Concerning a group of medieval kurgans in the upper Kuban basin

The paper presents a summarising analysis of the anthropological and archaeological materials from a group of kurgan cemeteries investigated on the Upper Kuban River. The author concludes that in the foothills of the Karachay-Cherkessia Republic a multiethnic population emerged in the 14 th - 15 th cc. AD. Its core was evidently formed by the settled Polovtsi, while another part of the unit consisted of the newcomers from the North-Western Caucasus - the Abazins or the Adygs, with participation of the Central Asiatic component related by its origin with the Mongol invasion of the 13 th c. The anthropological material points to the process of population metisation, which is confirmed by the archaeological data, namely, mixed and unified character of the material and spiritual culture formed on the basis of different ethnic groups.