ENEOLITHIC SACRED PLACE ON A ROCK ON THE BANK OF THE GORBUNOVSKIY PEATLAND
In the article new materials from the rock sacred place Kupol are published. The sacred place is situated on the rocky domed cliff ledge at the Gorbunovskiy peatland bank. At that place specific set of thematic cultic complexes was identified. In those complexes a prominent place is taken by products with a pointed end (arrowheads, points, knives) and products which are connected with producing fire (bitted flint, scrapers, pieces of crushed quartz, splitted shingle). Besides at the Kupol site we found artefacts of non-utilitarian purpose typical for sacred places: figured flint, stone and bone pendants. The faunal complex is represented by small fragments of calcified animal bones, among which the bones of skulls and limbs predominate, that is, the most characteristic parts of the body for sacrifices. Unlike other rock sacred places, which contain materials from different eras from the Mesolithic to the Middle ages, Kupol contains only Mesolithic finds (as an impurity) and Eneolithic finds. The presence of two Eneolithic sacred places on the valley side of the Gorbunovsky paleolake (Kupol) and in the swampy part of it (VI-th section) indicates a pronounced individuality of the cult practice of the ancient population, even on the scale of a single social group.