodar: Scythian Gallery, 1993: 21-38. (In Russ)

Kuftin B.A. Materials for the archeology of Colchis I. Tbilisi: Technique and Shroma, 1949. (In Russ)

Domansky VYa. A new complex of Colchian culture from Abkhazia. Proceedings of the State Hermitage. Vol. 20, 1979: 23-36. (In Russ)

Trapsh MM. Proceedings. Vol. I. Sites of the Bronze and Early Iron Ages in Abkhazia. Sukhumi: Alashara, 1970. (In Russ)

Bzhania VV., Bzhania DS., Khondziya ZG., Agumaa AS. Funeral complex Osiya-rhu in the village of Kulanyrkhua. Abkhazology. Story. Archeology. Ethnology. Vol. 3. Sukhum: AbIGI, 2004: 30-39. (In Russ)

Voronov YuN., Gunba MM. New sites of Colchian culture in Abkhazia. Sovetskaya Arheologiya. 1978; 2: 257-264. (In Russ)

Skakov AYu., Dzhopua AI., Khondziya ZG. Complex of finds of the Early Iron Age from the village of Abgarkhuk (Abkhazia). Black Sea region in ancient and early medieval times. Vol. 2. Collection of scientific works dedicated to the 70th anniversary of Professor V.P. Kopylova. Rostov-on-Don, 2018: 76-98. (In Russ)

Erlikh VR., Gak EI. The oldest tin bronzes in the North-West Caucasus. New data. Orients. 2020; 5: 36–53.

Terenozhkin AI. Cimmerians. Kyiv: Naukova Dumka, 1976. (In Russ)

Trapsh M.M. Ancient Sukhumi. Proceedings. Vol. 2. Sukhumi: Alashara, 1969. (In Russ)

Downloads

Published

2024-08-12

Issue

Section

Expedition

How to Cite

1.
Erlih VR, Leont'eva AS, Abramova AN. NEW PROTOMEOTIAN BURIAL GROUND IN THE FOOTHILLS OF ADYGEA. ИАЭК. 2024;20(2):489-509. doi:10.32653/CH202489-509