Ocial stratificationof the Kislovodsk depression populationin the 5th-7th centuries based on materials from Klin-Yar 3 cemetery

The paper publishes results of the social analysis of male and female gravesfrom an early medieval cemetery of Klin-Yar 3 located near Kislovodsk. The burialofferings of 26 male and 26 female graves were studied by multivariate statistical methods(cluster and correspondence analysis). The study resulted in identifying four groups ofmale graves that differ in the burial offering sets. In social terms, the most representativegroup of males is characterized by features typical for elite (such as deformed skulls,deformation of some body parts caused by horse riding and a military mode of life). Maleindividuals from this group were buried in a special elite plot, which implies developmentof hereditary aristocracy in the period under discussion (the 5th - 7th centuries). In contrastto the male graves, female burials do not provide a clear idea on social stratification usingthe data of the multivariate statistical analysis.