THE CONCENTRATION OF ELITE KURGANS IN BARABA: ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIOCULTURAL FACTORS
Long-term archaeological study of the Baraba forest-steppe revealed the plot of land Tai, a natural oasis, actively inhabited by humans in all historical epochs. The plot of land attractiveness is in the favorable environment, which ensured human existence both in the years of water activity and in the years of drought. A significant role was also played by the intersection of the Om' and Tartas rivers in this Tai area. In the Sargat era of the Early Iron Age, the kurgans containing elite burial structures were concentrated there. Elite kurgans differed from others by their size, sacred space organization and unique imported goods. There are large-scale kurgans with hundreds of elite objects (Ust Tartas Kurgans burial ground), relatively small ones with several elite objects (Yashkino-1, Novyi Tartas-2, Staryi Sad, Tartas-2), and single elite kurgans (Sopka, Gosudarevo Ozero-1). It is assumed that the gradation is a consequence of the existing social structure of the Sargat society.