Ritual structures at the Kuraika burial ground (Altai Mountains)

In 2022, a team from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the SB RAS continued archaeological excavations at the Kuraika burial ground (Altai Mountains, Kosh-Agach District) of the 3rd-5th centuries AD. Four burials, three objects of ritual purpose, and one cenotaph were explored. Wood samples from the burial structures were taken for analysis and new materials were added to the anthropological collection. Evidence accumulated over the years has made it possible to conduct a comprehensive study aimed at identifying specific features offuneral rite and planigraphic patterns in the location of objects. Two planigraphic models have been identified at the same burial ground: 1 - parallel chains along the terrace and river channel (along NE-SW); 2 - chains of objects perpendicular to the river channel (along WNW-ESE) down the slope. The complex according to the first model included ritual structures and cenotaphs, which suggests that the population of the Kurai Depression had some ideas about general structure and composition of a basic architectural group. In terms of structural features, ritual objects practically did not differ from burial objects, but did not contain traces of cultic activities (pits, hearths, spots of calcination). For the first time at the Kurayka burial ground, a composite belt made of iron plates, clips, and pendant rings was found in the cenotaph studied in 2022. Similar objects are known among the evidence from the Bulan-Koba burial complexes of the Central Altai. This fact testifies to the spread of a new fashion in decorating clothes among the nomads of the Altai, which however was not related to militarization and separation of castes of nomadic warriors.