between the stones were filled with earth.172 The stone structures were 3 to 10.5 m in length and they were centrally placed within a low barrow that rose no more than 1.5 m above the plain and ranged from 6 m to 20 m in diameter. On the circumference of one platform was a stone stela, depicting a human form – the lower part of a face, a pair of arms, and a loincloth.The dead were placed on either their left or their right side, in a tightly flexed position with no particular orientation. According the excavators, the ceramics show north Caucasian affinities.

THE NORTHERN CAUCASUS

The North Caucasian Culture

Rectangular pit graves situated beneath a barrow of earth or stone are widespread throughout the northern Caucasus.The best evidence comes from the cemetery of Stanica Suvorovskaia, in the middle Kuban basin, where pits averaged about 2 m in length and 1 m in width, though significantly smaller ones were also found.173 Most were single inhumations, with the dead invariably placed on their backs in an extended position, sometimes on a reed litter (as suggested by soil discolouration), with their heads pointing in any number of directions except east. Children were accorded the same funerary rites as adults, and were occasionally buried with them. Pit graves have also been found at Ust’ Dshegutinsk Barrow 23 (grave 3),Gatyn Kale Barrows 33 and 35,Chirkei Barrow 4, and at Miatli.These barrows, especially the one from Ust’Dshegutinskü, are on the whole larger than those from Stanica Suvorovskaia, but in every other respect they belong to the same funerary tradition.

Variants on the rectangular pit graves have a round, oval, or irregular plan. Like the rectangular graves, these too were common, but why they had the different outline – whether it was intentional, the result of carelessness, or even perhaps done for taphonomic reasons – is unclear.174 These variant rectangular pit graves are attested at Cholodnorodnikovsk, near Stanica Suvorovskaia, in a cluster in the central northern Caucasus – Kishpek Barrow 3 (grave 4), Kyzburun III (grave 4), and Lechinkai Barrow 7 (grave 4) – and further east in Dagestan, with several at Miatli.

Pit graves were also stepped – a smaller pit within a larger pit – to reach greater depths and to seal the tomb more effectively.175 The lowest pit averaged about 2 x 1 m across the edge and was about 1 m deep.This construction promoted conditions that were good for preservation.At Stanica Suvorovskaia,

172Bertram 2003: 83.

173Nechitailo 1979. Bertram 2003: tables 2 and 3 for a list of the relevant Middle Bronze Age tombs.

174Bertram 2003: map 4.

175Bertram 2003: table 8.

for instance, Barrow 11 (grave 11) had a reed litter covering the skeleton in the lowest pit and the litter, in turn, was sealed with oak logs. Stones were also used as reinforcements, and occasionally as capstones (Barrows 5 and 17).176 Variations of this mode of construction were also found in Barrows 7 (grave 2), 13 (grave 9), 16 (grave 5), and 5 (graves 2 and 7), which used timber to roof the lower pit.As for the standard pit graves, skeletons were found in the supine position or, rarely, on their sides or with knees drawn up.

Red ochre was very much part of the north Caucasian funerary rite. It was sprinkled liberally on the corpse, or concentrated on individual parts, especially the feet, legs, and skull.The deceased were mostly aligned north–south, and the great majority were single burials. Barrow 17 (grave 15) at Stanica Suvorovskaia is unusual in having two anatomically articulated skeletons, a male and a female.177 Barrows with no grave-pits are relatively rare in the northern Caucasus, with the stone barrow at Masuk being an exception: a skeleton was found extended on its back within a stone-lined area, head pointing to the west.178

Catacomb Tombs

We encounter a different concept of burial with the catacomb tombs, which were prevalent in the northern Caucasus, especially in the lower Kuban region.179 Far fewer catacomb tombs have been recorded in the southern Caucasus, where, by comparison, they were not as well developed and mostly dated to the Middle Bronze Age. Catacomb tombs basically comprise a shaft and chamber connected to each other through a porthole and a ramp. They display variations in plan, which Trifonov has studied in detail (Figure 7.27).180 The most common and earliest type has a trapezoidal or rectangular shaft that led to chamber of similar plan; occasionally the burial chamber was ovalshaped. Shafts were up to 2.7 m in length and 1.5 m in width, though many had smaller dimensions. Some shafts were quite shallow, no more than 1 m in depth, whereas others reach depths of 6.5 m. The access hole to the chamber varied in shape – round, oval, semi-circular, or arc-shaped – and the size was quite restrictive. At times the hole was no more than 40 cm high, suggesting that the placement of the deceased must have required some manoeuvring. Skeletons were generally found facing the entrance in a tightly flexed position with arms stretched along their sides or with hands on their knees; occasionally the dead were placed on their backs. Skeletons, especially those of children, were sprinkled liberally with red ochre, and were found in a matrix that contained charcoal, chalk and animal bones.

176Nechitailo 1979.

177Nechitailo 1979: 80.

178Korenevskii 1990: 30–31. Bertram 2003: 30.

179Bertram 2003: map 9.

180Trifonov 1991.

The second type in Trifonov’s classification has a rectangular shaft with rounded corners and an oval-shaped chamber.The deceased was again found in a flexed position, though some chambers had disarticulated skeletons whose hand and foot bones received special attention through their parallel alignment near the pelvis or chest area. Another type (Trifonov’s third) approximates a bean-shape in plan.The shaft varies in shape from rectangular through round to curved, and can reach a depth of up to 12 m. There is no ramp connecting the shaft to the chamber, now generally semi-circular in plan with a vaulted ceiling. More often than not, the floor of the chamber was lower than that of the shaft, by about 1 m. In such cases, a few steps from the shaft led down to it. In most catacomb-type tombs, access to the chamber was sealed with wood. Skeletons were generally found on their right sides in a flexed position; the skull and feet, and occasionally the hands and chest, were stained with red ochre. Chunks of charcoal were also fairly common, in both the shaft and the chamber, suggesting some type of burial ritual. Some of the catacombs also had disarticulated skeletons. In these cases, the long bones were placed parallel to each other either on the rib cage or on the pelvis.The last of Trifonov’s catacomb types has a long and narrow shaft, which abutted a semi-circular chamber. Skeletons in these tombs were extended on their backs.

The greatest concentration of catacomb tombs is found at Stanica Suvorovskaia, in the lower Kuban, with fewer tombs attested at the cemeteries of Cholodnorodnikovsk and Ust’ Dshegutinsk.181 In the Kabardino-Balkaria region, catacomb graves have been found at Siltrak and Kishpek.The example from Siltrak is unusual for the three chambers connected to the shaft. Collectively they housed six skeletons, all lying extended on their backs.182 In Dagestan, two cemeteries (Velikent I–III and Manas) have attested catacomb tombs, some with substantial chambers, up to 6 m in diameter. These were collective cemeteries – Velikent I,Tomb 68 had forty-eight skulls – and they were used over a long period of time, dating to the Early and Middle Bronze Ages.183 It seems, too, that children were accorded their own resting place, as is shown by Tomb 12.

Stone Cist Tombs

The northern Caucasus is also the homeland of rectangular stone cist tombs. In the southern Caucasus they became popular during the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, and occur very rarely during the Middle Bronze Age.184 In the earlier millennium, however, they are widespread in Dagestan: at Bel’ty,

181Nechitailo 1979.

182Batchaev 1984.

183Gadzhiev et al. 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000.

184Apart from a single example at Mtskheta (Tomb 159), they are found in Armenia, Bertram 2003: 86, map 20.