Tkachev V.V., Umrikhin S.M., Bytkovsky O.F.

Key words: Late Bronze Age, Urals-Mugodzhary region, Kozhumberdy cultural group.
The article publishes the materials from a newly discovered Late Bronze Age burial site in the southern spurs of the Ural Mountains. The specific features of the stone and earthen structures above the graves, the structure of the graves themselves, the use of both inhumation and cremation and the pottery assemblage indicate that the burials combine features of Alakul and Fyodorovo cultures. The site conforms to the standards of the Kozhumberdy cultural group; however, the pottery reveals influence of the Srubna culture, and anthropological data confirms the assumption. It appears that the specific organizational features of the mining-and-metallurgical works stimulated trade and barter activities in the region and thus contributed to more active contacts between cultures in the Urals-Mugodzhary region.