BURIAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE LATE NEOLITHIC CEMETERY AVTODROM-1 IN NORTH-WESTERN BARABA: ARCHAEOLOGICAL SPECIFICS AND ISSUES OF INTERPRETATION

Abstract

The Late Neolithic of the Middle Irtysh-Barabinsk region is presented by the Artyn culture (mid of the IVth — first half of the Vth millenary BC). The “Artyn” population’s burial practice is reflected in the materials from Protoka, Vengerovo-2A, Ust-Tatrtas-2, Avtodrom-1 cemeteries. The specifics of the Avtodrom-1 burial construction correlate with the other cemeteries of the series, they all have a common burial pit, storied arrangement of remains in the pit, covering with small soil mound, surrounded with an unclosed ditch. Morphologically, the burial constructions are similar to the dwellings with ditches known from the Late Neolithic materials in the Middle Irtysh River (the Artyn culture) and Surgut Ob River region (the Bystrino culture). The specifics of the Avtodrom-1 burial constructions and other cemeteries of this typological group allow suggesting the following order of rituals: creation of the main bowl-shaped pit and pitches around it; erection of a burial construction on the ground with a thick sod-soil covering; burials with partial covering of the pit with soil at each level, following crash of the ground construction which made a small hill. Historically, this is one of the most ancient manifestations of kurgan burial tradition with semantical symmetry — dwelling-burial, with sacral burial surface emphasized in relief. This marks the Artyn culture cemeteries apart the necropolis of other Neolithic cultures of Southern Siberia with their in-soil mostly individual inhumations. Theoretically, this tradition is connected with clan groups who buried in individual tombs.