Andrey Epimakhov

The article considers the chronology and cultural attribution of the sites which belong to the terminal Bronze Age in the South Trans-Urals. Analysis of the funeral rite and of the assemblage of fi nds reveals the existence of an unvarying and independent nucleus, even though numerous analogies are known from the steppe and forest-steppe zones of Eastern Europe and Western Siberia. The chronological position of the group is identifi ed through stratigraphic and radiocarbon data. The data allows to determine the chronological boundaries (the 14th–9th cc. BC in the system of calibrated dates), and to tentatively outline two stages for the period, as it has been done previously for other territories. Pertaining to cultural identity, the author considers it possible to identify, on the basis of the materials from the early group of burials, the Beloklyuchyovka type of sites, which is part of the archeological continuity of the cultures in the region.