In the territory of Donbass there was a metallurgical center. This is also confirmed by the finds in Donetsk catacomb burials of stone beater, which were used to crush ore before washing and smelting. In the inventory of the catacomb culture, objects from bronze are presented: leaf-shaped knives, axes with eyes, awls and bronze jewelry, but most of the implements were still made of stone and bone. In the Dmitrov mound No. 6 in the Zaporizhzhya region, at the entrance to the burial chamber, a wooden catacombs cart was found with a fully preserved wheel 5 thousand years old. A two-wheeled wagon with a preserved wheel 0.6 m in diameter is known from the Tyagunova Mogila catacomb burial in the Zaporizhzhya village of Maryevka. In the burial complex of Ulan IV of the West Manych catacomb culture in the Rostov Region, a four-wheeled wagon made in the XXIII century BC was discovered. e.
Skulls of the catacomb stage are distinguished by brachycrania and a higher arch than in the pit culture. Male skulls are characterized by a high mesocrane skull, highly profiled broad face, wide cheekbones, high transference, very large protrusion of the nasal bones. In the Dnieper steppe there are three craniological options:
– brachycranic – does not find analogues of the Bronze Age.
– mesocrane – reveals a distant resemblance to the skulls of the Afanasyev culture of Altai.
– dolichocranial – similar to the culture groups of Noua and Srubnaya.
If we talk about the catacomb culture, apparently, the rite of neutralization of the dead, the dismemberment of dead bodies to neutralize their harm to the living, was not only inherited from the pits, but also received further development. So, among the catacomb tribes, the custom of decapitation (separation of the head), which can be considered on the example of the Middle Don catacomic culture, has spread.
Findings of burials with separated skulls are recorded throughout the distribution area of the Middle Don catacomb culture from the Seversky Donets to the Don-Volga interfluve (Khoper River).On the territory of the Middle Don, among more than 400 burials of the Middle Don catacomb culture, five burials with skeletons are known, in which the separation of the skull of the buried is reliably recorded.
All considered burials were accompanied by ocher, which was located both in separate burial places and completely covered the skeleton of the buried. In each burial, ocher, as it were, emphasizes the special ritual significance of the objects it accompanies. This type of “special burials” is characterized by a variety of accompanying equipment. The set of equipment in each burial is individual, but a common feature for all burials is its originality. Almost all decapitated burials were accompanied by animal bones. In addition, two fortunetelling bones are a particularly interesting find. According to some researchers, the “dice”, but rather the fortunetellers, that is, the buried was a representative of the priestly group. “Bones with signs” or dice, namely fortunetelling bones, originally had cult character, were the prerogative of a certain class associated with the performance of priestly functions. Among the cult objects is the flute, as well as the bone hairpin (Vlasovka 12/3). The dead already have artificial deformation of the skulls. According to A.T. Sinyuka, all burials where a burial ritual of burial was used, indicate the high social status of the deceased. Only prominent representatives of society and their immediate circle could claim burial places under the mound. But even from this series of burials, according to special signs, decapitated burials stand out. Researchers believe that it is possible to assert with sufficient confidence that decapitated burials are not specifics of a particular culture of the catacomb community, but most likely have a supercultural character, reflecting the complex social structure of tribes carrying catacomb traditions. Found the burial of a teenage girl. Stuffed with boulders. Weighing hundreds of kilograms, which speaks of considerable fear inspired by such a young creature. But faith in the “evil” deceased seems obvious and proven.
Srubnaya culture
The cultural-historical community is an ethnocultural association of the late Bronze Age (XVIII – XII centuries BC, according to other estimates – XVI – XII centuries BC. Some scholars, like S. Berestnev I. that the timber culture existed before IX BC, common in the steppe and forest-steppe bands of Eastern Europe between the Dnieper and the Urals, with individual monuments in Western Siberia and the North Caucasus, was originally identified as a culture in 1901—1903 by Russian archaeologist V. A. Gorodtsov, but in the 1970s N. Ya. Merpert and E.N. Chernykh drew attention to local differences within culture and introduced into scientific use the concept of “carcass cultural-historical community.” It is represented by the monuments of Pokrovskaya (XVIII – XV centuries BC) and Berezhnovsky-Mayevskaya (XVII – XII centuries BC) timber cultures, which are settlements, necropolises, workshops, mines, treasures and single finds. Dwellings – dugouts, half dugouts and land. Necropolises are represented by barrows and soil burial grounds. In the kurgan stratigraphy, the carcass burial sites occupy an upper position in relation to the graves of the pit and catacomb communities. The ceremony included the burial of the deceased in pits or wooden log cabins in a bent position, on the left side, of the hands in front of the face. Cases of cremation are also known. Funeral equipment is represented by jagged and canned vessels, less commonly metal products.Changes in climatic conditions, depletion of natural resources and overpopulation led to a sharp reduction in the population and cultural transformation of the tribes of the Srubnaya community. The pioneer of the carcass culture is V. A. Gorodtsov, who in the years 1901—1903, in the process of studying the barrow antiquities of the Seversky Donets, turned his attention to curved burials in wooden frames – log houses. In accordance with the design features of the burial structure, the culture he allocated was called the carcass. The concept of the origin of culture from the Poltavkin monuments of the Volga region and its migration at a late stage was developed in the mid-1950s by O. A. Krivtsova-Grakova. In the 1970s, N. Ya. Merpert and E.N. Chernykh turned their attention to local differences within the logging culture, but the identification of individual local variants or cultures, in their opinion, was problematic at that time. Later, in the course of scientific research, a number of researchers turned their attention to the anthropological, chronological and cultural differences of the steppe and forest-steppe monuments, which confirmed the hypothesis of local differences in the environment of the Srubnaya culture. N. Ya. Merpert and E.N. Chernykh put into scientific use the concept of “felling cultural-historical community”, which reflects its cultural heterogeneity. In the mid-1970s, N.K. Kachalova identified the Berezhnovsky type of monuments based on the materials of the Lower Volga, and I.F. materials of the Mayevsky burial ground (Dnepropetrovsk) – Mayevsky type of monument]. In the 1990s, N. M. Malov and O. V. Kuzmina, on the basis of materials from the Pokrovsky burial ground, single out a separate Pokrov culture. The common features of the funeral rite of the Berezhnovsky and Mayev types of monuments allowed V.V. Otroshchenko to combine both types into a separate Berezhnov-Mayev culture as part of the carcass cultural and historical community of the Late Bronze Age. Yu. M. Brovender singled out the Stepanovsky type of monuments in the environment of the Berezhnov-Mayev carcass culture. Thus, among the carcass cultural-historical community of the Late Bronze Age, the Pokrov and Berezhnov-Mayev carcass cultures and the Stepan type of monuments are distinguished, which reflects its cultural heterogeneity and formation features. The problem of the origin of the log house culture (later the log house cultural and historical community) was posed by V.A. Gorodtsov in 1907, almost immediately after the discovery of burial mounds in log cabins on Seversky Donets. The researcher formed the migration concept of origin, which was finalized in the mid-1950s by O. A. Krivtsova-Grakova. The researcher believed that the carcass culture was formed in the Volga region on the basis of the Poltava culture of the Middle Bronze Age. One of the variants of this hypothesis is the concept of the Volga-Ural cultural genesis of V. S. Bochkarev. Migration theory has not received absolute support in the scientific community. N. N. Cherednichenko spoke in favor of the autochthonous origin of the carcass culture. In his opinion, all local variants of the