Komintern 1 Burial Mound of Lugovskaya Culture in the Kama Mouth Region

Abstract

The article features the results of studying the Komintern 1 burial mound. Salvage and rescue studies were conducted at the burial mound due to the destructive abrasion processes occurring at Kuibyshev reservoir. This funerary monument was originally part of a group consisting of three burial mounds. Burial mounds 3 and 2 were studied in 1981 and 2008 during expeditions headed by E. P. Kazakov and A. A. Chizhevsky. The studies resulted in the discovery of two burials at Komintern 1 burial mounds, one of which was intact, and the other destroyed by a graverobber pit, as well as two sacrificial complexes composed of ceramic dishware shards. A skeleton lying on the right side in the crouched position with its head pointing east-north-east was discovered in the surviving burial 1. A pot was located in front of his head, this vessel has analogies in the ancient traditions of the Lugovskaya culture. Interestingly, after burial 1 was executed, the grave pit was burnt to such degree that the loamy soil was transformed into dense reddish clods. On the basis of the funerary rite and inventory, Komintern 1 burial mound, likewise mounds 2 and 3, were identified by the author as corresponding to the Lugovskaya culture with a significant influence of the Pozdnyakovo culture and dating back to 15th/14th–14th/13th centuries B.C.

Keywords

• archaeology
• Kuibyshev reservoir
• Akhtai river
• burial mound
• burial
• sacrificial complex
• late Bronze Age
• Lugovskaya culture
• Pozdnyakovo culture