Rich burials of children at Zeleny Yar, Northwestern Siberia

This article introduces high-ranking burials of children excavated in 2015 and 2018 at a medieval cemetery Zeleny Yar on the lower Ob. A detailed description of the burial rite is provided, with special reference to the shape and construction of the burials and the position of the bodies. Burial goods include a hatchet, a scabbard, bracelets, and temple rings. The high social status of the children is discussed. The finds are compared with those relating to medieval children's burials in adjacent territories-the Surgut, Novosibirsk, and Tomsk regions of the Ob. Also, ethnographic evidence concerning the social status of 6-7-year-old boys among the indigenous northern minorities are discussed. Archaeological and ethnographic sources suggest that high-ranking burials of children (boys) appear in northwestern Siberia no later than the Middle Ages.