Newly Discovered Sarmatian Burial Complexes from the Kurgan in the Caucasian Mineral Waters Region

Abstract

In 2010, the expedition of the Nasledie State Unitary Enterprise (Stavropol) conducted archaeological excavations on the territory of the Caucasian Mineral Waters and excavated the kurgan 1 of the Voniuchka-1 kurgan cemetery near the city of Pyatigorsk. The kurgan originated in the Eneolithic era; its construction and use as a cemetery continued up to the Early and Middle Bronze Ages. The most extensive changes in the kurgan are associated with the North Caucasian archaeological culture. The Sarmatian burials of the early Iron Age became the final ones in the kurgan; this study is devoted to their material publication and analysis. Single burials and grave goods (probably the remains of a funeral feast) were compactly located in the central part of the kurgan. The burial rite and the inventory are described in detail and examined in the system of both chronologically close Sarmatian newcomers and Pre-Caucasus aboriginal monuments. In general, the funeral rite of the published burials is quite uniform and corresponds to the canons of the pre-Caucasian Sarmatian kurgans. The burials and the cluster are chronologically close to each other, and the inventory found in them has numerous analogies among the synchronous sites of the Pre-Caucasus. At the same time, some details of the funeral rite, in particular the discovery of three left front legs of sheep in two burials, together with a number of other facts, indicate a kinship relationship between the buried. The Sarmatian burials in kurgan 1 of the Voniuchka-1 cemetery can be considered a small ancestral cemetery created, most likely, during the lifetime of one generation. The general dating of the burials and the accompanying funeral feast fits into the framework of the 3rd (possibly 2nd) – 1st centuries BC. There is a high probability of their connection with the Sirak tribal union, and this cemetery is located on the southern border of the territory occupied by it.

Keywords

• pre-caucasus
• caucasian mineral waters
• early iron age
• sarmatians
• kurgan
• burial
• grave goods