Alexander Kleshchenko

The article is devoted to current issues of studying Middle Bronze Age burials in steppe Transkuban’ region. The author gives a brief history of the study and analyzes 40 burial grounds, in which 136 barrows with 585 Middle Bronze Age burials were investigated. Detailed analysis of funeral rites in various groups of pit and catacomb burials allows to conclude that throughout the entire Middle Bronze period certain norms of the rite were especially persistent. These are, first of all, stretched position of the corpse and eastward orientation. In addition, the author concludes that local North Caucasian sites of the early Middle Bronze stage had many components, and combined elements of classical North Caucasian ritual with neighboring Novotitorovo traditions.