The Eneolithic Burial of Maksimovka I Soil Burial Ground from the Samara Trans-Volga Region

Introduction. In the early 1980s the materials of soil burial grounds served as a base for identifying a special Eneolithic period in the history of the Middle and Lower Volga regions. Gathering of source basis on burial Eneolithic complexes is being effected rather slowly. Due to this fact the publication of new information on burial complexes of the Copper Age is quite urgent. This article enters the materials found during the excavations on Maksimovka I soil burial ground situated within the Samara river basin into scientific life. Methods. The collective burial on Maksimovka I burial ground consisted of three or probably four skeletons. They were supine, their legs bent at the knees and their heads oriented towards the North-East. Grave goods included a bone tool, a pressure tool, a sandstone pendant, flint scrapers and a borer, arrowheads with straight or emarginated foundation. Results. While comparing the burial rite with materials of other Eneolithic burial grounds one can see the greatest similarity in the complexes of the Khvalynsk Eneolithic culture (the presence of collective burials, supine position of skeletons with bent legs, orienting the buried people’s heads towards the North-East). Leaf-like arrowheads with narrowed bases and a cavity on the foundation were used in a wide range of activities in the Eneolithic period and Early Bronze Age in the Volga-Don interfluve. However they are typical for Caspian and Altatin complexes in the steppe area of the Volga region. Discussion. In accordance with the latest radiocarbon dates concerning the Eneolithic materials of soil burial grounds and settlement monuments one should date the burial on Maksimovka soil burial ground tentatively 5200–4500 BC

Radiocarbon Chronology of the Burial Ground near the village of Syezzheye

The paper deals with absolute radiocarbon chronology of the burial ground near the village of Syezzheye that was established during long-term archaeological investigations. This burial ground is interesting not only for the study of Eneolithic of forest zone in the Volga River region but also for the entire Mariupol historical and cultural area. This publication is timed to 50 years since discovery of this site in 1973 and anniversaries of archaeologists G.I. Matveyeva and I.B. Vasilyev. The most difficult aspects of this burial ground study are determination of its homogeneity and reliable chronological framework because of lack of inventory at some burials. To determine the chronology of burial grounds, several radiocarbon dates on organics from ceramics had been obtained. These dates gave two chronological intervals: the first interval is the second half of the VI millennium BC and the second one is the first half of the V millennium BC. After that the radiocarbon dates of 6520±30 ВР and 5925±25 ВР on the human bones from two burials were obtained that confirmed earlier determined dates. The repeated radiocarbon analysis of three ceramic samples confirmed just second interval of the first half of the V millennium BC. In 2022 three AMS dates were obtained in the Lab of IAE SB RAS. The bone artifact from burial 10 was dated to the Mesolithic. The bone harpoon from the sacrificial zone was dated to the same age as the “collar” pottery of the Eneolithic (4900–4800 calBC). The chronological framework of the Eneolithic complex of burial ground near the village of Syezzheye coincides with the absolute dates of the Caspian culture