On the development of the Sargatka Culture in the Tobol River basin region (based on materials of the Ustyug-1 burial ground)

Abstract

The article is concerned with characteristics of funeral traditions of the Sargatka Culture population based on materials of the Ustyug-1 burial ground located in the Zavodoukovsky District of Tyumen Region. Six barrows of the Early Iron Age were studied in the area. Mounds 5 (5th–3rd c. BC), 51 and 52 (5th–4th c. BC) belong to the early stage of the culture. Sargatka burials of mounds 27 and 49 (3rd–2nd c. BC) were made during the middle stage. Burial from mound 56 (2nd–3rd c. AD) belongs to the final period of the Sargatka Culture of the Early Iron Age. Thus, burials in the Ustyug-1 necropolis were made during the entire time of existence of the Sargatka Culture. The comparison of different periods of functioning of the cemetery within the same culture and microregion re-vealed a number of characteristic features of the complex in the context of the historical development of the Early Iron Age cultures in the forest-steppe zone. Furthermore, it was possible to trace the process of formation of the culture in the Tobol River basin, the composition and status of the individual groups of the population, and the nature of cultural ties. We conclude that the variation between the objects of different periods reflects the deve-lopmental stages of the Sargatka Culture in the local microregion. In the early stage of the culture, part of its population migrated from the east into the Tobol basin region. It was transformed here under the influence of local groups of the Baitovo Culture on the one hand, and certain groups of steppe nomads on the other. The burial rite of the local population changed dramatically as a result of contacts between the bearers of the Sargatka Culture and nomadic groups. This indicates the strengthening of the Iranian worldview component in the Sargatka envi-ronment. At the next stage, the interaction of the local population with the nomads of the Sarmatian circle became more active, and the level of militarization of the local population increased. In the late period, social stratification within the Sargatka Сulture society increased, which was accompanied by an increase in prestigious consumption. This was expressed in a clear separation of the elite funeral rite from the ordinary one. The study of such monu-ments, which existed for a long time, can help us to understand the processes of formation and extinction of cultures.