Cults of the dead in archaeological cultures of the Baraba forest-steppe: spatial and chronological dynamics

The article examines features of the burial rituals of archaeological cultures that existed on the territory of the Baraba forest-steppe in the Bronze Age. The study of large necropolises of different times made it possible to trace the traditionality and variability of ritual activities within the framework of a cultural community. In the course of the research, we analyzed the materials of the autochthonous Neolithic, Ust-Tartas, Odinovo, Krotov, Andronovo, Irmen and Pakhomovo archaeological cultures. Similar elements in burial rites may indicate the similarity of certain aspects of the worldview among representatives of different cultures of the region which we are considering. Biritual and syncretic burials could personify a gradual transformation of ritual activity, when traditional and introduced elements were included in the cult. This testifies to the peaceful nature of the process. Ancestor cults were probably the basis of ideological concepts. The ceramic material, in addition to evidence of accompanying food, could indicate the performance of rites of sacrifice - to ancestors or higher powers. The existence of cult complexes on the necropolises and the traces of human sacrifice recorded on them indicate the degree of significance for society of ideas about the other world. The presence of tools, weapons and ornaments is a criterion of social status and evidence of belief in an afterlife, as well as, possibly, of the ambiguous connotations of certain artifacts. The emergence of cremation rites may indicate the growing role of fire as an element of purification or as a mediator in rites of passage. The appearance of ditches in the ritual indicates the need to localize the sacred space and clearly separate the world of the living from the world of the dead, where the ditch could perform both a restrictive and a protective function. The fact that monuments have disturbed burials, where the process of destruction is associated not only with grave robbing, but also with certain irrational views, seems to be of great importance. Thus, a review of the burial rites of the archaeological cultures of Baraba suggests the presence of complex ideological concepts associated with the other world among the ethnic groups who lived here. Similar features of the funeral rite that took place among the carriers of successive cultures here indicate the possible continuity of the most important aspects of the worldview for society and the transformation of funeral cults in accordance with the vector of ethno-cultural processes that took place here.

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