Bashkir-Berkut burials in the Historical and cultural heritage of Bashkortostan: on the question of the ethnicity of burials in the decks

Abstract

The object of the study is the burials in the decks of medieval nomads of the Eurasian steppes. Only eight such burials are known in Bashkortostan. The subject of the study is the Bashkir-Berkut burial ground in the Kugarchinsky district. The author examines in detail such aspects of the topic as the funeral rite, inventory, dating. The monument was investigated by N. A. Mazhitov: in 1968 two earthen mounds containing one burial in a wooden block with the orientation of a person with his head to the west were opened, in 1969 another earthen mound containing a similar burial with the orientation of a person with his head to the northeast was opened. All three burials with belongings did not contain horse bones. The monument dates from the second half of the XIII – first half of the XIV century. Special attention is paid to the wide distribution of burials in decks among the Turkic and Mongolian tribes of Southern Siberia of the late I – early and middle II millenniums. A special contribution of the author to the study of the topic is the conclusion that according to all the main features of the funeral rite and clothing inventory, the Bashkir-Berkut mounds are close to the mounds of the Kipchaks of the Middle Irtysh region of the XI-XII centuries. The novelty of the research lies in establishing the connection of the Bashkir-Berkut burial ground with the Polovtsian tribe of Turkic-Mongolian origin Toksaba. The burial ground is located in the area of settlement of the southern group of Kipchak clans as part of the Bashkirs, the basis of this group is the Kara-Kipchak clan, dating back to the Toksobichi, whose horde in the XII century roamed the steppes between the Volga and the Dnieper, and in the XIII century entered into an alliance with the Mongols. The resettlement of the Kipchaks from the right to the left bank of the Volga is reported by Shezhere, legends and legends of the Bashkirs. The migration of the Polovtsians to the Southern Urals could be connected with the return of the Mongols from the campaign to Europe and the suppression of the uprising of local peoples.