Secondary burials in the funeral rituals of Pazyryk culture of Altai: research results and interpretation

Abstract

The article presents the results of a study of secondary burials in mounds No. 4, 5, 6, 8, 21, 37 of the Khankharinsky Dol burial ground, which is located in the Krasnoshchekovsky district of the Altai Territory (Northwestern Altai). In five of the six mounds these were single burials of women, and in one case a paired burial of a child and a male teenager. Of the five female burials, in four cases these were burials of fairly old and even elderly women aged 35-50 years and over 55 years. In only one case, in mound No. 21, the burial of a young girl aged 17-19 was recorded. Planigraphically, mounds No. 4, 5, 6 and 8 formed one microchain, which may additionally indicate the related (clan) nature of the burials. The funeral rite and accompanying goods from secondary burials are completely identical to similar categories of things from ordinary burials of deceased people in the mounds of the Pazyryk culture. Based on the analysis of burial goods and the results of radiocarbon dating, it was established that these mounds date back to the 4th-3rd centuries. BC. In five of the six mounds examined, accompanying burials of horses were recorded, which further indicates the social status of the buried people. The appearance of secondary burials among the nomads of the Altai Mountains in Scythian times is probably associated with paleodemographic processes, seasonal migrations and the tradition of burying the dead in family cemeteries, which also had a certain ideological justification.