Cremation with the burial construction from the Sokolova Pustyn cemetery

The paper describes grave no. 22 of the Sokolova Pustyn cemetery (Moscow region, Oka left bank). A concentration of calcined bones under the soil surface partially overlays a small circular ditch (possibly, traces of a structure built over the funerary construction). The analysis of the 3D model of the bone concentration performed with the use of a tacheometer identified two sections that also differed in the composition of the host layer, i.e. the southern and the northern sections. The bones of an adult individual, most likely, a woman under 40 years and a child were identified in the northern section. The southern section yielded bones of an individual aged from 20 to 30 years. A black polished vessel of the Moshchiny type was discovered in a hollow in the center of the circular ditch. It is the only item that can be linked to the burial. The burials of this cemetery examined earlier date the entire complex back to the 5th-6th centuries AD. Burial 22 is the first and the earliest one where traces of the construction built over the burial were identified. The details of the burial rite of Sokolova Pustyn identified in burial no. 22 made it possible to compare it with nearby cemeteries on the Oka river as well as with Dyakovo cremations for the first time.