Sergey N. Korenevskiy*, Aleksey A. Kalmykov**
* Institute of Archaeology RAS, Moscow, Russia (skorenevskiy@yandex.ru)
** State Unitary Enterprise ‘Heritage,’ Stavropol, Russia (kalmykov_a_a@mail.ru)
Keywords: Kumo-Manych hollow, Maikop-Novoscobodnaya entity, Pit Grave/Yamnaya Culture, kurgan/barrow, stone enclosure, stone cist.

This paper deals with the publication and analysis of the record of the initial phase of the functioning of Barrow 22 of the Aygurskiy‑2 cemetery located in the north of the Stavropol Kray at some 22–23 km east of the town of Ipatovo in the basin of the Kalaus river. The building and the early phase of functioning of the barrow are related to the local tribes of the Maikop-Novoscobodnaya entity (MNE). This phase saw the emergence of burials 8, 8а, 9, 15, 16, individual finds 1–4, the ritual complex 2, the circle around burials 8 and 8a made of standing stones deepened into the subsoil strengthened outside and atop with a circular stone enclosure encircling the first mound layer. Their radiocarbon dates are in the range of 38 to 34 centuries BC. The published record enables us to regard these burials as the ref lection of the adaptation of the bearers of the local variety of MNE to the milieu of the steppe tribes of the Pit Grave/Yamnaya Culture. This process is represented by syncretic sets of tableware of MNE and the steppe (Pit Grave/Yamnaya Culture) outlook, the adoption of the steppe rite of catacomb burials by the Maikop population, the development of the local megalithic cult traditions involving the building of a large stone cist, the use of a quasi-anthropomorphic stele and the emergence of such a ritual detail as placing an implement in the hand of the dead person. It was not a mere local phenomenon. A similar situation was traced in Barrow 25 of the Zolotarevka‑1 cemetery situated in the valley of the Bolshaya Kugulta River in the basin of the Egorlyk River at some 50 km west from the Aygurskiy‑2 cemetery and pertaining to the same culture. The date of the former’s emergence and the early phase of its functioning coincide with the chronology of Maikop burials under the Aygurskiy barrow. The building of stone megaliths in these barrows is approximately synchronous to the emergence of stone cists in the Klady, Nalchik and Kishpek tombs. However, the pottery complex of the materials being published belong to another branch of MNE related to the Kumo-Manych periphery and show the community of ceramic traditions with the early varieties of the latter.