Rafikova Ya.V. Paired Burials from the Necropolises of the Srubno-Alakul Contact Zone of the Southern Trans-Urals
Yanina V. Rafikova, Candidate of Sciences (History), Senior Researcher, Institute of History, Language and Literature, Ufa Federal Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Prosp. Oktybrya, 71, 450054 Ufa, Russian Federation
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Abstract. The article presents an analysis of sixteen paired heterosexual burials from burial grounds of the Srubno-Alakul contact zone of the Trans-Urals. Currently, the attention of the researchers is focused on interpreting these burials. However, it is impossible to come closer to understanding the meaning of these burials without a comprehensive source analysis, which is the primary aim of this study. The paired burials from the Srubno-Alakul burial grounds were categorized by age groups: adults (7), adolescents (2), adolescents with children (2), and children (5). The characteristics of each identified group are determined according to the main features of the burial rite: simultaneity and non-simultaneity of their commission, localization and arrangement of graves within the burial ground, disturbed burials, body position and orientation, as well as the accompanying grave goods. It was found that most paired burials (11 cases) were found in kurgans with different combinations of Srubnaya and Alakul cultural components. Notably, all paired burials from Srubnaya kurgans (3 cases) contained Alakul cultural components. In one case a paired burial was accompanied by Cherkaskul vessels, which indicates continuity in the practice of this rite in subsequent times. Between the paired burials of adults on the one hand and adolescent and child burials on the other, age differentiation is expressed in the absence of non-simultaneous adolescent and child burials, their localization exclusively on the periphery of the burial site, and also in the absence of decorations in most of them. The hierarchical conditionality of the location of graves on the burial site was recorded in two burials of adults located in the center of the burial sites of single-grave kurgans. In fact, apart from the fact of pairing, the burials in question do not differ from most simultaneous burials. The hugging position in simultaneous burials, being universal for couples of different age groups, reflects the common symbolic meaning of these burials. The recently obtained results of deciphering the genomes of an adult couple from Burial 10 and a boy from a single Burial 6 of Kurgan 1 of the Selivanovsky II burial ground show that the heterosexual couple were parents of the boy, confirming actual marital bonds between paired individuals. Today, the most likely explanation for the paired burials of the Srubno-Alakul territory of the Trans-Urals in light of the real relationship between a man and a woman is that adult pairs represent spouses during their lifetime, and adolescents and children were engaged.
Key words: Southern Trans-Urals, Late Bronze Age, Srubno-Alakul burial grounds, paired burials, burial rite.
Citation. Rafikova Ya.V., 2025. Parnye pogrebeniya iz nekropoley srubno-alakul’skoy kontaktnoy zony Yuzhnogo Zaural’ya [Paired Burials from the Necropolises of the Srubno-Alakul Contact Zone of the Southern Trans-Urals]. Nizhnevolzhskiy Arkheologicheskiy Vestnik [The Lower Volga Archaeological Bulletin], vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 45-80. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/nav.jvolsu.2025.3.2
Paired Burials from the Necropolises of the Srubno-Alakul Contact Zone of the Southern Trans-Urals by Rafikova Ya.V. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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