Medieval cremations in the Kuznetsk depression (typology and chronology)

The paper describes experience in typological classification and the study of cremations dating to the 5th-14th centuries discovered during excavations of burial sites in the Kuznetsk Depression in the Upper Ob region. It summarizes the information on identified cases of human cremation in medieval cemeteries. The paper offers criteria for classification of cremated human remains and singles out three groups and 13 types of funerary cremation rites. It also defines the periods when each identified type was practiced and performs their comparative analysis. It was found that throughout the studied period cremation on a pyre with subsequent burial of remains is the predominant group of cremation in terms of the cases identified, while two other cremation groups, i.e. cremation at the burial place, and mixed cases (at the burial place and on a pyre), emerged and were used locally predominantly in the High Middle Ages.