The funeral ceremony of early Sarmatian culture with the items of the carriage in the top of the burial chamber (the Lower Volga region)

The Funeral Ceremony of Early Sarmatian archaeological culture is sufficiently described in the historical literature from the viewpoint of general standardizing signs. Currently, much more attention is paid to special elements, for example, the elements of carriages: wheels, hubs, parts of the bodywork, which were found in the entrance pit of the burial chamber. A small number of such complexes increase gradually, and in the Early Sarmatian period they were concentrated in the Lower Volga region as shown by the records from both sides of the river. We should point out the chronological certainty of the complexes which can be narrowly dated and date back to the 2nd - 1st BC. Taking into account the Eastern migration impulse of this period, reflected in a whole series of Eastern-origin innovations in the territory of the Lower Volga region and the funerary traditions of Central Asia, it can be assumed that the emergence of the carriage’s wheels over the burial’s top is also associated with the emergence of a new population migrated from the East. A peculiar feature of the Funeral Ceremony is the intake burials being separate and not formed like a burial ground. We can assume that single burials had appeared during the period of the territory’s development. It should be noted that in the 2nd - 1st centuries BC in the Lower Volga region there were signs of burials in the Northern sector in contrast to the traditional South, in decks with plenty of fishnet and jet buckles, long swords without metal pommel with Oriental origins. The list of innovations, of course, includes the appearance of the wheels in the top of the burial chamber.