Dmitry S. Korobov

The recently published work by the French historian C. Zuckerman summarizes the discussion about the areas settled by the different Alanic tribes in the Northern Caucasus. It is interesting to compare these conclusions with the distribution of the catacomb burial rite, which is considered to be a specific “ethnic marker” of the Alanic presence. The present paper gives updated information about the occurrence of catacomb burials on the basis of the cemeteries excavated in the last decade. On the whole, analysis of the occurrence of Early Medieval catacomb burial rite as compared with data from written sources allows to line out the hypothetical areas of habitation of several Alanic tribes mentioned in Armenian Geography.