V.I. Molodin, L.N. Mylnikova, and M.S. Nesterova
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia
The article addresses Neolithic burials at Vengerovo-2A in the Baraba forest-steppe. Funerary and ritual complexes include a centrally located grave with an enclosing ditch separated into segments, which are oriented according to cardinal points. The funerary rites and the orientation of bodies are variable. A peculiar feature of this cemetery is that burials are of two kinds: (1) collective under mounds, arranged in special constructions with ditches, and (2) single without mounds. Reconstructed stages in the arrangement of burials were as follows: fi rst, a cup-like hollow and a ditch delimiting the funerary space were dug. Next, the body was placed in the grave, and possibly covered with earth. Then, the remaining bodies were placed on top in several layers. The construction may have included a wooden roof. Finally, a low earthen mound was made above the grave. The Vengerovo-2A burials resemble those at Protoka, in the Baraba Plain. Funerary goods found at Vengerovo-2A were made of clay, bone, horn, stone, and shells. Intact vessels are described. Those from the graves and ditches and those remaining from the funeral feast differ in terms of fabric and decoration. On the basis of the petrographic analysis of stone tools from Vengerovo-2A and coeval sites in Western Siberia, pebbles were taken from the Irtysh alluvium. The absolute chronology of the burials is compared with that of the Protoka burial ground and of the Avtodrom-2 and Serebryanka-1 settlements in Baraba. Vengerovo-2A dates to the Late Neolithic (6th–5th millennia BC). Its burial rite and pottery evidence a blend of several traditions, and the same applies to other Neolithic sites in northern Eurasia. Finds from Vengerovo-2A are paralleled by those from the taiga zone of Western Siberia and the Eastern Urals, as well as from the Baltic and Karelia. Cranially, Vengerovo people display the Northern Eurasian trait combination. This fact along, with skeletal and paleogenetic fi ndings, places them within what can be described as the Uralian and Western Siberian Neolithic community.
Keywords: Neolithic, ritual, funerary rite, multidisciplinary studies in archaeology, Baraba.
