Final late bronze age burial at the origin of the river Idzhim (Ermakovsky district of the Krasnoyarsk region)

Purpose. In 2014 the Sayan Archaeological Expedition of the Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences (St.-Petersburg) proceeded with the project of excavating archaeological sites on the territory of a newly built Kuragino-Kyzyl-Elegest railway in order to preserve and research the sites to be destroyed. The purpose of the present article is to analyze the findings. Result. There was one undisturbed burial excavated in the gravefield Sayany-Pogranichnoe-4. The site is located in Russia, on the border between the Krasnoyarsk Region and the Republic of Tuva, less than 20 kilometers from the famous Scythian kurgan Arzhan-1. The gravefield was represented by seven kurgans from different epochs situated on the slope of river terrace at the foot of the mountain. Six kurgans were located as a compact group and belonged to the Scythian period and the Middle Ages while kurgan-7 was about 50 meters away to the East. The grave of kurgan-7 contained a rich and very interesting burial of the Late Bronze Age. In ancient times the kurgan was represented as a round stone platform with the flat top. The diameter of the construction was 5 m and the height about 0,6-0,7 m. On the outside, the platform was embordered by a round «path» made of small stones. Its outer diameter was about 8 m. The body was buried in the earth. The skeleton was placed head to the Northwest in the classic «karasuk» position, i.e. half-turned on the left side. To fix the person in this position, a pillow made of organic material was used. The grave contained two psalia (cheek pieces) made of horn, two astragalus bones of sheep, a bronze knife, arrowheads made of bone and bronze. The psalia found contained three holes located in different directions. In the Late Bronze Age such items used to accompany other types of psalia. The Early Scythian epoch is known for only one type, that containing one direction holes. This fact helps to date the usage of these psalia from kurgan-7 back to the XI-XII centuries BC. All indicators of bronze arrowheads are close to the implements of Arzhan-1 (IX-VIII centuries BC.). The difference is only in the leaf-shaped blade. This item appears to take an intermediate position between the final of the Late Bronze Age and the Early Scythian period (IX century BC). The curved bronze knife without butt has certain links to the sites of «bainovskii» stage of the Late Bronze Age of the Minusinsk Basin from the late IX - beginning of the VIII century BC. Conclusion. According to our analysis, kurgan-7 of the gravefield Sayany-Pogranichnoe-4 was set up in the second half of the IX century BC, before kurgan Arzhan-1 and the beginning of the Scythian epoch. In 2014, three more similar burials were excavated by the Sayan Archaeological Expedition in the sites Kuyart-1, Maralskoe-2 and Sayany-Pogranichnoe-6. Bronze implements were found there as well. According to the inventory, the burials are not synchronous. They cover a long period of the XII-IX centuries BC. These kurgans are different from the Mongun-Taiga culture of Tuva. They can be referred to as «idzhimskaya» group of sites of the Late Bronze Age. Its localization, history and relations to the Mongun-Taiga culture of Tuva require additional research.