Burial mound of early iron age Cheremshanka-1

Purpose: We introduce new materials of excavations discovered in the burial ground of Cheremshanka-1, which is located in the neighborhood of the village Chineta in the Krasnoshchekovsky District of Altai Region. The monument is situated in 7-8 km to the northeast from the village Chineta, on slopes of the Tigireksky ridge, in an estuarial zone of the River Cheremshanka, the right inflow of the River Inya. The road Maraliha-Kujbyshevo-Chineta-Generalka constructed in the area went through 19 archaeological sites that were investigated. The sites include nine mounds and ten ritual structures. Results: The barrows discovered were under a dense cover of humus. Their stone structures presented rounded mounds built of earth and well-rounded gravel or limestone and had a shell form. The embankments in the base rested on сrepidа stones. The barrows described had the diameter ranging from 10 to 15 m and height of 0.20 to 0,5 m while the diameter of the ritual structures ranged from 1 to 5 m having the height of 0,10-0,2 m. Each grave had only one person buried with various orientation. The complex of findings is presented by ceramic vessels, bone tips of arrows, cowry sinks, metal knives, an ear ring and a bone suspension bracket. This monument is of great scientific interest due to its cultural multi-component nature as the findings identified during our fieldwork present a combination of two types of burial rites, namely Pazyryk and Bolsherechensky ceramic complexes. The Pazyryk features include gravestones with stone and earthen elements, the crouched position of the person buried with their heads to the south-west and south-east, and the presence of funeral meals. The chain of mounds heading in the southwest-northeast direction is stretched out in the background of these peculiar funerary monuments of the steppe zone. A typical Pazyryk pattern on the vessels is also more common for the steppe zone of the Altai Region. A similar situation is observed on the closest objects of Pazyryk culture (Chineta-2, the Hankarinsky dale). It allows us to refer the monument of Cheremshanka-1 to the archaeological Chineta district allocated by P. K. Dashkovski. Localization of these monuments on the territory of the northwest spurs of Altai Region, where steppe and forest-steppe zones join, allows us to consider them as reflecting the relationships of the population of these regions, typical for the era of the early Iron Age. We conclude that separate elements of the material culture of nomads could appear in Pazyryk burials as a result of interactions between groups of people migrating to the south-east. The composition of the elements of the complex which belong to different cultural traditions of the funeral ceremony may reveal some contacts between the people of the Altai Mountains, foothills and steppe areas. Some elements of the steppe material culture might have appeared in Pazyryk burial mounds as a result of interactions between the groups of people migrating to the south-east. Conclusion: The funeral complex of Cheremshanka-1 appears to have a multi-component and multicultural nature and can be pre-dated as built in the III - the first half of the II century BC.