An Alakul Funeral and Ritual Site in the Eastern Orenburg Region

An Alakul Funeral and Ritual Site in the Eastern Orenburg Region

V.V. Tkachev.

An unusual funeral and ritual site of the Alakul culture is described. It is situated in the northern periphery of a Late Bronze Age mining and metallurgical center in the Ural–Mugodzhary region, and is associated with the Ishkinovka group of ancient copper mines, which began to be exploited in the Early Bronze Age. A stone statue and votive objects suggest that the kurgan was a sanctuary marking a tribal area and a ritual center of a population engaged in copper mining and copper metallurgy.

Keywords: Late Bronze Age, Ural–Mugodzhary mining and metallurgical center, Ishkinovka archaeological microregion, burial rites, anthropomorphic stele, votive objects.