Completion of Studies at the Ust-Tartas-2 Burial Ground in the Baraba Forest-Steppe

Abstract

In the field season of 2021, the studies at the Ust-Tartas-2 site were completed. They were based on geophysical monitoring; excavations were carried out using the method of continuous opening of the object area. In five years, 2250 sq. m have been unearthed. A sanctuary of the Early Neolithic Baraba culture had a system ofpits, ditch, joint pits which among other things contained art objects, and pits intended for keeping and fermenting fish. Seventy nine burials have been studied (seven of the Artyn culture of the Final Neolithic, two of the Ust-Tartas culture of the Early Metal Age, fifty seven of the Odino culture of the Early and Advanced Bronze Age, eight of the Krotovo culture of the Advanced Bronze Age, one of the Iron Age, and four of unidentified time). During the excavations of 2021, the cultural layer revealed pottery fragments, various artifacts made of stone, clay, and bone, and two metal tools. Several utility pits with animal and fish bones also contained fragments of pottery mostly belonging to the Pit-Comb historical and cultural community of the Early Metal Age, as well as pottery of the Bronze Age, and Late and Early Neolithic. Two burials (No. 78 and 79) have been investigated; their location indicated the Odinov culture as the time of their creation. In the northwestern part of excavations, an object (No. 21) consisting of three oppositely directed (to the south, west and north) elongated oval pits, connected at the bases by one pit, has been discovered. Fish bones were in the southern and western pits. There are two interpretations of functional purpose of the object: 1) arched ditch bounding the Odinov part of the burial ground with a fish smokery cutting into it; 2) three-chamber fish smokery. A particularly significantfind of the field season was a bone sculpture of elk’s head, which did not clearly belong to any specific complex. According to the predominance of the pit-comb pottery of the Early Bronze Age in the cultural horizon, the sculpture may be related to this period.