On the Problem Related to Reconstructing the Social Structure of the Population that Had Founded Seliksa-Trofimovka (Ancient Mordovian) Burial Ground in 4th—5th Centuries

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of reconstruction of the social structure of the ancient Monrovian population that had established the 4th-5th-century Seliksa-Trofimovka burial ground in the Upper Sura river region. The materials of the male burials of the necropolis have been chosen for analysis as most socially informative. An attempt has been made to determine the relationship between the social status of the individual and its expression in ritual rites. The differences in the composition and quantity of grave goods made it possible to distinguish three groups of burials conventionally termed as "the poor", "the ordinary" and "the warriors." The latter group included three graves with swords. The necropolis has a row-based order layout; all the burials are on the ground level, with no traces of gravestones, and have the same northeast orientation. The property-based stratification in the analyzed community was apparently insignificant, while social stratification depended primarily on professional activities.

Keywords

• the Middle Volga river region
• the Upper Sura river
• the Early Middle Ages
• the ancient Mordovian burial ground
• burial rite
• grave goods assemblage
• social informative character
• social stratification
• male burials
• professional and ranking affiliation