Kurgan-cemeteries of central and eastern regions of North Caucasus 3rd century bc - early 2nd century ad (monuments Chegem-Manaskent type)

The article is devoted to the analysis of materials from kurgan-cemeteries of the foothill zone of the central and eastern regions of the North Caucasus (from Kabardino-Balkaria to the Caspian Dagestan), dating back to the 3rd century. BC - early / first half 2nd century AD. These sites were previously named as the Chegem- Manaskent type. Main diagnostic features of this sites are the unity of the traditions of the funeral rite and the ceramic complex. The material culture of monuments of the Chegem-Manaskent type is determined by the traditions of the North Caucasian sedentary population, as the funeral rite determined by the traditions of the nomadic population of the North Caucasian steppes of the early Sarmatian period. The original territory of the formation of the culture of monuments of the Chegem-Manaskent type was the regions from the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic to the western part of the Chechen Republic. The burial grounds of the Caspian Dagestan were the result of the migration of its carriers in this direction. The cultural traditions of the population connected with the monuments Chegem-Manaskent type formed the cultural basis of the early stage Alanian culture of the North Caucasus (2nd- 4th centuries AD). The monuments of the Chegem-Manasket type underlie the formation of the monuments of the Podkumok-Khumara type, with which they are connected by the use of a catacomb burial rite with the repeated use of chamber for new graves and a ceramic complex. The cultural connection is fixed in the funeral rite (burials in catacombs of type I) and in the ceramic complex. In addition, the ceramic complex of monuments of the circle of the Andreiauli settlement largely goes back to the ceramic tradition of antiquities Chegem-Manasket circle, complicated by the morphological influences of the tradition of Caucasian Albania.