A WARRIOR’S BURIAL OF THE BULAN-KOBY CULTURE AT THE KOKSA BURIAL GROUND (materials of excavations by S.I. Rudenko in Altai)

Abstract

The article discusses the collection of archaeological items from the State Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg) which were obtained by S.I. Rudenko during his excavations in Altai in 1925. The paper provides detailed descriptions of the shape and design of weapons, belt sets and household tools, supplemented with the data of exact dimensions, drawings and photographs. The authors consider a significant body of analogies based on which the complex of artefacts is dated from the 2nd – first half of the 4th century AD. An analysis of the goods and the funeral rite made it possible to include the burial from Koksa in the circle of the Belyi Bom stage sites of the Bulan-Koby archaeological culture. The composition of the goods indicates that the burial belonged to a professional man-at-arms of the middle command level in the military hierarchy in the rank of centurion.