Catacomb culture ground cemeteries: history of research and issues of interpretation

This paper discusses interpretations of the ground cemeteries containing Catacomb culture graves described in historiography. Some scholars believe that the nature of these cemeteries cannot be established with certain due to problems with the methodology and sources. Authors who recognize the possibility of the existence of ground burials present three basic interpretations. In some cases, when a site location resembles a kurgan the existence of such burials was explained by topographic features. Some researchers mentioned influence of Neolithic and Eneolithic traditions. Several scholars considered ground cemeteries a specific feature of particular Catacomb culture or a group. Most often the scholars considered an idea of correlation between linked labor costs to build a funerary construction to the social status of the deceased. Literature overview shows that further research will require working out a methodology for determining the presence or absence of artificial mounds as well as development of the theory of interpreting the social structure. This will make it possible to understand the phenomenon of the ground burials without traces of kurgans.