Elite burials of the early nomads in the Southern Urals (brief review of Russian historiography)

Agreat deal of studiesfocusedontheEarly IronAge nomadic elitegroupsinEurasian steppeshas been accumulated in the Russian historiography. Until now, elite and ordinary funerary monuments have been systematically studied across the vast territory from the North Black Sea Area to Northern Mongolia through the Volga river area, Southern Urals, Kazakhstan, Western and Southern Siberia and Trans-Baikal area, Obtained archaeological materials allow us to suggest an idea of the existence of the certain «social rank» of funeral and memorial sites, as well as the vertical social status of the buried. However, some issues within this topic still remain unexplored. This article concerns the history of studying the Early nomadic elite monuments in the Southern Urals. The paper examines points of view and approaches to the study of the «elite» in nomadic societies, as well as criteria for determination of the elite nomadic monuments in South Ural region.