Gender aspects of burials with weapons (Krotovo culture, south of Western Siberia) based on materials from Rostovka site

This paper contains the research results of age/gender data and inventory from the Rostovka burial site (Krotovo culture, Middle Bronze Age) in the south of Western Siberia. It was investigated in the middle of the 1960s by prominent Siberian archaeologist V.I. Matyushchenko. The remarkable archaeological material was found. The site immediately attracted the attention of scientific community and, as a result, Rostovka site became well-known even before the publication of the materials. However, the research is currently ongoing. The cultural attribution of Rostovka as the site of the Krotovo culture was crucial. Worthy of note is the significant militarization of the people who left this burial site. Among the burials, a number of women's burials containing weapons or items of dual hunting-military use as well as the burials of armed children were found. The research provides a description of the funeral rite and burial inventory. A number of women and children's burials is noted to contain the remains of bronze casting equipment and foundry waste. The presence of foundry equipment in the women and children's burials is not a unique phenomenon for the Krotovo culture; this was also traced at the burial sites of Sopka-2 and Tartas-1. Apparently, property and social differentiation are presented in the society of the Krotovo culture. The population strata are distinguished, all society members, regardless of their gender and age, are involved in the specific types of prestigious technology and in the military sector. The presence of the children's burials indicates that this status was inherited.