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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.