Excavations near the village of Lebedevka

The expedition detachment of the Ural Pedagogical Institute continued excavations of burial mounds on the border of the Chingirlau and Karatoby districts of the Ural region. 44 burial mounds have been excavated in the burial grounds of Lebedevka IV and VI.

Four burials date back to the 5th century BC. The most interesting burial mound 5 of the Lebedevka VI burial ground. The entrance pit is oriented from north to south. Three linings were made in the pit's western, southern, and eastern walls. Two of the buried turned their heads to the west, one - to the south with a slight deviation to the west. Two swords represent the inventory with mushroom-shaped pommel and butterfly-shaped crosshairs, two quivers, iron bits and a bone cheek-piece, a bone spoon, and a linen round-bottomed spherical vessel.

17 burials date back to the Early Sarmatian period (4th-3rd centuries BC). Burial 2, barrow 25 of the Lebedevka VI burial ground, was located in a large rectangular pit with dromos on the north side. From above, the pit and the hole of the dromos were covered with powerful logs. At the bottom of the grave were the remains of two adults and a child, oriented with their heads to the south. The inventory included a sword and a dagger with sickle-shaped pommel and bar-shaped crosshairs broken at an obtuse angle, two quiver sets, bronze burrs, beads, and molded pots. The burial dates back to the 4th century BC.

Burial 2, kurgan 26, dates back to the 3rd-2nd centuries BC. In a large square pit, but diagonally, lay the skeleton of a young woman. A bronze mirror and gold beads were found next to it. 24 burials with a northern orientation in narrow rectangular and side-pit pits date to Late Sarmatian time (2nd-3rd centuries). Many skulls bear traces of artificial deformation. Most of the burials had a few inventories: brooches, iron knives, stucco and pottery vessels. In four relatively rich burials, four bronze cauldrons, two iron swords with chalcedony pommel, glass and ceramic vessels, a set of bridles, and gold jewelry were found. Radiocarbon analysis for a similar burial, discovered in 1978, determined the date to be 175 AD. e. ± 30 years.

Two burial mounds (10 and 11) in the Lebedevka VI burial ground date back to the 12th-13th centuries. A ring of rubble was built in the mound of barrow 10. The side-pit burial pit had a step on which a horse's bones lay. The buried was laid on his back, with his head to the south. The mound of mound 11 was gravel. The rectangular grave pit had steps along the long sides. The skeleton of a dog without a skull was found in the mound. The burial has been broken. The inventory included bone bow linings, a gold earring, heart-shaped silver belt linings.