Pre-Scythian Burials at the Volkhonskiye Vyselki Barrow on the Upper Don

The paper presents and analyzes materials obtained from the study of three burials dating back to the pre-Scythian era in the Volkhonskiye Vyselki barrow, located in the north of the Don forest-steppe. Burials from the very beginning of the Early Iron Age are uncommon in this region, making each site more scientifically valuable. All three graves are let into the southern semicircle of the barrow, which was constructed during the Bronze Age. One of these may have been a paired burial (of two women), while the other two (male) were single. Two burials were placed in pits covered with wood, while the structure for the third burial is unknown. Surviving grave goods include four stucco vessels, two grain graters, and fourteen birch bark beads. The authors present results of the technical and technological analysis of ceramics and data from the anthropological study. Based on radiocarbon dating, the burials are estimated to have taken place during the second half of the 8th — the first half of the 7th centuries BC.