Research of the Iscalicol Detachment

A detachment of the Ural Pedagogical Institute researched the Furmanov district of the Ural region to construct an irrigation and watering system on the Rybny Sakryl Lake. On the lake's eastern shore, three kurgan groups have been identified - Sakryl I-III, numbering 26, 8 and 8 mounds, respectively, with loess mounds, sometimes with ditches at the base. The mounds are 10-35 m in diameter and 0.15-1.50 m high. In the Sakryl I group, a rectangular (35x17 m) sacrificial structure with a clearly defined rampart, oriented north-south along the long axis, was also found. Most of the mounds have been disturbed by robbers. In 27 mounds studied, 41 burials were found.

The most interesting are burial 2 of mound 10 of group I, belonging to the Srubnaya culture, burial 1 of the Sarmatian time in the same barrow, barrows 1 and 2 in group II and barrow 6 of group III, where burials with a western orientation and inventory typical of the Savromats were found. Among the inventory of particular interest is a massive stone sacrificial table on two stylized legs, a bronze mirror with borders along the edge of the back and a protruding handle ending with an image of a griffin's head. A set of all types of bronze and iron arrowheads comes from the same burial, typical of the 5th century BC. All three burials of this time were made in large square pits. Most of the mounds studied contained burials of the Prohorovka culture in rectangular pits with ledges along the edges, accompanied by vessels and decorations. Medieval burials of the burial ground of Sakryl I yielded inventory typical of Polovtsian burials.