Field works on the left bank of the Kuraika river (the Altai Mountains) in 2023

This article describes field works in Kosh-Agach District of the Altai Republic from the perspective of landscape archaeology and site certification. The area of 175 hectares on the left bank of the Kuraika River was examined using aerial photography and photogrammetricprocessing. In total, 570 archaeological objects were identified at one site. An orthophotomap and digital elevation model were made. Specialized software was designed for extracting points from the cloud. Drone camera makes it possible to make simultaneous videos in five discrete spectral ranges for obtaining geometrically and radiometrically accurate and complete data about the surface, including such important indicators as vegetation and moisture content. Important information about historical and cultural aspects of ancient human life was obtained from selective excavations of five structures and drone footage. Landscape analysis has made it possible not only to establish planigraphic patterns in location of archaeological sites, but also identify interesting features of care for pasture lands. Three chains of 3-6 burial mounds, at some distance from each other were oriented from north to south with small (seasonal) deviations according to the Scythian time standard, and constituted the planygraphic basis of the Kuraika burial ground. After some time, ancient nomads made overfive hundred mounds around the Pazyryk complexes by collecting stones in order to improve herbage. In this way they marked their ancestral territory and created a special cultural landscape of “heavenly pastures." This could have been done as a part of some ritual, semantically similar to creating “obo” -sacred stone heaps. Such important, sacred ritual of sacrifice could have been associated with the cult of ancestors and, in addition to pragmatic reasons, it was believed to be responsible for well-being and good harvests.