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The authors analyze a collection of unique items – disc plates, pendants and beads made of mollusk shells of the Turbinella pyrum species inhabiting the Indian Ocean, which was collected at Mazunino-type burial grounds in the Middle Kama region. The objective of this work is to determine the routes of their arrival in the Kama region. In India, mollusks of this species have been produced since the 3rd millennium BC and until the present day, and their shells have been used to craft various items, including disc plates. In various periods shell items were common for Mesopotamia, foothills of the Himalayas, the Pamirs, Kazakhstan and the steppe belt of Eurasia. They arrived in the Kama region in the 3rd – 4th cc. from Central Asia along the northern branch of the Great Silk Road. The results of a study of the plates made of Turbinella pyrum shells from Mazunino burial grounds have allowed the authors to approximately localize the production of these items in specialized centers in India

The paper features an analysis of hooked clasps (HC) from Tarasovo burial ground located in the Middle Kama region (134 items from 81 graves). The HC are designed for fastening belts with a hook and a loop used in clothing (headwear, belts and shoes) and military outfit. The HC are dated 2nd century B.C. – 2nd century A.D. The author classifies the items 8 types and 17 subtypes evolving with time. The distribution area of the HC is the Piany Bor cultural and historical communion: Tarasovo (Cheganda), Kara-Abyz and Khudyakovo cultures. A special HC distribution region was the Sura-Volga interfluve. The HC coexisting in different time periods with fibulae, syulgamas, buckles and epaulet-shaped clasps demonstrate the originality and development of the clothing complex of the Piany Bor period. The author concludes that the tradition of manufacture and use of HC represents an original phenomenon of the local Finno-Permian culture unparalleled within the Eurasian space.

The article represents the concluding part a series of works by the authors on the dating of burials from the unique 1st–5th century Tarasovo burial ground in the Middle Kama region. The first article was dedicated to the chronology of graves dating back to the early Nyrgynda stage (1st–2nd centuries) of this monument. The second and third publications feature an analysis of the chronology of 3rd–5th century male burials. The present work describes 160 female burials of 3rd–5th centuries analyzed from the perspective of chronology. Similarly to previous research, the three main methods employed by the authors of this research include those of formal typology, cultural stratigraphy and the nearest neighbour method. A total of 12 chronological groups were singled out as a result: 1st half of 3rd century A.D. (group 1); 2nd half of 3rd century (2); 3rd century (3); 4th century (group 4); 2nd half of 3rd–4th centuries (5а); 3rd–4th centuries (5б); 1st half of 5th century (6); 2nd half of 5th century (7); 5th century (group 8); 2nd half of 4th–5th centuries (9); 4th–5th centuries (10); 2nd half of 3rd–5th centuries

The article focuses on the chronological attribution of male graves from the late Mazunino stage of the Tarasovo burial ground in the Middle Kama area and is sequel to an earlier article about dating of the early Nyrgynda stage (1st – 2nd centuries) of the same site. We used here three main methods of research: formal typology, cultural stratigraphy and the nearest neighbor method. Eighty-six male graves of the 3rd – 5th centuries have been analyzed, of which we singled out 12 groups: 1st half of the 3rd century AD (group 1), 2nd half of the 3rdcentury. AD (group 2), the 3rd century (group 3); 1st half of the 4th century (group 4); 2nd half of the 3rd – 4th century (group 5); 3rd quarter of the 4th century (group 6); 4th quarter of the 4th century (group 7); 2nd half of the 4th century (group 8); 2nd half of the 4th – 5th century (group 9); the 4sup>th – 5th centuries (group 10); 2nd half of the 3rd – 5th centuries (group 11) and the 3rd– 5th centuries (group 12). In this article we consider the last 6 groups; the first six were examined in our previous paper. The analysis of this evidence allowed distinguishing several migration waves of militarized foreign cultural groups to the Lower and Middle Kama and the neighboring Volga region in the second half of th 3rd – 4th centuries, whose origins, characteristics and importance are still to be studied. Artifacts from the 3rd – 5th centuries female graves of the Tarasovo burial ground will be studied separately.

The article focuses on the chronological attribution of male graves from the late Mazunino stage of the Tarasovo burial ground and is a sequel to an earlier article about dating of the early Nyrgynda stage (1st – 2nd centuries) of the same site. The three main methods employed in this research include those of formal typology, cultural stratigraphy and the nearest neighbor method. Eighty-six male graves of the third-fifth centuries were analyzed, with 12 identified as a result: first half of the 3rd c. AD (group 1), second half of the 3rd c. AD (2); 3rd c. (3); first half of the 4th c. (group 4); second half of the 3rd – 4th c. (5); third quarter of the 4th c. (6); fourth quarter of the 4th c. (group 7); second half of the 4th c. (8); second half of the 4th – 5th c. (9); 4th – 5th cc. (10); second half of the 3rd – 5th cc. (11) and 3rd – 5th cc. (12). This article minutes investigates the first six groups, while the rest will be covered in the next publication. Artifacts form the third – fifth century female graves of the Tarasovo burial ground will be studied separately.

The article focuses on the chronology of graves dating back to the early (1st – 2nd centuries AD) – Nyrgynda stage of the 1st – 5th century Tarasovo burial ground, a classical monument attributed to the Cheganda culture of the Pyany Bor cultural-historical community. Cultural stratigraphy is applied as a research method. Artifacts from the early stage were correlated for 37 male and 102 female complexes, separately. The analysis of grave goods from male burials showed the following three chronological groups, that can be distinguished at the Nyrgynda stage: 1st century (group 1), 2nd century (group 2) and 1st – 2nd centuries AD (group 3). The goods from female graves are more representative and various, so three more groups with shorter chronological lives can be singled out: the fi rst half of the 2nd century (group 2а), the second half of the 2nd century (group 2б) and the 1st – fi rst half of the 2nd century (group 4). Certainly, the suggested chronology leaves room for any eventual corrections subject to new findings.

The studies by the outstanding archaeologist V.F. Gening in the field of the Volga-Ural antiquities of the turn of the eras, namely the Glyadenovo-Pyanoborye community of the Kama region are analyzed. In this region, V.F. Gening supervised field research of a number of settlements and burial grounds. He singled out a number of cultures that had previously been considered local variants, namely the Osinovo, Garevaya, Azelino and Mazunino cultures, whose status within this community, as well dating are still debatable. The cultural and historical assessment of the unique monuments such as bone beds by him is regarded as incorrect by the author. V.F. Gening attributed them as burial grounds, whereas today they are viewed as traces of human sacrifice.

The studies by the outstanding archaeologist V.F. Gening in the field of the Volga-Ural antiquities of the turn of the eras, namely the Glyadenovo-Pyanoborye community of the Kama region are analyzed. In this region, V.F. Gening supervised field research of a number of settlements and burial grounds. He singled out a number of cultures that had previously been considered local variants, namely the Osinovo, Garevaya, Azelino and Mazunino cultures, whose status within this community, as well dating are still debatable. The cultural and historical assessment of the unique monuments such as bone beds by him is regarded as incorrect by the author. V.F. Gening attributed them as burial grounds, whereas today they are viewed as traces of human sacrifice.