Revisiting Reconstruction of the Early Nomadic Social Structure: Children’s Burials (Southern Urals, 6th – 3rd Centuries BC)

The study concerns the children as one of the social and demographic age groups that formed the early nomads‘ social structure. Burials of two chronological periods were studied: Sauromatian (late 6th – first half of 5th centuries BC) and Early Sarmatian (late 5th – 3rd centuries BC). The basis of the study was the materials of 26 kurgan burial grounds that contained anthropological identifications. The sample consisted of 139 individuals‘ remains from 125 grave pits. Then, an analysis of the grave goods was carried out according to the following age categories: 1) younger children’s age group (from birth to 2 years); 2) older children’s age group (from 2 to 10 years old); 3) “teenagers” (from 10 to 15 years old). The study has demonstrated that the Sauromatian sample was characterized by a small number of buried infants and toddlers; the bulk of the buried children were from 2 to 15 years old, and the group of “teenagers” was quite significant. The Early Sarmatian sample, on the contrary, demonstrated a significant number of infants among the deceased children, the number of burials of children from 2 to 10 years of age just slightly exceeded the number of infants. The group of “teenagers” was relatively small. The distribution of grave goods according to age groups in the Sauromatian and Early Sarmatian samples cannot be compared due to the small number of Sauromatian burials with the determination of the age-at-death. In general, in the Sauromatian burials, gender-linked items appeared only from adolescence (after 10 years). In the early Sarmatian sample, two main socially significant age groups of children were distinguished: from 0 to 5 years and from 5 to 15 years old. The first is characterized by the absolute predominance of gender-neutral accompanying grave goods and a high proportion of burials without surviving artefacts. The second group reflects the process of gender and age socialization.