Search

The paper presents for the first time the materials of 4 burials from the Sintashta culture necropolis in the Orenburg Cis-Urals, where the Seima-Turbino inventory was found. The studied burials of the burial ground nearby Beryozovaya Gora were carried out according to the Seima-Turbino rite. Two of them are characterized by merging of cultural traditions. Appearance of bearers of the Seima-Turbino trasncultural phenomenon in the Orenburg Cis-Urals can be confidently associated with the migration impulse from the Western Siberia. This is evidenced by archaeological, anthropological data and the results of the analysis of light isotopes (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N). Representatives of the Sintashta culture and bearers of the Seima-Turbino phenomenon were buried on the same burial site with the burial rite characteristics of both groups, so in this case we can talk about their peaceful coexistence. It is possible that the bearers of the Seima-Turbino phenomenon have incorporated into the Sintashta community and have kept their social status. The period of intercultural contacts, according to the radiocarbon dating of the materials from the site under discussion, falls on the XX–XVIII centuries BC. The paper also introduces for the scientific use the unpublished AMS dates of the Sintashta complexes from the Orenburg Cis-Urals.

The dolomitic calcrete profiles from the Boyevaya Gora and Tuyembetka sections, both represented by the uppermost Permian (Changhsignian) red continental deposits from the Orenburg Cis-Urals, were studied by sedimentological, mineralogical, and geochemical methods. Сalcrete from the Boyevaya Gora section formed on sandy-silty flat alluvial fan/sheetflood sediments, under the setting of slow subsidence of the territory. Calcrete from the Tuyembetka section developed on relatively elevated mudflat/playa under a stable tectonic regime. The subtropical semi-arid climate was reconstructed based on the geochemical indices from the illuvial paleosol horizons. The presence of anhydrite in the calcrete profiles indicates the saline conditions of soil waters. Cryprocrystalline idiomorphic grains (1–3 μm) and the low Mn2+ partitioning ratio between the Ca- and Mg-position in dolomite (0.7–1.8) suggest its primary origin and a rapid crystallization from the soil waters. Free organic radicals and phosphorus-associated anion centers in the pedogenic dolomite identified by the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) analysis assume a biogenic contribution to the formation of dolomite. Fossilized fungal hyphae and bacteriomorphs along with the fragments of plant roots were detected by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in both calcretes. The bacterial origin of dolomite from the studied calcretes was discussed.

In the paper, the results of the excavation of two burial mounds of the cemetery near the village of Kamenka in West Orenburg region are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. In the burial mound No. 1, a stone ring structure with pottery vessels confined to it was identified, in the center of which there was a pit - a cenotaph. The complex was abandoned by the population of the Srubnaya culture. Three burials were found in the burial mound No. 2. Two main graves have an early Srubnaya cultural affiliation. For women's burial has been characterized with features of the Pokrovka culture. It contained a rich inventory, including a rare finding for the region – the maxillofacial pendant. Male burial on the basis of the main features may be defined as Berezhnovka-Maevka culture. Judging by the data of radiocarbon analysis, in this necropolis the Berezhnovka type burial was accomplished somewhat earlier than the Pokrovka type burial. Inlet burial of the burial mound refers to the final period of the Bronze Age and tends to the Chernogorovskaya culture on the basis of the main features of the funeral rite.