Cultural and Chronological Assemblages of the Sagayskaya protoka-4 kurgan burial ground (The Askiz District, the Khakassia Republic)

Abstract

In 2021, the team of Federal Research Center of the Institute of Coal and Coal Chemistry of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences undertook rescue excavations on Sagaiskaya protoka-4 kurgan burial ground (the Askiz district, the Republic of Khakassia). The article presents the summarized results of cultural and chronological attribution of the researched burial assemblages of this burial ground. The early period of this necropolis is connected to the Chernovaya stage of the Okunev culture (22nd—20th centuries BC). The fence with diagonal lines of stones (kurgan 1) with six studied tombs in stone boxes is attributed to that period. The grave goods of Okunev burial grounds are objects made of bone, ceramic pots and miniature stone ball. The second stage of the burial ground is connected to the Late Bronze Age (kurgan 2). Lugavskiy assemblage (10th —9th centuries BC) related to the earliest stage of the kurgan construction is presented by the findings from the central ruined burial (bronze knife, ring) and untouched child’s tomb (ceramic pot, a set of small pieces of bronze jewelry). The Bainov assemblage of the burial complex (late 9th — early 8th centuries BC), found in the lateral annex fence contained a flat bottomed ceramic pot with a typical ornaments. The third period in the history of the burial ground is connected to the Bidzha population group of the early Tagar culture (late 8th — 6th centuries BC). At that time, the Bronze Age kurgans’ fences were rebuilt in order to make new tombs, and a separate Bidzha complex (kurgan 3) is erected nearby. All the burials of that period have grave inventory of the same type: jar-like vessels with narrow flutings, “glasses”, bone arrowheads, anklets, unknown purpose objects. The unusual feature of the studied part of Sagayskaya protoka-4 burial complex are numerous pits near all fences, in some cases containing archaeological material (animal bones, small fragments of ceramics, stone objects, sandstone slabs). These are the first objects of such a type found in the Tagar kurgans.