Pages: 115-142

The author analyzes archaeological materials from the necropolis of the Late Scythian hillfort at Zolotaya Balka village situated in the lower reaches of the Dnieper and dating to the period from the 2nd c. BC to the early 2nd c. AD. A qualitative, quantitative and spatial analysis of features of the burial rite has been done. The groups of burials with a special set of burial equipment were singled out, which seem to differ in social status. It is assumed that the ancient population of the hillfort had a horizontal corporate organization, which, in turn, was incorporated into a more complex social system (chiefdom). There are revealed similarities in funerary rites between the necropolis of Zolotaya Balka and cemeteries of Chernyakhov culture, which are apparently due to the ethnic and cultural continuity.

Keywords: Lower Dnieper region, Late Scythian culture, Chernyakhov culture, funerary rites and inventory, analysis of social structure, chiefdom.

Information about author:

Valentina Mordvintseva (Simferopol, Crimea). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute of Archaeology of the Crimea. Academician Vernadsky Ave., 2, Simferopol, 295007, Crimea
E-mail: [email protected]