Kurgan-Cemeteries of Central and Eastern Regions of North Caucasus 3rd Century BC – Early 2nd Century AD (Monuments Chegem-Manaskent Type)

Abstract

The article is devoted to analysis of materials from kurgan-cemeteries of the foothill zone of Central and Eastern North Caucasus regions (from Kabardino-Balkaria to Caspian Dagestan) dating back to the 3rd century BC – early (first half) 2nd century AD. These sites were earlier referred to as the Chegem-Manaskent type. Main diagnostic features of these sites are similar traditions of the funeral rite and the ceramic complex. The formation of the Chegem-Manaskent cultural monuments includes the material culture, determined by traditions of the North Caucasian sedentary population, and the funeral rite based on customs of the nomadic population of the North Caucasian steppes of the early Sarmatian period. The original territory of Chegem-Manaskent culture of monuments formation was the area from the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic to the western part of the Chechen Republic. The kurgan cemeteries of the Caspian Dagestan were the result of the migration of Chegem-Manaskent culture carriers in this direction. The cultural traditions of the population formed a specific basis of the early Alanian culture of the North Caucasus (2nd–4th AD); their genetic connection is witnessed by similar funeral rite (burial in type I catacombs) and in the ceramic complex. So, the monuments of the Chegem-Manasket type underlie the formation of the monuments of the Podkumok-Khumara type, with which they are connected by the use of a catacomb burial rite with the repeated use of chamber for new graves and a ceramic complex. In addition, the ceramic complex of monuments of the circle of the Andreiauli settlement largely goes back to the ceramic tradition of antiquities Chegem-Manasket circle, complicated by the morphological influences of the tradition of Caucasian Albania including the use of the transformed catacomb burial rite with multiple use of chamber graves and the ceramic complex.