Pages: 295-356

Tarasovo burial ground of the 1st—5th centuries is the largest among the studied Finno-Ugric sites of Eurasia. 1,880 graves with 2,096 buried were excavated on the area of more than 16,000 sq. m. and over 37 thousand artifacts were found. In the course of its overall study materials of the excavations were published, funerary ritual was studied, chronological division within a century and half a century was worked out, and specifics of the military material culture for short periods of time were determined. On the basis of results obtained from such a fundamental research, we suggest sources and stages of migrations to the Urals Region. Imported outfit of warriors dated to the second half of the 3rd century indicates the first stage of arriving newcomers from south-eastern regions of Eastern Europe. The second half of the 4th century was marked in the Volga-Kama Region with new weapons: shaft-hole axes, pole-axe items, fighting scythes and massive spearheads, all of them have western analogies. Tarasovo graves of the third quarter of the 4th century are connected with Azelino sites of western migrants. Tarasovo graves of the fourth quarter of the 4th century are a periphery of a large massive of newcomers, the culture of which is known by materials of the Turaevo barrows and Imenkovo culture related to the expansion of the Goths and Slavs to the Volga-Urals Region.

Keywords: Tarasovo burial ground, Volga-Ural Region, the Great Migration of people, 3rd—5th centuries, Finno-Ugric population, Goths, Slavs, migrations

Information about author:

Rimma Goldina (Izhevsk, Russian Federation). Doctor of Historical Sciences. Udmurt State University, Institute of History and Culture of Ural. Universitetskaya St., 1/2, Izhevsk, 426034, Udmurt Republic, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]