Pages: 135-153

The materials of burials 1 and 2 of mound 5 in the mound group “Nizhnyaya Dobrinka-II” (Zhirnovsk district of the Volgograd region) are presented in this article. The main burial complex belongs to the developed stage of the eastern forest-steppe variant of the Donetsk Catacomb Culture (mid II millennium BC). It is notable for the quantity and composition of the grave goods, in particular, for metal products, including a copper ax, chisel and knife, as well as gold jewelry. Placement of a set like this in a burial is extremely rare in the entire area of cultures of the catacomb community. The secondary burial in the mound belongs to the Volga-Don Babino culture of the late Middle Bronze Age. Publication of artifacts and structures of the mound is accompanied by expert definitions of the elemental composition of the metal, as well as the characteristics of human and faunal bone residues. On the basis of presented materials, observations and conclusions, judgments are made about the social status of the buried and symbols of their associated equipment. The role of the site is revealed in a series of evidence of the interaction between the traditions of the Caucasian and Volga-Ural cultural provinces in the Volga-Don space.

Keywords: Volga-Don region, the Middle Bronze Age, Donetsk Catacomb culture, Volga-Don Babino culture, burial mounds, sociogenesis, cultural genesis

Information about author:

Olga Shinkar (Volgograd, Russian Federation). Volgograd Regional Research and Production Center for the Protection of Monuments of History and Culture. Kommunisticheskaya St., 19, office 204, Volgograd, 400066, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]