A new early Saltovo burial and memorial site on the Samara Bend

Excavations of the Vinnovka cemetery on the Samara Bend in 2015 revealeda funeral and memorial site made up of graves covered with a rubble limestone structure.Most finds found among the rubble represented traces of funeral rites, e. g. bones of theungulate and birds, and pottery items such as an intact pot and potsherds. A bead and anarrowhead were recorded near burials and were, apparently, linked to them. Two of thegraves identified belonged to children; the third grave belonged to a young man. The maleburial contained a belt buckle, a knife, a bag with a fire-steel set as well as weapons suchas arrowheads and a quiver hook, a dagger and a sabre. The site as a whole dates to the8th century while the warrior grave is dated to the first half of the 8th century.