Children's burials with the sets of astragals as a reflection of children's sphere of sacredness

The article analyzes children's burials with sets of astragals which were found in the Bronze Age monuments of the Eurasian steppes (Sintashta, Petrovka, Potapovo types, the Alakul and the Srubna cultures). The researchers asso­ciate the population of those cultures with the Indo-European or Indo-Iranian traditions. The author divides the buri­als into two age groups: 1 - from infancy to 5-6 years, 2 - from 6-7 to 13-15 years, but only the first group is under 68 Детские погребения с наборами. investigation. To substantiate the division the ethnographic materials from the Iranian peoples or the peoples having Indo-Iranian and Indo-European origin are used in the article. The lack of children's gender identification was a spe­cial feature of the investigated group which is caused by the fact that the acquisition of gender differences occured during special rituals in the age of 5-7 years. The astragals had, first of all, a protective function and were sacred ob­jects in the analyzed burials. They also served as a toy to amuse a child. Other things found in the same burials (fangs, shells, knives, axes, adornments) were not gender markers of the child and served as talismans as well. The author concludes that there was a special children's sphere of sacredness which was extended not only to the area of children's things, but also to their games.