Pages: 109-123 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp214109123

The paper presents results of charcoal and macrofossil analysis of the cremation burial grounds of the Imenkovo culture that occupied the Middle Volga region in 400—650 CE. We analyzed assemblages from four necropolises: Bogorodski, Maklasheevka 4, Komarovka and a burial ground from Zhigulevsk 2 site. Charred remains were recorded at the bottom of burials, among cremated bones or in the in-fill of graves and mortuary vessels. The assemblages contained charcoal, caryopses and stems of millet and cereals, seeds and stems of grasses and weeds, and shoots of thorny shrubs. The size of the charcoal pieces did not exceed 3 cm, being much smaller in most burials. The species composition of charcoal from cremations indicates that all locally-available woody taxa were used for the funeral pyre, instead of choosing certain types of trees for ritual purposes. Thus, the composition of the cremation fuel reflected the vegetation composition of the encasing landscape. Dominant charred taxa in the Imenkovo cremations were Tilia and Betula (linden and birch), the typical components of the “slash-and-burn landscape” of the Middle Volga region during this period. Despite the fact that all the burial grounds were located at the higher grounds in the landscape, the presence of riverine taxa — Alnus, Salix, and Ulmus (willow, alder and elm) and abundance of charred herbaceous remains in the charcoal spectra points at floodplains or mouths of gullies as a probable location of cremation platforms. An important detail of the funeral rite, revealed by the research, is placing unhulled millet, soaked and germinated before cremation, into the funeral pyre.

Keywords: Middle Volga region, Great Migrations Period, Imenkovo culture, cremations, anthracological analysis, archaeobotany

Information about authors:

Yulia Salova (Kazan, Russian Federation). Kazan Federal University. Kremlyovskaya St., 18, Kazan, 420008, Republic of Tatarstan, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Darya Petrova (Tolyatti, Russian Federation). Institute of Archaeology named after A. Kh. Khalikov, Tatarstan Academy of Sciences. Butlerov St., 30, Kazan, 420012, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Elena Ponomarenko (Ottawa, Canada). PhD. University of Ottawa, 60 University, Ottawa ON Canada K1N 6N5. 1139 Agincourt Rd, Ottawa ON, K2C2H8 Canada
E-mail: [email protected]
Vitaly Kondrashin (Kazan, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Kazan Federal University, Laboratory of Interdisciplinary Studies in Archaeology and Ethnology. Kremlyovskaya St., 18, Kazan, 420008, Republic of Tatarstan, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]