BRONZE AGE BARROWS IN THE PROVALSKAYA STEPPE

This paper presents the results of the author’s archaeological research, conducted in the 70s of the 20th century in the south of Donbass, Sverdlovsk district of the Luhansk region, Ukraine, and in the Gukovo district of the Rostov region, Russian Federation. The paper represents the results obtained during the excavations of 2 burial mounds, in which 39 burials of various archaeological cultures were discovered: dated from the Early to Late Bronze Age. Both mounds were erected in the Yamnaya culture period; however, the abundance of inlet burials was noted. The excavations showed that both mounds represented small burial necropolises, which served as a sacred place for the local pastoralist population for a long time.