The Funeral Rite of the Tyosha River Group of 3rd–7th—Century Mordovian Burials

Abstract

The burial rite typical of the northern group of the Mordovian sites located in the Tyosha river basin is characterized in the article. The changes in burial traditions are analyzed in the framework of three periods: the 3rd-4th, the 5th, and the 6th-7th centuries. For this population group, single inhumations in ground graves, with the orientation primarily to the North with deviations were traditional. In the second half of the 4th century, an influx of people from the Middle or Upper Oka river region to the Tyosha river basin resulted in the spread of cremations and various ritual acts connected with fire. In the second half of the 5th century, these traditions gradually disappeared. By the 6th century, the linear layout of the burials on the Abramovo burial ground had been replaced by the group one, which attests to the social changes in the life of the Mordovians characteristic of the period.

Keywords

• the Middle Volga region
• the Early Middle Ages
• the ancient Mordovian population
• the Abramovo burial ground site
• funeral rite
• grave goods
• inhumations and cremations