Birsk and Kushnarenkovo Burial Grounds of the Early Middle Ages in the Light of New Field Researches

Abstract

The forest-steppe Urals is a special local region of the vast Eurasian space, where nomadic and semi-nomadic population penetrated from the steppe territories due to serious military, natural or political cataclysms in the steppe. In the middle of the 1st millennium, these processes especially intensified as a result of the revitalization of the steppe during the post-Gun and Turkic migrations, which led to the transformation of the ethnic map of the Southern Urals and the formation of a new poly-cultural population in the forest-steppe Urals. As a result of this mixing around the archaeological material of the first half and the middle of the 1st millennium AD. scientific discussions are still unfolding, both in relation to chronology and periodization and the origin of various groups of artifacts. The appearance of burial grounds, Birsk and Kushnarenkovo, is also a consequence of these events. The proposed publication introduces into scientific circulation new and interesting data obtained during the excavations of recent years.