The very scale of development of the Abashev metallurgy is also determined by the findings of the series of the Abashev metal, considered in the literature under the concept of “treasure”, which geographically gravitate to deposits in the Urals and Trans-Urals (Krasnoyarsk, Verkhne-Kizylsky, near Dolgaya Gora, etc.). Their finds do not go to the right bank of the Volga. Moreover, some of the “treasures” are hardly left directly by the Abashev population.Some of them (Galich, Korshunovsky, Morozovsky) may indicate not so much the direct resettlement of the Abashevites in the forest regions of the Volga region, but rather the spread of the Abashev metal to the more northern territories. This population built at first large two-chamber or multi-chamber, having a gable roof, slightly deepened into the mainland dwellings, and then large in area, also slightly deepened into the mainland, but already single-chamber buildings with an adjoining vestibule.
An abyssal burial rite with the construction of flattened embankments is characteristic of the Abashev population. There is an interval between the time of the burial and the construction of the embankment. A feature of the funeral rite of this population was the construction of ring (less often rectangular) extra-grave structures that limit a significant area around one or more graves. The presence of independent rectangular pillar structures around individual graves is sometimes noted. The funeral rite of the Abashev population is characterized by a varying degree of the cult of fire (burning of ground constructions, pouring of burning coal into the grave, etc.) and animal sacrifice (the position of parts or skins with head and legs). Grave pits are most often elongated-rectangular, sometimes have a wooden or stone decoration. The dead were laid on their backs with their legs extended or raised. The eastern and southeastern orientations of the dead are more common. The presence of dissected, partial, i.e., repeated burials, is noted. Finally, the complete absence of bones in a number of grave pits testifies to cenotaphs, which confirms the presence of some complex, yet incomprehensible funeral traditions among the Abashevites, which also brings them closer to the Hellenic tradition. Single burials are common. But in the outlying regions, especially in the zones of contacts with foreign cultural tribes, collective burials such as mass graves are frequent: Pepkinsky and Staro-Ardatovsky mounds in the Middle Volga region, I Yukalekulevsky mound in Bashkiria. For barrows, stone extra-grave structures not characteristic of other Abashev cultures are most characteristic. Only here the stone was widely used in the design of grave pits. In some cases, powerful bonfires were noted that burned over the grave pits after the burial. More often than in other territories, the presence of partial and repeated burials is recorded. The dead were laid on their backs elongated or with raised legs. There is no stability in the orientation of the dead.
Among the forms of ceramics, there are more bell-shaped bowls and fewer bell-shaped pots. Bell-shaped vessels here often have a significantly lower corolla height. Images of a meander and a swastika appear on the vessels. Dishes are also blackened or ground, traditional for Indo-Europeans.
Vessel from the State Historical Museum, Abashevskaya culture. Meander.
Temporal lobed rings
Differences are manifested even in small pointed rib vessels – the presence of a direct fall in the neck region from the inside is especially significant. In the decoration of vessels, meander and lobed patterns are much more often noted, the tradition of decorating their lower part with a drawn vertical herringbone, etc. In the Ural territory, rounded bracelets with non-closed blunt ends, metal overlays, plate plaques are common. The bracelets are spiral, and also from the time of the catacomb culture, temporal lobed rings have been used.
Only here, multi-turn small grooved pendants and metal beads are known. A significant set of metal tools and weapons. The outlined solution to the question of the origin and future fate of the Abashev population is also responsible for the approach to elucidating the ethnic group of this population. The denial of the genetic connection with the Abashevites of the preceding cultures of the Volga forest, as well as the lack of direct inheritance of the Abashev traits by the Finno-Ugric cultures of the early Iron Age of the Volga region, is a serious argument in favor of the denial of the Finno-Ugric ethnic group of the Abashevites. At the same time, the definition of their ethnic group as Indo-Iranian is becoming more and more obvious (for the first time such a point of view was expressed by A. Kh. Khalikov). This interpretation of the ethnic group of the Abashevites receives additional arguments in connection with new arguments in favor of the fact that the Abashevites, with their historical roots, development and further fate, are connected with the world of the masses of the population of the ancient, Srubnaya and Alakul cultural and historical communities, which are now more and more definitely viewed directly connection with the problem of the early history of the Indo-Europeans, and then their group of Indo-Iranian branches.
Andronovo culture
Andronovo culture (cultural-historical community) – the general name of a group of close archaeological cultures of the Bronze Age, covering in the XVII – IX centuries BC. e. Kazakhstan, Western Siberia, the western part of Central Asia, the South Urals, as well as Northwest China, Gansu province (article Bechter A.V., Khavrin S.V. Steppe bronzes from Gansu and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China and problems east line synchronization). People of this culture were called, already Huns or Hans, from a totem or a farna, a sacred animal, a gesya-swan. And from here came the name of the Gansi province. Here it is also necessary to recall the discovery of the Tarim mummies belonging to the Andronovo culture, according to the monuments of ceramics. A Swedish archaeologist excavated in 1939. there are almost a dozen mummies and about 200 artifacts. Bergman left a detailed description of his findings in a work entitled “Archaeological Researches in Sinkiang Especially the Lop-nor Region”. By the early 1990s, more than a thousand Nordic mummies had already been discovered in the Chinese province of Wapu, but in 1998 the Chinese government banned further excavations, apparently because of fears that even more striking evidence would be extracted the presence of Caucasians in ancient China. So the researchers in 1980 deep under the “sea of death” found the mummy of a beautiful girl, nicknamed the sleeping beauty Lulan. According to scientists, the remains of 3800 years. One of the famous Tocharian mummies, known as the “beautiful Loulan” and reconstruction. It belongs to a young Caucasian woman (high height 180 cm and strands of blond hair) and was found in 1980 in the vicinity of Loulan. Approximate age 3800 years. And what’s important, the extremely high growth of the dead men is 200cm tall, women 180cm tall.
In China, obviously, people of Andronovo culture founded the state of Shang-Yin, here are very interesting preliers in the manufacture of bronze cauldrons of shan-yin and