УДК 902/904

EDN LCNAYX

 

History of the Shokshinsky Burial Ground Study

Golovin R. E.

 

Abstraсt

Introduction. At the present stage of the archaeological study of the Finns of the Volga region, the topic of studying the culture of the Ryazan-Oka burial grounds is one of the most important and relevant. The issue of the “final” stage of the existence of this culture requires the most extensive consideration. In this regard, the investigation of the antiquities of the Shokshinsky burial ground, discovered in the mid-1960s in the Tengushevsky region of Mordovia, is of particular importance. Over 15 years of field study, an unprecedented amount of data was accumulated. The data is related to jewelry and costume, weapons, household items, crafts and culture of the Volga Finns in the middle of the 5th — beginning of the 11th century.

Materials and methods. The material of the study was the scientific reports of the excavations, as well as the archaeological material of the burials of the Shoksha burial ground. With the help of comparative typological, statistical methods, as well as the method of synchronization and analogy, 1,143 burials of the Shoksha burial ground were classified.

Results and discussion. Due to the long-term and diversified study of the Shoksha burial ground at the Research Institute of the Humanities by the Government of the Republic of Mordovia, a two-volume edition dedicated to this monument was prepared for publication. Prior to this, modern literature did not reflect such important characteristics as general data on the number of burials, their age-sex composition, burial rite, location of burial pits, data on grave goods. In this article, on the eve of the publication of the book, an attempt was made to summarize all available information about one of the most important archaeological sites of the Volga Finns.      

Conclusion. The culture of the Ryazan-Oka burial grounds actively developed, changed throughout its existence, acquiring at different stages not only new features, but also local variants. The final stage was no exception. Indeed, such late burials from the Shokshinsky burial ground represent something more than the “classical” material culture of the Ryazan-Oka burial grounds. It is possible that by that time the bearers of this culture were no longer a single ethnic community, as evidenced by the events of the political history of Eastern Europe.

Keywords: burial ground, culture of the Ryazan-Oka burial grounds, archaeological excavations, Middle Ages

For citation: Golovin RE. History of the Shokshinsky Burial Ground Study. Bulletin of the Research Institute of the Humanities by the Government of the Republic of Mordovia. 2023;15(1):192 —200. EDN LCNAYX

 

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Information about the author:

Roman E. Golovin, researcher of the Archeology Sector of the Research Institute of the Humanities by the Government of the Republic of Mordovia (2 Saranskaya Str., Saransk 430005, Russia); postgraduate student of the Archeology Department of the Research Institute of Humanities under the Government of the Republic of Mordovia (3 L. Tolstoy Str., Saransk 430005, Russia), ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6795-8710, roman_golovin_96@mail.ru

 

Conflict of interests: the author declare no conflict of interests.

 

The author read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

 

The article was submitted 09.09.2022; approved after reviewing 18.11.2022; accepted for publication 24.11.2022.