Excavation of the tagar barrows at Sagayskaya protoka 1,2, 5 and 12

The publication presents materials from the excavations of 6 burial mounds belonging to four separate Early Iron Age burial grounds. The investigations were carried out in the Askizsky District of the Republic of Khakassia as part of rescue works in the construction site of the second railway track at the “Chartykovsky - Kamyshta” section. Most of the burials were looted in antiquity. Inlet burials related to Tesinskaya archaeological culture were made in the barrow of an isolated mound of Sagayskaya protoka 5. In the course of the railway construction in the mid-20th century, the earthen barrows and underground stone structures were destroyed (burial site Sagayskaya protoka 1). Nevertheless, some burials have survived intact. This made it possible to establish the details of the funeral rituals and to correlate the archaeological sites with the Podgorny and Saragash stages of the Tagar culture. The Podgorny burials (VII-VI centuries BC) are characterized by arrangement of individual graves. The dead people were placed in stone boxes set in ground pits, accompanied by meat food and grave goods. In the surviving graves, bronze knives, a handle metal stap, mirrors, awls, beads, pendants made of animal teeth and the claw of a bird ofprey were found. The vessels are standard in shape and ornament. Rare finds include miniature combs (less than 2 cm long) decorated with solar symbols. The Saragash stage is represented by grave 4 in the Sagayskaya protoka 5 barrow containing the burials of 9 adults. The burial is tentatively dated to the V-IV centuries BC.