Cremation graves in the southwestern and Southern Crimea of the Roman period. Status update of the issue

The paper analyzes the current state of knowledge on cremation graves in the southwestern and southern Crimea dating to the first half of the first millennium AD. The paper reports on the discussion concerning the issues of the origin, ethnic interpretation and chronology of the cremation rite in the studied regions. It reviews two partially opposite concepts relating to the origin of this rite. The first concept is based on the migration theory according to which cremations did not appear until the middle of the third century and are linked to migrants such as Germanic (Slavic as some researchers believe) populations. The second concept states that cremation graves are characteristic of the local population which was influenced by the Roman tradition from Chersoneses. The paper also provides an overview of the latest discoveries of cremation graves in the southwestern and southern Crimea. It emphasizes that the new data can provide an opportunity to clarify our knowledge on when and how this rite appeared in the region. The data obtained in recent years bring up an issue of a need to have a new typology of cremation graves, clarify the dates and the cultural and historical context of each type of such graves.