Excavations in the Ural region

A detachment of the Ural Pedagogical Institute was excavating a burial ground 3 km north of the Volodarka village, Priural district, in the zone of land reclamation work on the lands of the Kirov collective farm. Eight mounds were located in two chains stretched along the west-east line on the right bank of the Urals. The southern group included three burial mounds, the northern group - five. There were large mounds at the chains' ends and small mounds between them. The diameter of the embankment is 30-60 m, the height is from 1 m to 4 m. Two mounds (2 and 3) in the southern chain and one (4) in the northern chain were unearthed, each containing one burial of the Prokhorovka mud of the Sarmatian culture robbed in antiquity (3rd-2nd centuries BC).

Mounds 3 and 4 are of interest. In mound 3, 30 m in diameter and 1.2 m high, the burial was made in a sub-rectangular grave measuring 4x3 m, oriented with the long axis to the cardinal points and covered with thick planks in several layers. The grave was plundered three times, but female skeletons retained their anatomical order. A quiver with a set of bronze arrowheads of archaic types with and without bushings, a bronze mirror with a long side handle, a spindle whorl, an iron knife, an awl and a needle case, a set of seven black stones, a carved elk head made of bone, jewelry made of paste, stone and gold, a set of various bone spoons, clay vessels standing on the sides of a large copper cauldron with a conical tray and two arched handles on the rim, a lot of bones of domestic animals. It is possible that priestesses were buried here.

Mound 4 with a diameter of 48 m and a height of 1.6 m contained a two-tier burial in a grave pit measuring 6x3 m. At the northern end of the pit, 0.2 m from the bottom, the bones of the legs of a human skeleton were preserved. A male burial was found in the southern half of the pit. A long sword lay at the left hip of the buried, and a bronze mirror with a roller on the back and a pin-handle was placed at the left hand. To the right of the deceased were the bones of a horse. His right wrist was adorned with a massive (60 gr) gold bracelet with five spirals. A short dagger with a crescent-shaped pommel was found under the right hand, a silver pharela, clad with gold, was found between the legs, another similar pharela, near the right shin, and an earthen vessel nearby. A quiver with heavily corroded small arrowheads lay on the deceased's chest. Pharela is excellent example of toreutics. These are silver discs with a diameter of 24 cm and weighing up to 500 g, clad with gold foil, and three brackets on the reverse side for fastening. A roller with a punch ornament runs along the edge of the discs. Behind it is the second roller with the image of a laurel wreath. In the center of the discs is a man in a tunic and boots with his right hand raised, sitting on a Pegasus. Under the front legs of Pegasus aimed at striking, a three-faced monster is depicted in the form of a lion, a goat and a snake. Before us is undoubtedly the plot of the Greek myth about Belerophon and Pegasus, fighting evil in the form of a three-faced chimera. Phalera differ only in the interpretation of individual details.