During the historical and cultural expertise on the territory of the Northern subsoil area of the Ozernoye deposit of building sand in the Novoorsk district of the Orenburg region, Orsk archaeologists discovered a previously unknown archaeological monument "Single Ozerny mound", which was included in the list of newly identified objects of the historical and cultural heritage of the Orenburg region.
According to Oleg Bytkovsky, an employee of the Scientific Research Archaeological Center LLC, which carried out archaeological excavations, in May 2017, at the request of Crystal LLC, the Center carried out exhaustive rescue archaeological excavations of this archaeological object, which fell into the zone of economic development. The residents of Novoorsk, the founder of Kristall LLC Alexey Lebedev, who are not indifferent to the preservation of the historical heritage of their region, provided great assistance in carrying out field research work.
The investigated mound, according to the conclusion of archaeologists, was built in the 6th - early 5th centuries BC and functionally served as a memorial and cult object - a cenotaph. From ancient Greek, this term is translated as "empty grave", that is, it is a monument that does not contain the remains of the deceased. In the main burial chamber, bone remains of sacrificial animals left by close relatives after the funeral ceremony were found. Later, in the IV century. BC e., the additional burial of a teenager and a newborn child, who were probably the descendants of the organizers of the mound, were performed. Next to the remains of the buried adolescent, an accompanying inventory was found, consisting of fragments of jewelry, a bronze mirror and three clay vessels. Decorations indicate that the teenager is a girl.
- The ritual elements of the investigated burials of the single Ozerny mound are clearly consistent with the stereotypes of the memorial and funeral ritual of the Early Iron Age, - Oleg Bytkovsky shared. - The material obtained as a result of archaeological research presented us with a scientifically significant chronological section of the funeral and cult practice of the steppe nomads of the eastern Orenburg region. The originality of the topographic location of this monument poses new tasks for archaeologists, the solution of which depends on the further study of such objects within the boundaries of the distribution area of the Savromato-Sarmatian cultural and historical community.
Alexander Fomichev, a lecturer at the Department of History, Philosophy and Social and Humanitarian Sciences, Orsk Institute of Humanities and Technology, also shared his conclusions after studying photographs of the archaeological site.
- The mound had a sandy embankment, along the periphery of which there was a small and medium-sized stone fence of torn stone, the fence itself was bordered by a shallow ditch. The burial in which the teenager was buried was located in the southwestern part of the fence, the other was adjacent to the fence from the outside, from the southeast.
The burial of a teenager is most intact; the girl was buried in a shallow pit with oval outlines, in an extended position, with her head to the south. The accompanying inventory consists of three ceramic vessels and two iron items: a small knife and a bracelet. By the nature of the rite, the burial can be attributed to the Early Sarmatian (Prokhorovka) archaeological culture of the Early Iron Age, as indicated by the southern orientation of the buried person and the peculiarities of ceramic vessels. The vessels were hand made and had a spherical body and a low rim.
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- The tribes of the early Sarmatian (Prokhorovka) culture, - says Alexander Fomichev, - inhabited the South Ural steppes in the V-III centuries. BC, ethnically they belonged to the Indo-Iranian population group. The main type of economic activity was nomadic herding. The early Sarmatian (Prokhorovka) population, due to its economic specifics, did not leave any monuments in the form of settlements, and basic information about it is obtained from the study of burial complexes.
Representatives of the early Sarmatian (Prokhorovka) culture buried their dead in mounds, embankments were of various sizes, from small, 6 m in diameter and up to 0.5 m in height, to large ones, reaching a height of 2-3 m and a diameter of 30 m. stone structures in the form of sketches or fences. The buried were buried in ground pits, sometimes there were burials in the sidewalls (a special niche in the wall of the grave). The postures of the deceased were varied: simple sucked in on the back, the "rider" posture, when the legs were bent at the knees, the "attack" posture, in this case one leg was bent.
The inventory of the early Sarmatian (Prokhorovka) burials is distinguished by a large number of weapons, the deceased were accompanied by quiver sets with a large number of arrowheads, long swords, knives, often weapons were placed in female burials. Of the tools of labor, iron knives with wooden or bone handles, whetstones, and disc-shaped spindles could be placed in burials. Metal jewelry is found in women's burials: bracelets, neck torcs, temple pendants, rings. An obligatory attribute of the funeral ritual is earthenware, in which the funeral food was probably placed.
Currently, field documentation (photographs, drawings, descriptions) is used to compile a scientific report. The collection of finds obtained during the excavations, after restoration work, will be transferred to the archaeological funds of the Novotroitsk Museum and Exhibition Complex.
Galina Krutoyarova, "Novoorskaya Gazeta", RIA "Orenburzhye"