Combs in burials of the late bronze age at the Stantsiya Kamyshta-7 burial ground

For the first time, three bone combs from burial mounds of the Kamyshta Station-7 burial ground located on the northern edge of the Sagai steppe in the Askiz District of the Republic of Khakassia are published. These objects were discovered during archaeological excavations in 2023 in disturbed burials in stone boxes in burial mounds 50, 168, and 172. All of the graves were surrounded by fences made of vertically embedded slabs with the adjacent fences also made of rock fragments. The graves contained re-deposited human bones, parts of funerary food, and scattered items of the accompanying inventory including the combs (made of bone or horn). The items were similar in shape and decoration. They had a shield one third of the length of the comb and a working edge of eight (in two items) and six (on the smaller item) teeth. The shield of all objects was decorated with elements of circular (solar, "eyes”) ornamentation made by a circular drilling tool with the paired working edge, and arranged in several rows over the entire available surface. The second main element of decoration was a pair of rectangular horizontal holes in the center of the shield. The third element included three rounded protrusions on the upper border of the shield. These three elements make it possible to combine the Kamyshta combs into a single group with the fragmented item from burial mound 24 at the Novyi Beloyarsk burial ground. The published objects most fully present decorative elements typical of similar combs found in other Late Bronze Age burials of the Khakass-Minusinsk Basin. The combs can be tentatively dated to the third stage of the Late Bronze Age (11th-9th centuries BC).