Bioarchaeological aspects of studying multiple kurgan burials on the Middle Don from the Scythian period

Cooccurrence of single and multiple Scythian burials covered by kurgans that are found in the forest-steppe Don region raises an issue of why several individuals were buried in one funerary construction. Using the data on isotopic signatures of their diet and mobility, distribution of injury marks, we suggest plausible factors explaining burial of several individuals in one grave. This study builds on information concerning 67 individuals from the multiple and single burials at the Ternovoe I, Kolbino I, Gorki I, and Devitsa V cemeteries. We observe a lack of reduced variability in the carbon, nitrogen and strontium isotopic compositions within each of the multiple burials as well as within the «multiple burial» and «single burial» samples. Therefore, these tracers of the mode of life among the individuals from the multiple burials are as much varied as those among the individuals from the single burials. The paper also discusses impact of seasonality and the level of military aggression on appearance of multiple burials.