Yatsenko V.S.

Key words: Lower Don, Koysug kurgan cemetery, burial rite, Maikop-Novosvobodnaya community, Chalcolithic, Early Bronze Age.
The article is devoted to a group of burials at Koysug kurgan cemetery. Analysis of the Koysug cemetery complex and of the existing publications lead us to the conclusion that the group of burials belongs to the northern (Kumo-Manych) province of the Maikop-Novosvobodnaya community. Even though the burial rite is uniform, there are certain distinctions within the groups. The reasons for that are difficult to define due to the small number of the assemblages and the local character of the phenomenon. It is practically impossible to define the chronological disparity of the burials. Only the burials in kurgan 5 can be dated within the time frame from the end of the 41st to the middle of the 37th cc. BC. The differences are in the extent of conformity with the Maikop burial rite. It is possible that the use of the Maikop burial tradition served to emphasize the high social status of the buried.