The Abashevo burial rite in the Donets river basin and its identification among the local antiquities

The indications of the Abashevo Bronze Age culture burial rite in the Middle Seversky Donets are considered. In the analysed group of burials such characteristics are revealed as large graves, two-storey constructions, double and collective burials, orientation of the dead to SE, their position contracted on their back with bent legs knees up, usage of charcoal. Limited number of grave goods in the Abashevo burials in the Donets basin is determined by the conditions of migration, which later transformed into a cultural standard typical of the latest Catacomb (or early multi-rib pottery culture). Characteristically transformed Abashevo burial standards are clearly present in the local latest Catacomb burials in the Seversky Donets region. In the Ukrainian sites these were often interpreted as indications of Pit-grave culture, which caused the thesis on the revival of the Pit-grave cultural traditions in the multi-rib pottery cultural milieu.