Materials from kurgan No 12 of Western group of Ur-Bedari II burial ground

Abstract

The article aims to publish and describe the archaeological materials recovered from kurgan No. 12 at the Ur-Bedari II burial ground in the steppe region of the Salair Depression. Excavated by M. G. Elkin in 1956, this kurgan yielded two graves containing weaponry and horse-riding equipment. The artifacts from kurgan No. 12 are currently housed in the museum “Archaeology, Ethnography, and Ecology of Siberia” at Kemerovo State University and the Prokopievsk Local History Museum. This study focuses on the artifact assemblage, proposes a dating for the findings, and examines the mortuary rituals and material culture objects, linking kurgan No. 12 to the Srostki culture. In the 10th century, the Kuznetsk variant of the Srostki community inhabited the Inya River basin within the Salair steppe region. The early migrations of the Srostki people to the Salair Depression are estimated to have occurred in the late 9th to 10th centuries. By the 10th to 11th centuries, numerous Srostki graves appear in various burial grounds, including Ur-Bedari II, Kaltyshino I (kurgan No. 1), Ust-Kanda I, and Shanda, as well as the Srostki necropolises of Tarasovo, Tanai VIII, and Ozerki V.