NEW MATERIALS OF BURIALS OF MEDIEVAL ELITE IN THE URSKY ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT
The article presents the results of excavations at the Biryul burial mound in the Ur Urban Archaeological Microdistrict on the territory of the Kuznetsk Depression. Excavation materials are considered as a single peculiar burial complex, requiring justification of dating and ethnocultural interpretation. The elements of the funeral rite and inventory have been described, classified and analyzed. Based on the typological classification of the finds, a comparative analysis has been carried out with materials from the funerary sites of the Kuznetsk Basin and adjacent territories. During the study, medieval sites have been identified that bear the greatest resemblance to the investigated burial complex: the mound-cemetery of Sapogovo-2 and the burial mounds of Sapogovo and Saratovka. By analogy to the inventory and the proximity of the burial sites, the Biryulya Kurgan group was dated to the 11<sup>th</sup> - 12<sup>th</sup> centuries and attributed to the Saratov archaeological culture at the third stage of its development in the Kuznetsk depression. It is noted that the investigated burial complex belongs to the elite category and has a high level of uniqueness with respect to synchronous and monocultural sites.