Burials of the Chelbas-8 kurgan group (Tikhoretsky District, Krasnodar Region) according to 2024 excavations

The article provides an overview of salvage excavations of kurgans 2 and 3 of the Chelbas-8 kurgan group, carried out in December 2023 to February 2024. The kurgans are located in the right-bank part of the Chelbas River valley southwest of the town ofTikhoretsk. Burials of the Eneolithic - Early Bronze Age, Middle Bronze Age, Early Iron Age, Late Middle Ages - New Age were found in the earth mounds and under them. Conclusions on the history of the barrows and the sequence of burials are based on stratigraphic analyses and radiocarbon dating. The burial inventory is relatively small. The earliest objects, whose creators built the first mounds, are represented by partially preserved in burial of the Early Pit-Grave culture - individual leg bones; a skeleton with a broken upper part and raised knees. The Plastunov culture is associated with the expansion of the range of burials in barrows, which are represented by skeletons in crouched postures. Most burials belong to the Catacomb cultures of the mid-3rd millennium BC. These are single and pair burials in shallow pits or in burial chambers with shafts, with roasters, and complete ceramic vessels. Single burials of the final Middle and early Late Bronze Age are associated with the circle of post-Catacomb cultures. A single burial, in an extended position on the back, head to the west, with a large set of beads and a ceramic vessel, belongs to the Meotian population. Several burials are related to the Nogai population of the late Middle Ages - in a compressed position on the back, head to the west, facing south.