The Eneolithic Burial of Maksimovka I Soil Burial Ground from the Samara Trans-Volga Region

Abstract

Introduction. In the early 1980s the materials of soil burial grounds served as a base for identifying a special Eneolithic period in the history of the Middle and Lower Volga regions. Gathering of source basis on burial Eneolithic complexes is being effected rather slowly. Due to this fact the publication of new information on burial complexes of the Copper Age is quite urgent. This article enters the materials found during the excavations on Maksimovka I soil burial ground situated within the Samara river basin into scientific life. Methods. The collective burial on Maksimovka I burial ground consisted of three or probably four skeletons. They were supine, their legs bent at the knees and their heads oriented towards the North-East. Grave goods included a bone tool, a pressure tool, a sandstone pendant, flint scrapers and a borer, arrowheads with straight or emarginated foundation. Results. While comparing the burial rite with materials of other Eneolithic burial grounds one can see the greatest similarity in the complexes of the Khvalynsk Eneolithic culture (the presence of collective burials, supine position of skeletons with bent legs, orienting the buried people’s heads towards the North-East). Leaf-like arrowheads with narrowed bases and a cavity on the foundation were used in a wide range of activities in the Eneolithic period and Early Bronze Age in the Volga-Don interfluve. However they are typical for Caspian and Altatin complexes in the steppe area of the Volga region. Discussion. In accordance with the latest radiocarbon dates concerning the Eneolithic materials of soil burial grounds and settlement monuments one should date the burial on Maksimovka soil burial ground tentatively 5200–4500 BC.