The Dyuker Mound Group: Burials of Late Nomads

In 1982, rescue excavations of several mound groups were undertaken in Oktyabrsky District of the Kalmyk ASSR. The works revealed a number of burials made by different ethnic groups that had inhabited the mentioned territory within a wide time span – between the 4th millennium BC and the 12th century AD.
The study is a continuation of efforts to introduce into scientific discourse – a range of unpublished materials describing multi-temporal archeological surveys in the territory of the Republic of Kalmykia. It examines 6 burials dated by the author of the excavation report to the period of medieval late nomads. The term ‘late nomads’ stands for quite a wide number of medieval nomadic groups. And the last 50 years have witnessed an increasing interest towards problems of nomadism and related questions of historiography of medieval nomads. Archeological surveys have been expanded, including the archeological source database dealing with medieval nomadic communities.
Analysis of the 1982 excavation report revealed a more precise period for the existence of ethnic groups to have made the burials under consideration, i.e. between the 8th and 10th centuries AD when the area was inhabited by Pechenegs, Torkils (Oghuzes), and Cumans respectively. All the 6 burials are single, 3 of them being part of a Bronze Age barrow, while the rest had separate and comparatively small mounds of their own. Five burials were made in rectangular graves, and only one burial contained an insignificant backing (semi-backing) in its southern grave wall and a stair-step in its northern wall where a taxidermied horse had been placed. Other burials also contained horse bones, and the ones that had none there were discovered elements of horse tack.
Graves of virtually all six burials were equipped with wooden boards. Bone remains in two burials had been disarranged, the pose and alignment of only one of the latter determined. The burial inventories included iron items (basically elements of horse tack), bronze decorative products (mirrors, adornments, reins), wooden objects (spoked wheels, combs); as for weapons, only one quiver was discovered, and no bow remains mentioned. No traces of any clayware were found.
With evidence from materials of the excavation report, the paper reconstructs design plans of the burials and examines the surviving archeological finds. Further investigations shall determine the actual ethnic origins of individuals from the selected burials.

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