Nikolay N. Seregin a,#, Alexey A. Tishkin a,##, Sergey S. Matrenin a,###and Tatiana S. Parshikova a,####

aAltai State University, Barnaul, Russia

#E-mail: nikolay-seregin@mail.ru
##E-mail: tishkin210@mail.ru
###E-mail: matrenins@mail.ru
####E-mail: taty-parshikova@yandex.ru

Keywords: Altai, the Migration period, female burial, social history, regional elite, chronology.

The article presents the results of studying materials obtained during excavations of a female burial found in the Choburak-I necropolis of the Bulan-Koby archaeological culture. This site located in Chemal district of the Altai Republic was fully studied by the expedition of Altai State University. An analysis of the morphological characteristics of the found accompanying grave goods was conducted employing analogies from sites in adjacent territories. Together with the results of radiocarbon dating it became the basis for determining the time of construction of mound 34 within the 4th century AD. The study of the recorded features of ritual practice made it possible to establish that the burial was made by the bearers of the Dialian burial tradition, which constituted the dominant group of the population of the Northern Altai in the pre-Turkic period. Numerous goods, which included socially significant adornments in the attire of the buried, as well as items of horse gear, testify to a high status of the deceased woman in her lifetime, probably a representative of the local nomadic elite.

DOI: 10.31857/S0869606323040153, EDN: FPHUXD