Reconstruction of Landscapes and Paleoclimatic Conditions at the Early Middle Ages Cemeteries of the Southern Cis-Urals: Bustanai Burial Mounds and Birsk Burial Ground (Based on Palynological Data)

Interest in the palynological study of deposits of the cemeteries on the territory of Southern Cis-Urals was rare. Moreover, the results of such a few works have not been published. The purpose of this study was to restore paleoecological conditions at the time of the functioning of the Bustanai burial mounds and Birsk burial ground based on the results of palynological analysis. Bustanai burial mounds, numbering 63 barrows, is a part of the Bustanai archaeological complex. The settlement included in the complex is a fortified settlement of the Bakhmutino culture of the Early Middle Ages (3–7th centuries AD). The Birsk burial ground, numbering 692 burials, is the most important site of the Early Middle Ages in the study area. In total, 15 samples were analyzed by the palynological method: 5 samples from barrow 45 at the Bustanai burial mounds and 10 samples from excavation 2 of the Birsk burial ground. The territory of the Birsk burial ground was a synanthropized edge of a coniferous-broad-leaved forest, and in the vicinity of the Bustanai burial mounds, floodplain willow forests were probably widespread. Thanks to comprehensive archaeological and palynological studies of two burial grounds and cultural layers that formed in the Early Middle Ages at a number of archaeological sites in the Southern Fore-Urals region, it was possible to establish zoning in the distribution of plant communities in this time. In the more northern regions at this time coniferous (pine) forests with an admixture of broadleaved species (Birsk settlement) and coniferous-deciduous forests (Birsk burial ground) grew. To the south (fortified settlement Ufa 2) broad-leaved and small-leaved broad-leaved forests with an admixture of conifers were widespread. In open areas, grasses, representatives of meadow forbs, and various synanthropic (ruderal and pasqual) plants grew. The climate of the Early Middle Ages was cooler and drier in the northern regions, temperate and more humid in the vicinity of Ufa. The gaps in the accumulation of palynological material discovered by us in the excavations of the Bustanai burial mounds and the Kara-Abyz settlement may also indicate a deterioration in climatic conditions within the study area in the Early Middle Ages.