Pages: 255-269 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp255255269

The Mohe culture is the mother of the Tungus-Manchu ethnic groups of the Far East. It spread to Primorye, the Amur region, and Manchuria in the early Middle Ages. The Chinese chronicles documented the genetic lineage of the tribes: Susheni-Ilou-Wuji-Mohe-Jurchen-Manchus. Some elements of this lineage, dated to the 6th — 14th centuries, have been traced in the archeology of the Amur region: Wuji-Mohe-Jurchen. No such studies have been conducted in Primorye. Stationary excavations of the Monastyrka-3 necropolis, located in the Dalnegorsky district of Primorsky Krai in the basin of the Rudnaya River, allow us to begin addressing this issue. Seven structural groups of graves have been identified at the Monastyrka-3 necropolis. The grave pits, oriented along the west–east line, formed rows stretching from northeast to southwest. Cremations were carried out by using peat in a wooden coffin sealed with a clay coating and placed in a grave pit. The grave goods helped identify male burials (with a military belt) and female burials (with combined earrings). This method of cremation, along with a similar structural grouping of graves, has been preserved only by modern Manchu Sibingians. This made it possible to decipher the kinship of the Mohe grave groups. The ancestor and his wife were buried in the first row, their sons in the second row, and their grandchildren in the third row.

Keywords: Primorye, Monastyrka-3, Mohe burial ground, Manchu, Xianbi, Middle Ages

Information about author:

Olga Dyakova (Vladivostok, Russian Federation). Doctor of Historical Sciences. Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of Peoples of the Far East, Far-Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Pushkinskaya St., 89, Vladivostok, 690000, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0002-3743-8220