A warrior’s burial from Undrikh 2015 complex (Ryazan-Oka burial grounds). Archaeological parallels and anthropological reconstruction

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2021-54-2/248-273

Abstract

The archaeological culture of the Ryazan-Oka burial grounds played an important political and cultural role in the formation of a number of Finno-Ugric peoples of the middle Oka river. The study of new monuments of this culture clarifies the general picture of the ethnic history of the region. Artifacts and bone remains from the burial of an upper-class warrior from Undrikh 2015 (pit 90) were studied. The archaeological inventory suggests that the burial dates back to the very end of the fifth century. Each of the objects is described in detail and examined for analogies using a wide range of publications. A torc, a fibula, a rich harness, a cruciform diadem and two swords typical for chieftain's burials in Eastern Europe suggest that the warrior belonged to one of the dominant clans, the ruling group of the Ryazan-Oka barbaricum during the time when authentic statehood was forming. Various power clans had their own specifics expressed both in the weapons, decorations, and, possibly, in physical appearance. Anthropological study of the skull identified traits of the Mediterranean anthropological type. Graphic and sculpted facial reconstructions make it possible to visualize the appearance of the warrior.

For Citation: Veselovskaya, E.V., A.P. Gavrilov, and S.V. Vasilyev. 2021. A warrior’s burial from Undrikh 2015 complex (Ryazan-Oka burial grounds). Archaeological parallels and anthropological reconstruction. Herald of Anthropology (Vestnik Antropologii) 2: 248–273.

References

• Akhmedov I R. 2001. “Voinskoe pogrebenie iz mogil'nika” Borok II. ["Military burial from the burial ground" Borok II]. In tverskoi arkheologicheskii sbornik, edited by I.N. Chernykh. Tver: Tverskoe oblastnoe izdatel'stvo.
• Akhmedov I. R. 2007. Inventar’ muzhskikh pogrebeniy [Inventory of male burials]. In vostochnaya Evropa v seredine I tysyacheletiya nashei ery, edited by I.O. Gavritukhin, A. M. Oblomskiy, 137-185. Moscow: IA RAN.
• Akhmedov I. R. 2010. Problema «final’nogo» perioda kul’tury ryazano-okskikh finnov (K sovremennomu sostoyaniyu voprosa) [Problem of “terminal” period of culture of Ryazan-Oka Finns (Toward present state of the problem)]. Arkheologiya Vostochnoy Evropy v Itysyacheletii nashei ery, edited by I.V. Islanova, V.E. Rodinkova, 7–34. Moscow: IA RAN.
• Akhmedov I. R. 2012. Okskie krestovidnye fibuly kak indikatory etnokul’turnykh protsessov v Tsentral’noy Rossii epokhi Velikogo pereseleniya narodov [Oka cross-like fibulae as indications of ethnocultural processes in Central Russia of Migration period]. Voyadzher: mir i chelovek, 107–123.
• Akhmedov I. R. 2014. Ranniaia gruppa mechei iz riazano-okskikh mogil'nikov. [An early group of swords from the Ryazan-Oka burial grounds]. In voinskie traditsii v arkheologicheskom kontekste: ot pozdnego latena do pozdnego srednevekov'ia, edited by I. G. Burtsev. Tula: Kulikovo pole.
• Akhmedov I.R. 1998. Ryazano-okskie krestovidnye fibuly [Ryazan-Oka cross-like fibulae]. Issledovaniya P.D. Stepanova i etnokul’turnye protsessy drevnosti isovremennosti: materialy nauchnoy konferentsii posvyashchennoy 100-letiyu P.D. Stepanova, edited by N.M. Arsent’ev, 58–61. Saransk: Krasnyy oktyabr’.
• Akhmedov I.R. 2006. Krestovidnye diademy v epokhu Velikogo Pereseleniia narodov. [Cross-shaped diadems in the era of the Migration Period]. In Vzaimodeistvie narodov Evrazii v epokhu velikogo pereseleniia narodov, edited by R.D. Goldina. Izhevsk: Udmurtskii gosudarstvennyi universitet.
• Akhmedov I.R. 2010. Korotkie odnolezviinye mechi iz Nikitinskogo mogil'nika. [Short single-edged swords from the Nikitinsky burial grounds].  In Germania – Sarmatia 2, edited by O. A. Shcheglova, O.A. Radiush, K.N. Skvortsov, 319–341. Kaliningrad, Kursk: Kaliningradskii oblastnoi istoriko-khudozhestvennyi muzei, Kurskii gosudarstvennyi oblastnoi muzei arkheologii.
• Akhmedov I.R. 2010. Problema «final'nogo'» perioda kul'tury riazano-okskikh finnov (k sovremennomu sostoianiiu voprosa). [The problem of the "final" period of the culture of the Ryazan-Oka Finns (to the current state of the issue)]. In Arkheologiia Vostochnoi Evropy v I tysiacheletii nashei ery. Problemy i materialy 13, edited by I.V. Islanova, V.E. Rodinkova, 14. Moscow: Ranneslavianskii mir.
• Akhmedov I.R. and I.V. Belotserkovskaia. 1998. O nachal'noi date riazano-okskikh mogil'nikov. [About the initial date of the Ryazan-Oka burial grounds]. In arkheologicheskii sbornik. Moscow: Trudy GIM.
• Alekseev, V.P., and G.F Debets. 1960. Kraniometriia [Craniometry]. Moscow: Nauka.
• Aleksinskii D.P., K.A. Zhukov, A.M. Butiagin and D.S. Korovkin. 2019. Vsadniki voiny, kavaleriia Evropy, konnitsa armii Vizantii. VI century. [Horsemen of War. Cavalry of Europe, cavalry of the Byzantine army VI century].
• Atavin A.G. 1996. Pogrebeniia 7-nachala 8 vekov iz Vostochnoi Evropy. [Burials of the early 7th-8th centuries from Eastern Europe]. Kul'tura Evraziiskikh stepei 2 poloviny 1 tysiacheletiya nashei ery: 219.
• Bazhan I.A., S. Yu. Kargopol'tsev. 1989. V-obraznye riflenye priazhki kak khronologicheskii indikator sinkhronizatsii [V-shaped fluted buckles as a chronological indicator of synchronization.]. Kratkie soobshcheniia Instituta arkheologii: 198.
• Belotserkovskaia I.V. and I.R. Akhmedov. 2009. Raboty arkheologicheskikh ekspeditsii GIM na Oke: nekotorye itogi i perspektivy izucheniia riazano-okskikh mogil'nikov III–VII vekov. nashey ery [Works of archaeological expeditions of the GIM on the Oka: some results and prospects of studying the Ryazan-Oka burial grounds of the III-VII centuries AD]. In arkheologicheskie otkrytiia 1991–2004 gg.  Evropeiskaia Rossiia, edited by N.A. Makarov, 283–289. Moscow: Institut arkheologii RAN.
• Efimenko P.P. 1937. K istorii Zapadnogo Povolzh'ia v I tysiacheletii po arkheologicheskim istochnikam [On the history of the Western Volga region in the First Millennium according to archaeological sources]. Sovetskaia arkheologiia 2: 39–58.
• Gavrilov A. P. 2011. Damasskie mechi V–VII vv n. e. iz Shilovskogo raiona Riazanskoi oblasti [Damascus swords of the V–VII centuries AD from the Shilovsky district of the Ryazan region]. In voennaia arkheologiia. Sbornik materialov Problemnogo Soveta "Voennaia arkheologiia' pri Gosudarstvennom Istoricheskom muzee, edited by O.V. Dvurechenskii, Moscow: Russkaia panorama.
• Gavrilov A. P. 2016. Dlinno-klinkovoe oruzhie mezhdurech'ia rek Pary i Tyrnitsy Shilovskogo raiona Riazanskoi oblasti [Long-bladed weapons between the rivers Pari and Tyrnitsa, Shilovsky district, Ryazan region]. Meshchera krai. Al'manakh po istorii i kul'ture meshcherskogo kraia. Moscow, 2016.
• Gavrilov A. P. 2017. Drevniaia istoriia srednego Pooch'ia ili v poiskakh Artanii. Kniga posviashchena arkheologii i istorii srednego pooch'ia,poiskov istokov russkoi gosudarstvennosti i identichnosti [Ancient history of the Middle Pooch or in search of Artania. The book is devoted to the archaeology and history of the Middle Pooch region,the search for the origins of Russian statehood and identity]. Moscow.
• Gavrilov A.N. 1985. Raboty v Shilovskom, Putiatipskom i Chuchkovskom raionakh Riazanskoi oblasti [Works in Shilovsky, Putyatipsky and Chuchkovsky districts of the Ryazan region]. Arkheologicheskie otkrytiia 1983 goda.
• Gavrilov A.N. and A.P. Gavrilov. 2020. Meshcherskie skazy [Meshchersky tales]. Moscow: Spasskaia tipografiia.
• Gavritukhin, I. O. and A. M.  Oblomskii. 2007. Vostochnaia Evropa v seredine I tysiacheletiia n. e. (Eastern Europe in the Middle of the I Millennium A. D.). [Eastern Europe in the middle of the first millennium AD]. Ranneslavianskii mir. Arkheologiia slavian i ikh sosedei. Moscow: Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences.
• Gerasimov M.M. 1955. Vosstanovlenie litsa po cherepu (sovremennyi i iskopaemyi chelovek) [Reconstruction of the face from the skull (modern and fossil man)]. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo AN SSSR.
• https://historylib.org/historybooks/D-P-Aleksinskiy_Vsadniki-voyny--Kavaleriya-Evropy/2019
• Kazanskii M.M.  2010. "Vozhdeskie” pogrebeniia gunnskogo vremeni s mechami ["Leader’s" burials of the Hun time with swords.]. In kraeugol'nyi kamen', edited by E. N. Nosov, C. V. Beletsky, 309–331. Moscow: Lomonosov.
• Kazanskii M.M. 2012. O proiskhozhdenii skramasaksov [About the origin of the Scrumasaxons]. Stratum plus. Chud', meria i drugie iazyki 5: 113.
• Kazanskii M.M. 2019. O dvukh traditsiiakh dekora klinkovogo oruzhiia epokhi Velikogo pereseleniia narodov na iuge Vostochnoi Evropy [About two traditions of decoration of bladed weapons of the era of the Great Migration of peoples in the south of Eastern Europe]. Zemlia nasha velika i obil'na. 90-letiiu A. N. Kirpichnikova posviashchaetsia, edited by S. V. Beletskii. St.Peterburg: Nevskaia Tipografiia.
• Kazanskii M.M. and A.V. Mastykova. 2001. Tsentry vlasti i torgovye puti v Zapadnoi Alanii v V–VI vekax [Centers of power and trade routes in Western Alanya in the V–VI centuries]. Cevernyi Kavkaz: istoriko-arkheologicheskie ocherki i zametki: 138–161.
• Kazanskii M.M., A.V. Mastykova and K.N. Skvortsov. 2017. Priznaki sotsial'noi stratifikatsii u naseleniia sambiisko-natangiiskoi kul'tury v nachale srednevekov'ia (seredina V–VII vekov.) [Signs of social stratification in the population of the Sambian-Natangian culture in the early Middle Ages (mid – V–VII centuries)]. Rossiiskaia arkheologiia 3: 39.
• Khazanov A.M. 1971. Ocherki voennogo dela Sarmatov [Essays on the military affairs of the Sarmatians.]. Moskow: Nauka.
• Kravchenko T.A. 1974. Shatrishchenskii mogil'nik (po raskopkam 1966–1969 godov) [Shatrishchensky burial ground (according to the excavations of 1966–1969)]. Arkheologiia Riazanskoi zemli: 116–183.
• Krenke N.A., M.M. Kazanskii, N.V. Lopatin, K.A. Ganichev, I.N. Ershov, E.G. Ershova, F.E. Modestov and V.A. Raeva.  2021. Gorodishcha Demidovka i Viazoven'ki na Smolenshchine: ob ierarkhii, khronologii i kul'turnoi atributsii [Demidovka and Vyazovenki settlements in the Smolensk region: on hierarchy, chronology, and cultural attribution.]. Rossiiskaia arkheologiia 1: 102–121.
• Lebedinskaia G. V. 1989. Rekonstruktsiia litsa po cherepu (metodicheskoe rukovodstvo) [Reconstruction of the face on the skull (methodological guide)]. Moskow: Staryi sad.
• Skripkin A. S. 1990. Aziatskaia Sarmatiia. Problemy khronologii i ee istoricheskii aspect [Asian Sarmatia. Problems of chronology and its historical aspect]. Saratov: Izdatel’stvo Saratovskogo universiteta.
• Stavitskii V.V. 2017. Abramovskii mogil'nik: Pogrebenie s chernoloshchenoi keramikoi. [Abramovsky burial ground: Burial with black-flattened ceramics]. NovaInfo 59: 17.
• Veselovskaia E. V. 2018. “Algoritm vneshnosti” – kompleksnaia programma antropologicheskoi rekonstruktsii [“Algorithm of appearance” – a comprehensive program of anthropological reconstruction]. Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta 2: 38–54.
• Voronina, R. F., O. V. Zelentsova and A.V. Engovatova. 2005. Nikitinskii mogil’nik: publikatsiia materialov raskopok 1977–1978 gg. [Nikitinskiy Cemetery. Materials of the 1977—1978 Excavations]. Trudy Otdela okhrannykh raskopok Instituta arkheologii RAN. Moscow: Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Archaeology.
• Zasetskaia I.P., and M.M. Kazanskii, I.R.  Akhmedov and R.S. Minasian. 2007. Morskoi Chulek. Pogrebeniia znati iz Priazov'ia i ikh mesto v istorii plemen Severnogo Prichernomor'ia v postgunnskuiu epokhu [Sea Chulek. Burials of the nobles from the Azov Sea region and their place in the history of the tribes of the Northern Black Sea region in the post-Hunnic era.]. St. Petersburg.: Izdatelstvo Gos. Ermitazha.