Ritual pottery of the Gorokhovo culture: variability as a marker of social boundaries

This article considers the results of an analysis undertaken on ritual ceramics of the Gorokhovo culture (V-II centuries BC). The study was focused on recognition of the social boundaries maintained by the Trans-Uralian forest-steppe population in the Iron Age. Revealed differences in the material culture appearance are evidence to suggest that the four separate communities co-existed within the Gorokhovo union. The complexes of goods that accompanied the buried individuals to the afterlife corresponded to their social identity and were specific for each group. The article also examines the other types of identifications such as status, gender and age, which are also significantly affect the rules by which social boundaries are expressed in daily practices.