Issue 3 (80)
| VERTICAL BURIALS OF NORTHERN EURASIA | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 2023 | Number | 3(80) |
| Pages | 82-92 | Type | scientific article |
| UDC | 903.5 | BBK | 63.4-427 |
| Authors | Zakh Viktor A. |
Topic | ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN THE NORTH OF WESTERN SIBERIA |
| Summary | At this point, eight burials with vertically positioned bodies in the burial chamber are known in Northern Eurasia from Central Europe to the eastern border of Western Siberia. There is one “stand up” burial at each of the following sites: near the village of Zarechnoe on the Ina River in the Ob River area, in the Tobol River area near the village of Pegan, at Ust-Aleika 5 burial ground on the Upper Ob River, and Central Europe, 80 km north of Berlin. The remains of four burials are known at Oleniy Ostrov burial ground on Lake Onega. Vertical burial grounds are characterized by some significant peculiarities. Bones of a child from Ust-Aleika 5 necropolis, female bones from Zarechnoe 1 burial ground, and, probably, from the burial near the village of Pegan were found in anatomical order. Female burial ¹ 68 at Oleniy Ostrov burial ground can be considered vertical, too. The deceased was buried standing up there. A burial of a man in an upright position was found at a burial ground in Groß Fredenwalde. Biting marks and mixed condition of the bones reliably indicate that the upper part of the grave pit was open for some time. Accordingly, we can assume a similar rite (with the upper part of the grave opened) at burial ¹ 68 and diagonal burials ¹ 100, 123, and 125 at Oleniy Ostrov burial ground. Considering relatively sparse funerary equipment in vertical burials, an almost total absence of sculptural images, which, in our opinion, are more typical of shaman burials, and, probably, the practice of building half-open graves, we can assume that the deceased buried in “stand up” burials were not shamans. They were apparently revered according to the religious code in a special way due to certain mental or physical abilities or shortcomings, which is indicated by the example of a child with hydrocephalus from Ust-Aleika 5 burial ground. The vertically buried bodies were likely to serve as a kind of “guardians” at the necropolises, as evidenced by the burial at Groß Fredenwalde that was half-opened for some time, and, possibly, by the burials on Oleniy Ostrov. | ||
| Keywords | Northern Eurasia, Mesolithic and Neolithic burial grounds, burial rite, vertical burials, funerary equipment | ||
| References |
Borodaev V. B., Kiryushin K. Yu., Kuzmenkin D. V., Solodovnikov K. N. [Ornaments Made from Unio Shells in a Neolithic Burial at Ust-Aleika-5, Barnaul, Southwestern Siberia]. Arkheologiya, etnografiya i antropologiya Evrazii [Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia], 2022, vol. 50, no. 1, pp. 48−56. (in Russ.). Dremov V. A. Naseleniye Verkhnego Priob’ya v epokhu bronzy (antropologicheskiy ocherk) [The Upper Ob Region Population in the Bronze Age (An Anthropological Essay)]. Tomsk: TGU Publ, 1997. (in Russ.). Grünberg J. M. Aufrecht ins Jenseits: die sitzende Haltung von Verstorbenen im Mesolithikum. Die Kunde N. F., 2008, no. 59, pp. 39−89. (in German). Gurina N. N. Oleneostrovskiy mogil’nik [Oleneostrovsky Burial Ground]. Moscow; Leningrad: Izd-vo AN SSSR Publ., 1956. (Materials and Research on the Archaeology of the USSR; no. 47). (in Russ.). Klementyeva T. Yu., Pogodin A. A. [Burial Practices of the Population from the Konda River Basin in the Mesolithic and Neolithic Periods]. Samarskiy nauchnyy vestnik [Samara Journal of Science], 2020, vol. 9, no. 1 (30), pp. 131–141. DOI: 10.24411/2309-4370-2020-11202 (in Russ.). Louwe Kooijmans L. P. Reflections on the Mesolithic Burial Pits at Mariënberg (Province of Overijssel), the Netherlands. A Mind Set on Flint. Studies in Honour of Dick Stapert. Groningen: Barkhuis, Groningen University Library, 2012, pp. 401−424. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/1887/76582 (accessed: 25.05.2023). (in English). Mamonova N. N., Sulerzhitsky L. D. [The Experience of Dating 14C from the Burials of the Baikal Region of the Holocene Epoch]. Sovetskaya arkheologiya [Soviet Archaeology], 1989, no. 1, pp. 19−32. (in Russ.). Matyushchenko V. I. [Yaya Neolithic Burial Ground]. Trudy Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta [Proceedings of Tomsk State University]. Tomsk: Izd-vo TGU Publ., 1963, vol. 165, pp. 97–103. (in Russ.). Morozov A. V. [Some Aspects of Functional and Symbolic Role of Siberian Figurines in the Neolithic and Chalcolithic Period]. Vestnik Kemerovskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta [Bulletin of Kemerovo State University], 2013, no. 3 (55), vol. 4, pp. 50−56. (in Russ.). Petrin V. T. Paleoliticheskiye pamyatniki Zapadno-Sibirskoy ravniny [Paleolithic Sites of the West Siberian Plain]. Novosibirsk: Nauka Publ., 1986. (in Russ.). Petrin V. T., Sosnovkin I. N. [On the Question of the Dating of the Shigir Bone Products]. Voprosy arkheologii Priob’ya [Questions of Archaeology of the Ob Region]. Tyumen: TyumGU Publ, 1976, pp. 30−37. (in Russ.). Pozdnepaleoliticheskoye poseleniye Sungir’ (pogrebeniya i okruzhayushchaya sreda) [The Late Paleolithic Settlement of Sungir (Burials and Environment)]. Moscow: Nauchnyy mir Publ., 1998. (in Russ.). Price T. D., Jacobs K. Olenii Ostrov: First Radiocarbon Dates from Major Mesolithic Cemetery in Karelia, USSR. Antiquity, 1990, vol. 64, pp. 849–853. (in English). Price T. D., Jacobs K. Olenii Ostrov: Radiocarbon Dates from a Major Cemetery in Karelia. Mesolithic Miscellany, 1989, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 3–6. (in English). Salnikov K. V. [On the Issue of the Neolithic of the Steppe Trans-Urals]. Kratkiye soobshcheniya o dokladakh i polevykh issledovaniyakh Instituta istorii material’noy kul’tury [Brief Reports on Reports and Field Studies of the Institute of the History of Material Culture], 1952, vol. 47, pp. 15−23. (in Russ.). Schmidt A. V. [The Sites of the Bolshoi Mys Culture of the Barnaul Ob Region]. Arkheologiya, paleoekologiya i etnografiya Sibiri i Dal’nego Vostoka: Tezisy dokladov. RAESK 36 [Archaeology, Paleoecology and Ethnography of Siberia and the Far East: Abstracts RAESK 36]. Irkutsk: IGPI Publ., 1996, part 1, pp. 77−79. (in Russ.). Serikov Yu. B. [Shaman Burials of the Trans-Urals]. Voprosy arkheologii Urala [Questions of Archaeology of the Urals]. Ekaterinburg: UrGU Publ., 1998, vol. 23, pp. 29−47. (in Russ.). Sikora M., Seguin-Orlando A., Sousa V. C. et al. Ancient Genomes Show Social And Reproductive Behavior of Early Upper Paleolithic Foragers. Science, 2017, vol. 358, no. 6363, pp. 659–662. DOI: 10.1126/science. aao1807 (in English). Terberger Th., Kotula A., Lorenz S., Schult M., Burger J., Jungklaus B. Standing Upright to all Eternity — the Mesolithic Burial Site at Groß Fredenwalde, Brandenburg (NE Germany). Quartär, 2015, vol. 62, pp. 133–153. DOI: 10.7485/QU62_6 (in English). Zakh V. A. [The Neolithic — Early Bronze Age Burials of the Zarechnoye 1 Burial Ground]. Zapadnaya Sibir’ v drevnosti i srednevekov’ye [Western Siberia in Antiquity and the Middle Ages]. Tyumen: TyumGU Publ, 1985, pp. 23−29. (in Russ.). Zakh V. A. Epokha neolita i rannego metalla lesostepnogo Prisalair’ya i Priob’ya. [The Neolithic and Early Metal Epoch of the Forest-Steppe of the Salair Region and the Ob Region]. Tyumen: IPOS SO RAN Publ., 2003. (in Russ.). Zakh V. A. Neolit i bronzovyy vek Prisalair’ya: kand. diss. [The Neolithic and Bronze Age of the Salair Region: Diss. Cand.]. Kemerovo, 1990. (in Russ.). |
||
| Download in PDF | |||
