About Cremation Burials in the Middle Reaches of the Seversky Donets River

Abstract

The article discusses the presence in the middle reaches of the Seversky Donets River the Khazar burials carried out by the rite of cremation, which are known upstream of the river, within the forest-steppe. Previously, the only such burial ground in this, steppe, territory was considered "burial ground 2" of the archaeological complex Mayaki. In recent years, the discovery of three more necropolises in the steppe zone has been announced. The mapping of the complexes of "burial ground no. 2" on the monument's plan Mayaki shows that they are a series of pits scattered far apart from each other, including within the residential part of the settlement. The pits contain no calcified bones, burnt objects or other items relevant to cremation burials. There is no reason to attribute these complexes to a single burial ground, nor is there any reason to classify them as "cremations". Other sites (Bondarikha, Gosudarev Yar, Tatyanovka) are archaeological sites completely destroyed by looters. Thus, on the basis of these materials, there is no reason to claim the presence of cremation necropolises in the middle course of the Seversky Donets River.