Reflection of the family structure of the population at the biritual burial ground of the Saltiv culture in Chervona Hirka

Abstract

The article presents the preliminary results of the analysis of individual burial complexes discovered at the biritual burial ground of the Saltiv culture in Chervona Hirka (Balakliia district of Kharkiv Oblast). During the work at the burial ground, 313 burials were examined, of which 191 were performed as inhumations, and 122 – cremations. Also, 18 cases were recorded at the burial ground when some burials were inlet into the filling of the burial pits of other burials without destroying the latter. At the same time, most often, the main burial was an inhumation according to the rite, and the burial inlet into the filling of the burial pit belonged to the category of cremations (Table 1). Among the complexes under consideration, the burials performed simultaneously (one-act) and those made after a certain period of time are presented. The latter are numerically dominant over one-act burial complexes. In 18 cases, 11 burials belong to paired ones, in 6 cases a burial contained the remains of three deceased. In the filling of burial No. 75/ k-4, the remains of three deceased were found, deliberately placed there. Thus, in Chervona Hirka burial ground, cases are presented of one burial pit usage for the simultaneous or different graves of 2—4 deceased. In these complexes, we tend to see the burials of close relatives, members of the same family (husband and wife, mother with children, minor children). An analysis of the sex and age composition of people buried in these complex burials allows us to speak of the existence of undivided families of the paternal or fraternal type among the population who left the Chervona Hirka burial ground, along with small families. The most striking evidence of the latter is the fixation of a group of 11 burials (6 inhumations and 5 cremations) on an area of 25 m2, the main one is the burial of a man accompanied by a horse (burial No. 75/ k-4) (Fig. 6: 1). At the same time, in the filling of three graves from this group (No. 75/ k-4, No. 36 and No. 74) there were burial complexes, deliberately placed there: Nos. 37, 38, 58, 59, 64, 71 (Table 1).