Excavations of burial mounds near the village of Novopavlovka

A detachment of the Ural Pedagogical Institute excavated a barrow group near the village of Novopavlovka, Terektky district, Ural region. The burial ground was located 1 km east of the village on a small hill above the floodplain terrace of a now dry river. All seven burial mounds were excavated and stretched from west to east in a chain.

Mounds 1, 3, 4 provided interesting material characterizing the Srubnaya culture of the left bank of the Middle Urals. Mounds 1 and 3 contained single burials in rectangular pits of 1.45 m deep, and wooden ceilings rested on longitudinal planks. The skeletons lay crouched on the side of the body, with the skull to the northeast. The contraction is strong. Molded vessels stood in their heads. On the southern side of the burial pits of these barrows, at the level of the ancient horizon, lay the bones of the legs of a horse, and a skull was laid on top. Two similar burials were unearthed in the kurgan, only the skeleton from burial 2 was oriented to the north, and charred wooden planks were found in the backfill of pit 1. The grave goods are represented by vessels, in the ornamentation of which the influence of the Andronovo culture is noticeable. The studied burials belong to the Pokrovka stage of the Srubnaya culture.

Mounds 5 and 7 gave three burials of the Sauromato-Sarmatian culture. The central grave of barrow 5 (3.4 x 3.0 m at a depth of 3.9 m from the level of the ancient horizon) was oval in plan and at a depth of 1.5–1.9 m along all sides had ledges on which the ceiling rested. The burial was plundered, the skeleton was oriented with the skull to the south. The burial dates back to the 4th century BC based on bronze arrowheads. Two other burials were made in catacomb graves. One chamber was located perpendicular to the long southern side of the entrance pit, the other at an angle of 45° to the short southern side. The entrance pits were covered with boards, on top of which lay reeds. At the entrance to the chambers, the ceilings rested on two vertical pillars that stood on both sides of the entrance. Both burials in the catacombs, male and female, were made in boxes made of boards, which had special cutouts and grooves for fastening. Afterlife food and vessels were outside the coffin. The buried lay stretched out on their backs with their heads to the south. In the male burial, a wooden vessel with a rounded bottom and a small loop-shaped handle, a long iron sword with a volute-shaped pommel and a broken bar-shaped crosshair, an iron knife and a buckle were found, and in the female burial, an egg-shaped linen pot with a slightly flattened bottom, a round bronze mirror with a small rim along the edge with a rectangular bone handle, glass, tin and jet beads on the wrists and chest. The grave inventory makes it possible to attribute these burials to the end of the 5th - beginning of the 4th centuries BC.

In the mound of mound 7, a round-shaped fire pit (coal, ash, calcined soil) with a diameter of up to 1 m was found. Outside the fire, two burials without inventory were cleared on the ancient horizon. The skeletons lay stretched out on the back; one is oriented south and the other is east. Inside the fire, there was a looted catacomb burial. The entrance pit is oriented with long sides from west to east. Along the western wall to the bottom were three wide steps. The chamber, oriented from north to south, was located along the eastern wall. The skeleton lay with its skull to the south. Among the bones of a human, a horse, a ram, two bronze socketed arrowheads were found. The burial in the catacomb, probably at the same time as the burials in mound 5. Mounds 2 and 6 were cenotaphs.