The Burials of the East-Manych Catacomb Culture from the Malye-Derbety II Mound Group
Introduction. The article focuses on the gender - age composition of the burials of the East-Manych Catacomb culture from the two mounds of the Malye-Derbety II mound group located in the northern part of the Ergeninskiy heights (Maloderbetovskiy region of the Republic of Kalmykia). The mounds were built on the Yamna - catacomb burials of a woman (mound No. 1) and a man (mound No. 2). Around the main burial there were inlet burials of the Catacomb culture. The publication of the materials of the Malye Derbety mound group in the monograph “The Ancient Necropolises of the Ergeninskiy Heights” is supplemented by the author’s appendices with the analysis of the anthropological materials (M. A. Balabanova) and the analysis of the pathological changes (E. V. Pererva). Due to the great number of burials belonging to the same archaeological culture and located in the certain order under the same mound, the additional more detailed examination of the peculiarities of their gender - age composition and the position on the mound plan is of great interest. Results. The archaeologists found the bones of three men, seven women and eight children in the Bronze Age burials. Both mounds each had one burial of a middle - age man: the main burial in mound 2 (40-50 years old) and inlet burial in mound 1 (35-45 years old), located to the south of the center of the mound. To the group of the men burials belongs the burial of a teenager (14-16 years old) from the group of inlet burials (mound 1, burial 7). To the group of women burials belong the burials of two elderly women: from the main burial of the mound 1 (40-50 years old) and the inlet burial 6 of the mound 1 (50 years old). The latter was located in the eastern part of the mound and was next to an 18-months old child. The other women of the inlet burials were younger (from 17 up to 30 years old). One of them was in the last months of pregnancy (mound 2 burial 5). It should be noted that all the burials of the young women were located in the western part of the mound. There were eight children and half of them were buried together with women.