Miatli and Gental.185 Aligned mostly along the north-west–south-east axis, the walls of these cist tombs were built using the dry-stone technique, often combining large and small stones.They measured 3.4 m and 1.15 m in length and 1.6 m and 0.85 m across the width. Cist tombs were used for both individual and collective interments.While the individual burials were mostly flexed, placed on either side, in the collective tombs bones were scattered, making it difficult to estimate the number of individuals. But it seems clear from a skull count that Bel’ty Tomb 18 had at least fourteen burials and Gatyn Tomb 7 had twelve.

Round and oval-shaped stone-built tombs are also found in the north-east Caucasus, in Dagestan. The cemetery at Ginchi has yielded the most, fifteen such tombs in all, with other examples found at Choch, Galgalatli, and Gatyn Kale.186 Their occurrence at Metsamor (Tombs 73 and 79) and Kobala (Tomb 25) are amongst the rare instances in the southern Caucasus. Most of the Ginchi tombs are round and they range in diameter from 1.4 m to 2.5 m. Their walls are preserved to a height of no more than 1.7 m.187 The walls were built of large, fl at stones laid horizontally with a fill of smaller stones; floors had a beaten clay surface. Niches in the walls most likely accommodated wooden beams for reinforcement. Apart from two children’s graves, each of which contained a single skeleton, these tombs were invariably used for collective burials.The minimum number of individuals was often difficult to determine owing to the fragmented and scattered nature of the bones. Moreover, it appears that bones from previous interments were often removed to create space for new interments in what were relatively small tombs.As many as fifty individuals were buried in Ginchi Tomb 5, and thirty-four were laid to rest in Ginchi Tomb 2. Most other tombs, however, contained far fewer burials. In the few instances where the skeletons were undisturbed, it seems that the dead were laid to rest in a flexed position or stretched out on their backs.

Wooden Graves

Tomb chambers were also built entirely from wood. One type was freestanding and set into a deep pit.Two survived in Utamish Barrows 1 and 3 in Dagestan. Both barrows were constructed of split logs, with smooth surfaces facing the interior of the chamber.188 Considerable woodworking skill and craftsmanship went into the construction of these wooden tombs.The planks of Grave 16’s chamber, within Konstantinovka Barrow 2, were fitted together using the tongue-and-groove technique.189 Four wide and well-split planks (1.5 x 0.75 x 0.15 m) cover the chamber, which contained the skeleton of a 40–50-year-old

185Bertram 2003: 67, maps 13–14.

186Bertram 2003: map 18.

187Gadzhiev 1969.

188Kotovich et al. 1980.

189Markovin 1999: 150.