Non-Simultaneous Paired Alakul Burials as a Proof of Stable Marital Unions of the Late Bronze Population of South Urals and West Kazakhstan

The aim of the article is to examine the currently known Alakul non-simultaneous paired burials and their interpretation taking into account all the accumulated information. An essential feature of the burial is the different state of the remains of originally buried individuals (from those found in perfect order to a pile of bones). It reflects different time intervals between the burial of the first and second deceased. Three types are identified: (1) the remains of the originally buried person are in the articulate state and full order (1 burial); (2) some bones of the originally buried individual are shifted or partially absent, but the articulation of the skeleton is generally preserved (3 burials); (3) the remains of the originally buried individual are in the form of a pile of bones (6 burials). In five cases women were later buried to the originally buried men and vice versa men were later buried to the originally buried women (3 cases). Taking into consideration the fact that both men (4 cases) and women (4 cases) were buried on their left side (a position which is considered to be more prestigious) allows speaking about their equal posthumous status. Whether the burials were planned (5?) or spontaneous (4), they did not depend on the sex of individuals buried later. The burials with the central location of the grave under the mound prevail, which indicates a higher social status of the individuals in such burials. The peculiarity of practically each non-simultaneous burial shows that they were not the result of an established cult practice. Each burial has its individual history. Burying both a woman to the originally buried man and a man to the originally buried woman can probably be explained by the desire of equal spouses to be buried together in case of their non-simultaneous demise despite the time interval between the deaths and their sequence. The uneven ratio between the quantity of simultaneous (70) and non-simultaneous (10) Alakul paired burials can be explained by the higher possibility of spouses to be buried together in case of their simultaneous or close in time death than in case of a longer period of time between their non-simultaneous deaths. Nevertheless, the burials examined show that a number of married couples, apparently, were distinguished by a special strength of marital unions, embodied in their repose in one grave, regardless of the difference in the time of death.

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