Materials from the Bronze Age of the Murakaevsky burial ground in the Southern Trans-Urals / Материалы эпохи бронзы Муракаевского могильника в Южном Зауралье
Authors:   Order of the Badge of Honour of the Institute of History, Language and Literature of the Ufa Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Rafikova Yanina V. 
Published: July 2024

The article publishes the material from the Late Bronze Age burials of the Murakaevsky burial ground explored by the expedition of N. A. Mazhitov in 1966. The burial ground is located on the outskirts of the Murakaevo village in the Abzelilovsky District. On the upper plowable terrace of the Maly Kizil River 12 mounds were excavated, most of them provided materials of the Early Middle Ages, Early Iron Age burials were discovered in three mounds. These materials received full coverage in scientific literature. In Mounds 3 and 5 three burials of the Bronze Age were discovered, they were not published in full. In a condensed form, these materials came to light in two works in which Burial 3 of the Mound 3 was attributed to Timber-Frame Culture and Burials 2 and 5 were identified as “Cherkaskul” with the accompanying Timber¬Frame. The purpose of the article is the complete publication of the materials from the Bronze Age burials of the Murakaevsky burial ground and clarification of their cultural attribution. In each of the three Bronze Age burials of the Murakaevsky burial ground, the burial rite was distinguished by its originality. The burial rite traced in Burial 3 of Mound 3, where the skeleton was places crouched on the right side, head to the east, corresponds to the Cherkaskul and Mezhovo traditions, traced to burial grounds located on both sides of the Ural Mountains. However, the fragment of the upper part of the vessel found beside the buried is alien to the Cherkaskul tradition. Its form and ornament find correspondence in the ceramic traditions of the Final Bronze of the Southern Trans-Urals (Pic. 3). Its ornament finds correspondence in the ceramic tradition of the Barkhatov Culture. In the Barkhatov Culture, only few burials are known and the eastern orientation of the buried is not typical for them. Nevertheless, we can conclude that the burial belongs to the final stage of the Bronze Age of the Trans-Urals and its materials reflect the multi-component nature of the formation of the Final Bronze Age culture of this territory. The paired burial of children from Burial 1 of Mound 5, in which the position of the buried is reconstructed as facing each other, was accompanied by Cherkaskul ceramics (Pic. 5, 1–7). Paired heterosexual burials are serially represented in the Alakul and Timber-Frame necropolises of the Southern Urals. A needle under the scull of the skeleton lying on the right side may indicate that it belongs to a girl. This burial indicates that the tradition of paired burials is not alien to the Cherkaskul Culture. In Burial 2 without grave goods of Mound 5, a person was buried on his left side in a strongly crouched position with his head oriented to the south-west (Pic. 5, 8). It is rather difficult to attribute its cultural affiliation, but most likely, it may belong to the Cherkaskul Culture, like the paired burials from this mound. The time of the Cherkaskul complexes of the Southern Urals is determined today within the third quarter of the 2nd millennium B.C. The Barkhatov antiquities date back to the last third of the 2nd millennium B.C. В статье публикуются материалы эпохи поздней бронзы Муракаевского могильника. Даны описание и подробная характеристика погребального обряда и вещевого комплекса трех погребений эпохи бронзы из двух курганов 3 и 5 Муракаевского могильника. Уточнена культурная атрибуция погребения из кургана 3, ранее определенная как срубная. Обломки верхней части сосуда, найденного в погребении, позволили отнести его к финальной бронзе. Орнаментальная композиция сосуда находит соответствия в традиции бархатовской культуры. Интересной особенностью обряда, зафиксированного в погребении 1 кургана 5, является парное погребение детей, свидетельствующее, что такие захоронения, распространенные у алакульских и срубно-алакульских популяций, практиковались и у черкаскульского населения. Безынвентарное погребение 2 этого же кургана, где погребенный находился на левом боку головой к юго-западу, также может относиться к черкаскулькой культуре. Время черкаскульских комплексов Южного Зауралья на сегодняшний день определяется в пределах третьей четверти II тыс. до н.э. Бархатовские древности датируются последней третью II тыс. до н.э.