Department of Theory and Methods

The paper is dedicated to the publication of two assemblages containing early medieval amphorae discovered during rescue and salvage excavations at Gora Chirkova-1 of the Temryuk district in the Krasnodar Krai carried out in 2016. Based on the existing scientific knowledge on chronology of the amphora transport ware discovered in the assemblages, these amphorae have been dated to the end of the 7th–10th centuries. Using the published vessels as an example, the paper elaborates on possible narrowing of the dating range of the early medieval ’Black Sea coastal area’ amphorae by using the data on distinctive cultural features of the shape and their linkage to late Roman prototypes.

The article is devoted to the publication of Roman clay lamps from «The hillfort of 11 kilometer» settlement. The site is located on the Kerch peninsula (Leninsky district of the republic of Crimea). Based on morphology and decor analysis, the article deals with similar finds and dating issues.

In 2017 staff members of the Department of archaeological heritage preservation of the Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, conducted rescue excavations at a settlement known as the 11th kilometer hillfort. The site is located 15 km west of Kerch. Bronze 􀀀bulae are one of the most spectacular groups of 􀀀nds discovered at the site. They refer to several typological groups of metallic fasteners commonly used in Eastern Europe. The paper introduces these materials into scienti􀀀c discourse. The published series of 􀀀bulae is dated to the middle of the 1st – second quarter/middle of the 2nd century AD.

The article publishes materials from 10 inhumation burials investigated in 2015 during the rescue excavations of the
Varnavinskoe‑3 settlement (Abinsky district of Krasnodar Region). The presence of dating finds makes it possible to divide the
entire massif of burials into several relative chronological groups: the middle of the 5th – the first half of the 6th century; the
second half of 6th – the turn of the 7th – 8th centuries; 8th – 9th centuries (with only one burial related to the last group). The
cultural specificity of the burials of the Varnavinskoe‑3 settlement is determined by the predominance of the orientation of the
buried with their heads in the northern direction. Direct analogies to this component of the burial rite in the complexes of the
5th – 7th centuries on the territory of the Western Ciscaucasia are few.

Abstract. The paper focuses on testing possibilities of the geometric morphometrics
method taking the analysis of the shape of 99 intact pots from the Balanovo burial
ground attributed to the Balanovo archaeological culture as an example. a preliminary
examination of these pots from the positions of the historical and cultural approach
provided an opportunity to identify distinctive features of cultural traditions associated
with two closely related population groups (the Balanovo and the atlikasy groups), which
left behind this burial ground. The possibilities of the geometric morphometrics method
were studied by describing the shape of the pots with the help of, first, 50 marks made
equally apart; and, second, the points where the local curvature was maximum. whereas
both methods produced similar general information on the shapes, it was more detailed
and close to the results obtained with the use of the historical and cultural approach in the
second case. however, without preliminary historical and cultural analysis of the shape,
the employment of the geometric morphometrics method does not result in evidencebased
historical interpretation of the identified features of the earliest ceramics. for this
reason, the method can be applied for analysis of pot shapes only as a secondary method.
Keywords: pot shapes, historical and cultural approach, geometric morphometrics
method, Balanovo burial ground, Balanovo archaeological culture, Bronze age.

Accumulations of “cremated” findings on Shchurovsky burial ground:
rite detail or an accident?
Summary
Work is devoted to materials of Shurovsky burial
ground; its burials were done according to the rite of
cremation in the second half of the 1st Millennium
AD. The article analyzes the found clusters of findings
without calcified bones while having clear signs of a
fire at the same time. The authors consider such items
clusters are a part of the funeral rite.

Abstract
the paper provides results of explorations of a recently discovered cemetery near the village Sokolova pustyn’ located in the vicinity of the town of Stupino on the Oka River. The burial rite consisted in placement of cremated remains on the ancient ground surface; the cremation of the dead person was accompanied by cremation of animals (such as cattle, sheep and goats, pigs, birds, dogs or cats). The comparison of the funeral of ferings with those from the already known cemeteries enabled the archaeologists to date the new grave discovered in 2014 to the period not earlier than the second half of the 10th century and come to the conclusion that this is the latest cemetery of Shchurovo¬type discovered.
Keywords: early medieval period, the Viking Age, cremated cemeteries

The article presents the results of the study of a burial construction — “mortuary house” No. 3 of the Shchurovsky burial ground (Moscow region, right bank of the river Oka at Kolomna). This object, according to the author's reconstruction, originally was a wooden structure containing the soil with the remains of the funeral pile, and the soil taken from the ditches that surrounded it. Over time, the object took on the form of a low barrow, the central part of which was destroyed by major earthworks in Soviet times.
The analysis of the cremated bones revealed that there were no authentic human bones in the central part of the structure, however, those were found in the filling of the ditch on the northern side. No human bones were found within a small hoard of bones in the square 56. Numerous artifacts belong to the second – the third quarters of the I millennium AD, but there is no evidence of their connection with the burial. On the basis of radiocarbon dating the object can also be attributed to the third quarter of the I millennium AD, but it is built on the site of the settlement of the second quarter – the middle of I millennium AD. The analysis of the manufacturing technology of ceramics showed that the pottery found in the barrow contains a trace of crushed stone in the clay paste, typical for the second quarter of the 1 millennium AD, as well as the ceramics with an admixture of shamott, which is characteristic for the third quarter of this millennium. The authors suggest that during the burial ceremony ceramics and objects associated with jewelry production, synchronic to the time of the rite, were brought along to add to funeral pile at the burial place where humans and animals were burned.