Burials of the Late Middle and Early Late Bronze Age Burial Mound No. 1 of the Gudermess Burial Mounds No. 1

Ataev Gamzat Dibirovich ORCID: 0000-0002-8203-6167 PhD in History Senior Researcher, Institute of IAE DFRC RAS 367000, Russia, Republic of Dagestan, Makhachkala, Yaragskogo str., 75 ataevgd@mail.ru Malashev Vladimir Yur'evich PhD in History Senior Researcher, Institute of Archeology RAS 117292, Russia, Moscow, ul. Dm. Ulyanov str., 19 malashev@yandex.ru

Saipudinov Murad Shakhbanovich ORCID: 0000-0002-5111-2083 Junior Researcher, Institute of IAE FERC RAS 367000, Russia, Republic of Dagestan, Makhachkala, Yaragskogo str., 75 haosta@mail.ru

In 2017, a joint archaeological expedition of IA RAS and TSAI IGI of the Chechen Republic conducted security and rescue studies of the burial mound No. 1 of the Gudermes burial mounds No. 1 2 km south of the city of Gudermes. 19 burials and several complexes in the mound belonging to the early, middle and late Bronze Age were investigated, a stone shell associated with the main burial of the Maikop culture was cleared. Burials in the mound and accompanying complexes belong to three cultural and chronological groups ^{[1, 53-55]}.

The earliest is burial No. 18, which belongs to the late stage of the Maikop-Novosvobodnenskaya community. The analysis of the burial and two fragments of vessels made it possible to identify analogies among the synchronous monuments of the North Caucasus and date the complex to the final stage of the Novosvobodnensky stage of the Maikop-Novosvobodnensky community.

The main group of burials consists of entrance burials belonging to the early stage of the Middle Bronze Age. There are two simultaneous groups of burials, but differing in the funeral rite. The first one includes a number of burials, of which the most interesting are No. 9 and No. 13. In burial No. 9, made in a trapezoidal pit with an extension of the ZYUZ part and slightly rounded corners, the dimensions of the oriented long axis along the ZYUZ-VSV line, the bones were revealed, placed in a crouched position on the left side with the head on the VSV. A thin layer of organic decay of plant origin of dark brown color was found under the buried one.Burial inventory: a stone eye axe with a dangling hammer-shaped butt, a curved blade and a rounded blade, a bronze double-edged knife-dagger with a leaf-shaped blade and a sub-rectangular petiole and a fragment of a vessel. In burial No. 13, a rectangular pit with a long axis oriented along the Z-V line, a skeleton was found disturbed by a robbery pit; bones of the upper torso and arms were preserved. Judging by their position, the buried woman was in a crouched position on her left side with her head facing east. The left arm is extended and set aside from the trunk. The right arm is bent at the elbow joint at a right angle. The position of the legs is not clear. The left humerus and adjacent ribs are stained with ochre. Burial inventory: 6 bone hammer-shaped pins and a piece of mineral ochre paint ^{[1, 55]}.

Fig. 1. General plan of the burial mound No. 1 of the Gudermess burial mounds No. 1 indicating the burials of the late Middle and early Late Bronze Age.

 Another group of burials – two burials (pogr. No. 2 and No. 17) with the bones stretched out on the back and the head oriented to the South. They are stratigraphically late, but according to the details of the rite and inventory, they also adjoin the first group. The analysis of the burial mounds shows that they are all made in pits and differ in different sizes and different designs. In some pits there is wood decay from the floor boards. Embers were found in some pits, and pieces of ochre paint in others. The analysis of funerary structures and rites revealed analogies in the monuments of the early period of the Middle Bronze Age of Chechnya and Ingushetia, and especially in the monuments of the Central Caucasus, which made it possible to attribute the burials of the early stage of the Middle Bronze Age of kurgan 1 Gudermess mounds No. 1 to the monuments of the North Caucasian cultural and historical community.

The burials of the late Middle and early Late Bronze Age were let into the eastern and southern sectors of the mound, sometimes with the disassembly of the shell stones (Fig. 1),. Here is a brief description of them:

Burial 1 was located in the central part of the mound, 4.5 m south of the center, in the mound embankment at a depth of -152 cm from the reference point. The burial is partially disturbed. It was made in a rectangular pit with a rounded CER wall oriented with a long axis along the C – Y line with a deviation (Fig. 2, 1). The width of the pit is 0.75 m, the preserved length is 0.8 m. The walls are inclined, taper to the bottom and have been preserved to a height of up to 10 cm. The bottom is uneven. The depth of the bottom is -161 cm from the reference point. Charcoal particles were found in the filling.

A skeleton of poor preservation of the buried was revealed. He was missing a skull, part of the bones of the trunk and legs. Judging by the preserved bones, the buried man was laid in a crouched position on his right side with his head on the CER. The arms are bent at the elbow joints at right angles.

Inventory. There was a molded vessel between the skull and the northern wall (Fig. 4, 3). The vessel is flat-bottomed, the body is truncated-biconic, the corolla is slightly bent outward, the edge is rounded. The short and straight neck and the transition to a rounded shoulder are highlighted, the maximum diameter is located in the upper third of the body. The surface of the vessel is smoothed. The firing is uneven, the outer surface is gray-pink, gray in places, the inner is gray–pink, black in the fracture. Height – 13.5 cm, diameter of the corolla – 11 cm, maximum diameter of the body -14.5 cm, diameter of the bottom – 7.0 cm.

Burial 4 (Fig. 2, 2) was located in the central part of the mound 5.5 m south of the center, in an embankment at a depth of -145 – -154 cm from the reference point. The northern part of the pit is partially disturbed by the late perekop. The burial was performed in a pit of oval shape with an extension in the SSV part, oriented with a long axis along the line of the SSZ-YYUV. The width of the pit is 0.85 m, the preserved length is 1.4 m. The walls are vertical up to 15 cm high. The bottom is flat, with a drop to the center. A skeleton of poor preservation was found. Part of the skull was missing, due to the destruction of the late perekop. The adult buried lay in a crouched position on her left side with her head on the CER. The arms are stretched out along the trunk. The angle in the hip joints is close to straight, in the knee joints – sharp. The feet with traces of ochre are brought together and pulled up to the pelvis. Organic decay of plant origin (bark?) was traced under the backbone.

Inventory. Headdress ornaments and necklaces have been preserved in the head area.In the area of the occiput there were three bronze cast temporal pendants in 1.5 turns (Fig. 5, 1-3); one is fragmented. They are made of a bronze rod with extensions at the ends and pointed edges; the sizes vary slightly.A bronze pendant was found in the neck area (Fig. 5, 4), as well as glass (Fig. 6, 6) and jet (Fig. 6, 1-3) and a bronze bead that were part of the necklace. Jet beads are truncated-biconic (Fig. 6, 6), fragmented.Beads made of opaque glass – cylindrical beads (Fig. 6, 6, 3a, c, d), cylindrical bead (Fig. 6, 6, 3, b). The suspension is bronze disc-shaped with a protruding loop of a bent plate decorated with flutes. There is a deepened circle on one side (Fig. 5, 4).The bead is bronze, flattened and spherical. A truncated-biconic bronze bead lay at the feet.

Fig. 2. Burial mound No. 1 of the Gudermes burial mounds No. 1. Burial plan (burials ¹ 1, ¹ 4, ¹ 6, ¹ 7).

Burial 5 was located in the SE part of the mound 14 m to the SE from the center, let into an embankment on the stones of the shell at a depth of -374 – -379 cm from the reference point, broken. There was no pit. The skeleton was poorly preserved, the skull and bones of the trunk were missing. The adult buried is laid in a crouched position on the right side with his head on the NW. The legs are bent at the knee joints, the feet are pulled up to the pelvis. Without inventory.

Burial 6 was found in a part of the mound 12 m east of the center (Fig. 2; 3), let into the embankment, cutting through the shell stones, some of which were used to decorate the eastern wall of the pit. The southern part is partially disrupted. The burial was performed in a rectangular pit with strongly rounded corners, oriented with a long axis along the C-Th line, with dimensions of 1.1x0.65 m. The western wall was traced by density.

In the pit were the skeletons of two buried: an adult 25-35 years old and a child 5-7. The safety is poor. The child's position is not restored. The adult skeleton lay in a crouched position on its left side with its head facing north. Judging by the position of the bones of the forearm of the left hand, it is bent at the elbow, the hand is in front of the face. The angle in the hip and knee joints is acute. The knees are pulled up to the stomach, and the feet to the pelvis. Inventory was missing.

Burial 7 (Fig. 2, 4) was located in the SE part of the mound 13.5 m to the SE from the center (Fig. 1), let into the embankment, cutting through the shell stones used for the design of the pit. The burial was performed in a rectangular pit with strongly rounded corners, oriented with a long axis along the SW-SW line, with dimensions of 0.65 x0.28 m. The bottom is flat, with a decrease to the center. Above the skeleton, two fragments of a large molded vessel with a coating of liquid clay on the outside were found. There was a skeleton of a child about 4 years old in the pit. The safety is poor. He was lying in a crouched position on his right side with his head on the SW. The arms are bent at the elbows, the hands are in front of the face. The knees are pulled up to the stomach, and the feet to the pelvis.

Inventory. Fragments of the walls of a large container vessel. The inner surface is gray, the outer surface is gray-pink. The outer surface is coated with liquid clay, with traces of rough grass combs (Fig. 4, 5-6).

Burial 8 (Fig. 3, 1) was located in the central part of the mound and cut through the southern wall of burial 3 (Fig. 1), in an embankment at a depth of -163 cm from the reference point. The northern part of the pit was in the filling of the burial 3. The burial was performed in a rectangular pit with slightly rounded corners, oriented with a long axis along the line of the SSZ-SE. The width of the pit is 1.1 m, the preserved length is 1.7 m. The walls are vertical up to 30 cm high.

The buried woman (55 years and older) was lying in a crouched position on her right side with her head on the SE. The bones of the trunk were located with a blockage on the chest. The left arm is bent at the elbow joint at an acute angle, the hand is at the chin. The bones of the shins, the right thigh and the right wing of the pelvis were not preserved. The left femur was at an acute angle to the axis of the spine. Judging by the position of the bones of the feet, the legs were bent at the knee joints at an acute angle, the feet were brought together and pulled up to the pelvis. Traces of ochre were found on the bones of the feet and near the bottom. Organic decay of plant origin was traced under the backbone.

Inventory. In the SE corner of the pit, a triangular-shaped flint arrowhead with an arc-shaped notch at the base and two spikes of different sizes was found in the filling (Fig. 5, 11). The cross section is lenticular. Edge and edges with retouching.Flattened globular bronze beads (7 pcs.) were found behind the skull, behind the back, at the feet. (fig. 5, 10).

Burial 11 was located in the upper part of the mound 9.5 m to the south of the center (Fig. 1) let into the embankment at a depth of -215 – -220 cm from the reference point. Partially violated by technology. The pit was not traced.

The backbone of a 55+ year-old man lay in a crouched position on his left side with his head on the CVD. The right arm is bent at the elbow joint at an acute angle; the hand is bent at a right angle and the fingers are directed to the face. The left arm is extended and set aside from the body; the hand is bent at an angle close to the straight and was between the thighs. The angle in the hip joint of the right leg is close to straight; the bones of the lower leg, the feet have not been preserved. The angle in the hip and knee joints of the left leg is sharp; the bones of the foot have not been preserved. The knees are strongly pulled up to the stomach, the feet to the pelvis.

Inventory. At the left elbow there was a molded vessel (Fig. 4, 1) with a handle-stop under the whisk. The vessel is flat-bottomed, with a truncated-biconic body, with a smoothed edge in the upper third of the body and a highlighted transition to the bottom. The corolla is smoothly concave inwards, slightly flattened along the edge. The stop handle was attached to the corolla and is located perpendicular to the body, the maximum length is 3.0 cm. The base of the handle of the podoval section, with an extension at the edge and a recess at the end. On the underside of the handle there is a recess under the finger. Sizes: the height is 11.0 cm, the diameter of the corolla is 13.0 cm, the diameter of the maximum expansion of the body is 15.5 cm, the diameter of the bottom is 8.0 cm.

Burial 12 was located in the part of the mound 7.5 m east of the center (Fig. 1). It was let into the embankment at a depth of -152 – -157 cm from the reference point. Partially violated. The pit was not traced. The skeleton of a child 7-10 years old was lying in a crouched position on his left side with his head on the CER. Judging by the bones of the forearm, the arms were bent at the elbow joint at an acute angle; the hand lay at the upper part of the chest.

Inventory. A fragment of the wall of a vessel coated with liquid clay was found above the skeleton. The surface is rough, gray-orange in color, black in the fracture (Fig. 4, 7).

Burial 14 (Fig. 3, 2) was located in the central part of the mound, 4.5 m to the left of the center (Fig. 1), in an embankment at a depth of -120 – -137 cm from the reference point. Its western part is broken. It was made in a pit of a sub-rectangular shape. Width 1.8 m, length 0.9 m. It is oriented to the cardinal directions (Fig. 139-141). The walls are vertical. In the western facade of the central edge with a height of up to 90 cm . Charcoal particles and stones were found.

Fig. 3. Burial mound No. 1 of the Gudermes burial mounds No. 1. Burial plan (burials ¹ 8, ¹ 14, ¹ 15, ¹ 16).

The skeleton of a 55-60-year-old man has been violated by technology; the skull and the upper part of the trunk and arms have been preserved. Judging by their position, he was in a crouched position on his left side with his head on the VJV. The bones of the trunk were located with a blockage on the back. The left arm, judging by the position of the humerus, is extended and set aside from the trunk. Under the buried remains of vegetable decay of gray-brown color (reeds?). Without inventory.

Burial 15 (Fig. 3, 3) was located in the SE part of the mound, 10 m to the SE from the center (Fig. 1), in an embankment at a depth of -305 – -312 cm from the reference point, (the western part) is broken. It was made in a rectangular pit with strongly rounded corners. Width 0.9 m, length 0.9 m. Oriented with a long axis along the Z-V line. The walls are vertical, up to 15 cm high.

The skeleton of a 55-60-year-old man is broken; the skull and the upper part of the trunk have been preserved. Judging by their position, the buried person was laid in a crouched position on the left side with his head on B. The bones of the trunk were located with a blockage on his back. The left arm, judging by the humerus, is stretched out. A gray-brown aphid of plant origin (reed?) has been identified.

Inventory. A fragmented bronze grooved 1.5-turn pendant (No. 1) made of a plate with extensions at the ends and rounded edges was found near the elbow of the left hand (Fig. 5, 7).

Burial 16 (Fig. 3, 4) was located in the SE part of the mound, 11.5 m to the SE from the center (Fig. 1), in an embankment at a depth of -325 – -331 cm from the reference point. Partially violated. It was made in a rectangular pit with strongly rounded corners and a convex eastern wall, measuring 1.3x1.1 m, oriented with a long axis along the Z-V line. The walls are vertical up to 15 cm high. The skeleton of the woman is broken; the upper part of the trunk is lost. Judging by the position of the preserved bones, he was lying in a crouched position on his left side with his head on Yu. The left hand was opposite the pelvis. The angle in the hip joint of the right leg is straight; in the knee – sharp. The angle in the hip and knee joints of the left leg is acute. The knees are strongly pulled up to the stomach, the feet to the pelvis.

Inventory. Behind the body of the buried at the wall was a flat-bottomed vessel. A mug with a loop-shaped handle. The body is truncated-spherical. The inner, outer surfaces and in the fracture are gray. The handle was attached to the whisk and to the shoulder. The height is about 10 cm (Fig. 4, 4).

In the abdomen and behind the pelvis, bronze piercings were found (No. 2, 3), made of a sheet up to 0.1 cm thick, one cylindrical fragmented (Fig. 5, 5). Glass beads were found near the abdomen, at the pelvis and between the pelvis and the left hand. Cylindrical beads made of opaque glass (fig. 6, 1-2. Beads of similar sizes with three "bumps" on the surface (Fig. 6, 4-5).  Cylindrical beads made of opaque glass (Fig. 6, 3-4).

In the area of the belt there were pendants of seashells arranged in one line. The pendants are disc-shaped, slightly convex, made from the flaps of mollusk shells (Fig. 6, 7). Beads from the shells of small grass snails, which were part of the costume jewelry, were found on the left hand.; (fig. 6, 1-2). Behind the basin were the teeth of a canine predator.

Burial 19 was located in the SE part of the mound, 10 m to the SE from the center (Fig. 1), in an embankment at a depth of -180 cm from the reference point. The eastern and southern parts of the pit are partially disturbed. The burial was performed in a rectangular pit with preserved dimensions of 1.8x0.9 m, oriented with a long axis along the north-south line. The walls are inclined, narrowing to a bottom up to 15 cm high. The preservation of bones is poor. The buried one (a child of 4-5 years old) was lying in a crouched position on his left side with his head on the CER. The arms are bent at the elbow joints at an acute angle; the hands were in front of the face. Judging by the fragment of the right femur, the knees were pulled up to the abdomen (the angle in the hip joint is acute).

Inventory. Behind the head of the buried was a vessel (Fig. 4, 2) with a side handle-stop at the point of expansion of the body, flat-bottomed, with a truncated biconic body. The corolla is flattened along the edge. The side stop handle is located perpendicular to the body. On its upper side there is a depression under the finger. An astragalus was found near the hands (Fig. 5, 12).

Fig. 4. Burial mound No. 1 of the Gudermes burial mounds No. 1. Inventory –ceramics.

The burial mound No. 1 of the Gudermes burial Mounds No. 1 is a monument of one period – the Bronze Age, which distinguishes it from the mounds of the steppes of Eastern Europe, in which burials of various epochs from the Eneolithic to the Late Middle Ages are often found. As mentioned above, the burials of the late Middle and early Late Bronze Age were let into the eastern and southern sectors of the mound, sometimes with the disassembly of the shell stones. All burials were made in pits, as well as the burials of the early stage of the Middle Bronze Age, but unlike them they were in a strongly crouched position. Most of them are oriented to the northern sector (north-west-north-north-east) – burials ¹¹ 4, 6, 11, 12 19 they were mainly on the left side, and the burials No. 7, 8, directed with their heads to the southern sector (southeast-southwest) they were on the right side. The exception is burial No. 1 and No. 5, crouched on the right side with their heads, respectively, on the SSV and SZ, as well as burials No. 14, No. 16 on the left side with their heads, respectively, on the VVV and Yu, No. 15 on the left side with their heads on V.

It should be noted that structurally, all the pits of the late Middle and early Late Bronze Age burial mound No. 1 of the Gudermess burial mounds No. 1 are quite simple and monotonous, compared with the burial pits of the early stage of the Middle Bronze Age of this mound. They are all mostly rectangular in shape – burials ¹ 1, ¹ 6, ¹ 7, ¹ 8, ¹ 14, ¹ 15, ¹ 16, ¹ 19 with strongly rounded corners (except for burial No. 8 with slightly rounded corners and burial No. 14 in a pit of a sub-rectangular shape and oriented to the cardinal directions), for with the exception of burial No. 4, made in an oval-shaped pit with an extension in the CER part. Also, unlike the burials of the early stage of the Middle Bronze Age, in later burials there are no pits whose walls were lined with stones (limestone, red-brown slate). On the other hand, in the burials under consideration, wood decay from the floor boards that were present in earlier kurgan complexes was not recorded.

Fig. 5. Burial mound No. 1 of the Gudermess burial mounds No. 1. Inventory –jewelry - 1-10; weapons - 11; astragalus - 12.

As for the funeral rite, striking changes are also observed here. If we talk about the orientation of the buried, then we should also point to an increase in the number of buried people oriented with their heads in the south direction with various deviations in one direction or another, which indicates that the orientation of the buried is becoming more stable. Attention should also be paid to the strong curvature of the bones in comparison with the complexes of the early stage of the Middle Bronze Age, where burials with weakly curled bones on the left or right side and elongated bones on the back were presented. It should also be noted about the decrease in the use of ochre and staining of the feet of the bones in the funeral rite. Thus, of the twelve burials of the late Middle and early Late Bronze Age, only two burials revealed traces of the use of ochre on the bones of the feet and on the bottom – burials No. 4 and No. 8 (Fig. 2, 2; Fig. 3, 1) On the other hand, in two burials No. 1 and No. 14, particles were found in the filling charcoal.

A characteristic feature of the inventory of the considered burials of the late Middle and early Late Bronze Age is its relative poverty, monotony compared to the burials of the previous period. Stone axes of the so-called Kabardino-Pyatigorsk type, bronze blades of daggers, bone hammer-shaped pins and other things characteristic of an earlier time were not found in them at all. The exception is a triangular-shaped flint arrowhead with an arc-shaped notch at the base and two differently sized spikes with retouching. The inventory is mainly limited to ceramics and a few ornaments.

Ceramics are represented by both whole flat-bottomed vessels and individual fragments of vessels. The surfaces of most whole vessels are smoothed (burials ¹ 1, ¹ 11, ¹ 16, ¹ 19), their outer surface is gray-pink, brown, gray in places, the inner surface is gray–pink, with a break in gray and black colors. Two vessels (burials No. 11, No. 19) are similar both in shape and in the design of the handle. They are equipped with handles-stops or pseudo–handles under the whisk (border No. 11) or at the point of expansion of the body - border No. 19 (Fig. 4, 1-2). Another vessel from burial No. 16 had a type III mug with a loop–shaped handle, the usual ribbon handle was attached to the corolla and to the shoulder (Fig. 4, 4), and the vessel from burial No. 1 had no handles (Fig. 4, 3).

As for the found fragments of vessels, one of them (burial No. 7)  it represents a fragment of the wall of a large container vessel with an inner surface of gray color, and an outer surface of gray-pink. The outer surface is coated with liquid clay, with traces of rough grass combs (Fig. 4, 5-6). In another fragment of the vessel wall (burial No. 12), the surface is coated, rough, rough, gray-orange in color, with a black fracture (Fig. 4, 7).

Ceramics from the burials of the late Middle and early Late Bronze Age have similarities with the ceramics of burials from the early stage of the Middle Bronze Age both in shape and in the design of handles (burials No. 11, No. 19). The technique of making vessels does not differ from the previous ceramics. Other vessels (burials No. 1, No. 16) are similar in shape and design of the handle, especially a mug with a loop-shaped handle (border No. 16)  to the vessels of the Kayakent-Khorochoy culture, widespread in the late Middle and early Late Bronze Age in Dagestan and Eastern Chechnya. But the technique of coating the surface of vessels with liquid clay began to be used more often, which is a characteristic feature of the ceramics of the Kayakent-Khorochoy culture. Unfortunately, the vessels decorated with ornaments were not found in the burials under consideration, unlike the burials of the early stage of the Middle Bronze Age.

Armament items are represented by a triangular-shaped flint arrowhead with an arc-shaped notch at the base and two differently sized spikes with retouching, found in burial No. 8 (Fig. 5, 11).  Arrowheads similar in shape were found in a mound near the villages of Konstantinovskaya and Mekenskaya ^{[2, 52, Fig. 17; 3, 11, Fig. 1, 1]}, at the villages of Mahmud-mekteb ^{[4, 171, fig. 10, 9]} and at the settlement of Serzhenyurt I ^{[5, 350, fig. 75, 3, 9]}, etc. According to the classification of V. And Markovin, it belongs to the III type of flint arrowheads with a symmetrical notch in the base ^{[2, 99, Fig. 44, 8-10]}. There is also a new detailed classification by R.N. Mirzoev, taking into account the results of excavations of Bronze Age monuments in the North-Eastern Caucasus in the 1960s and 1970s, based on which the arrowhead in question belongs to type III arrowheads – with a symmetrical notch and the fourth subtype – triangular in shape with a wide arched notch and with two spikes at the base ^{[6, 37-39, fig. Table III, 25-29]}. 

Of the headdress decorations and necklaces, we will point to bronze cast temporal pendants in 1.5 turns (burial No. 4) (Fig. 5, 1-3). Usually they have a round or oval, more precisely an oval-elongated shape. Both forms appear early in the Caucasus, but a number of researchers believe that the earliest forms of pendants had a round shape. B.A. Kuftin associated their appearance in the Caucasus with Mesopotamian influence ^{[7, 94]}. They were found in almost all the monuments of the Bronze Age of the Caucasus ^{[2, 97; 8, 254-286, Table. 73, 7; 75, 9, 10; 78, 16; 79, 4, 31-33; 9, 69; 10, 133, fig. 5, 8, 11, 26; 8, 3-6]}. In the North-Eastern Caucasus, they are widely found both in the monuments of the early stage of the Middle Bronze Age, and in the Kayakent-Khorochoyev monuments of the late Middle Bronze Age and the early stage of the late Bronze Age ^{[11, 68; 12, 65-66; 13, 142-145; 14, 59-60; 15, 119- 120, 343, 348, fig. 18, 1-47; 124, 1-29; 16, 16-22]}.

In burial No. 15, a fragmented bronze grooved suspension of 1.5 turns was found, made of a plate with extensions at the ends and rounded edges (Fig. 5, 7). This type of temporal pendants – plate pendants with blades are the most characteristic attribute of local culture. B.A. Kuftin derived these pendants, as well as round ones, from Mesopotamian prototypes considering the large number of their finds and the variety of these ornaments in the royal tombs of Ur. He revealed analogies to them and compared them with the ring-shaped gold pendants from the burial of Queen Shubad in Ur ^{[17, pl. 128, 1237, pl. 219, type 1-4]}.  The type of jewelry under consideration reflects the specifics of the culture of the early stage of the Middle Bronze Age of the North-Eastern Caucasus ;^{[18, 126, 17, 18; 12, 66, fig. 28, 8-11; 8, 312-324, fig. 98, 14-19; 13, 143-145, fig. 6, 3; 10, 3; 26, 3, 4; 30, 4; 19, 48, fig. 5, 10-16; 7, 3, 4; 15, 120, 343, 348, fig. 18, 1-8; 124, 37-39; 16, 18-21]}.

Plate pendants in the Caucasus are known in the monuments of the early Bronze Age of Transcaucasia. Later they appear at the very beginning of the Middle Bronze Age in the North Caucasus, where they were found in the inlet burial of the Nalchik burial ground ^{[20, 114-115, Fig. 25, 3]}. At the middle and late stage of the development of the North Caucasian K.I.O., they are found: in the kurgan at the art. Andriukovskaya ^{[2, 51, Fig. 16, 11]}, Upper Rutha burial grounds ^{[21, 85-88, Fig. 7, 5]}, Galashki ^{[22, 89, Fig. 23, 4]}. It is believed that plate pendants from Dagestan could have reached the North Caucasus and steppe tribes ^{[2, 51, fig. 16, 11; 23, 76-77; 14, 60]}.     

These pendants are especially widespread in the monuments of the Kayakent-Khorochoy culture. They dominate quantitatively in comparison with round ones and are "mass material that unites various monuments into a single culture" ^{[11, 79; 12, 66-67, fig. 28, 8-11; 14, 59-61, fig. 8, 72-75, 77; 24, 147-155, fig. 6, 10]}.

Of interest is a bronze disc-shaped pendant with a protruding loop of a bent plate decorated with flutes. There is a deepened circle on one side (Fig. 5, 4). Similar pendant-medallions are known in the monuments of the Middle Bronze Age of Dagestan and Eastern Chechnya ^{[15, 120-121, fig. 117; 124]} and the Velikent culture ^{[25, 15, Fig. 6, 1-11]}. But they are especially characteristic of the monuments of the North Caucasian K.I.O. ^{[2, 97, fig. 9, 34, 35; 12, 3; 13, 55, 56, 61, 62, 63, 10, 11, 12; 79, 6, 17, 18, 35-38; 22, 6 - 10; 8, 254-286, table. 77, 10, 11, 15, 18; 78, 9, 10, 13; 79, 6, 17, 18, 35-38; 80, 36-38; 85, 8; 9, 95; 10, 133, fig. 8, 18; 42, 4-7; 48, 2, 4]}. They are also known in the monuments of the catacomb K.I.O., in various cultures of the Caspian-Azov interfluve, where they penetrated from the territory of the North Caucasus ^{[9, 95-96]}. It is believed that disc-shaped medallions are ancient, compared to ring-shaped medallions.

Small ornaments made of bronze – a variety of flattened-spherical and truncated-biconic beads were found in burials No. 4, No. 8 (Fig. 5, 8-10).  Metal products and jewelry made of various types of stone also indicate a connection with early complexes. Among other small-type metal ornaments, we note bronze piercings made of a sheet up to 0.1 cm thick, found in burial No. 16 (Fig. 5, 5-6).  Both of these ornaments are widely known in the monuments of the Middle Bronze Age of both Chechnya and Dagestan, and the North Caucasus. Such decorations were widespread both in time and in space.

         In the burial mound No. 1 of the Gudermes burial mounds No. 1, non-metallic ornaments are presented in large numbers. These are beads and pendants made of various types of stone, glass paste and shell. Similar ornaments have been found in the Caucasus and other places for a long time.

         Jet beads were especially common in Chechnya and Dagestan, where its deposits are known. The researchers rightly noted that the beads and pendants made of jet found in Dagestan were made from local raw materials (Fig. 6, 2, 6). So, their mass character indicates their local origin, and on the other hand, the discovery in the crypt of the Ginchinsky burial ground of a piece of untreated jet or a piece of jewelry ^{[13, 148]}. From Dagestan and Chechnya they got to the neighboring regions of the Caucasus ^{[18, 129; 13, 147-148; 26, 26]}.

         Beads or small glass beads made of paste are presented in large numbers (burials No. 4, No. 16) (Fig. 6, 2-5).  Of interest is a glass bead with three protrusions or cones – "warty" (burial No. 16) (Fig. 6, 3-5).  In Chechnya and Dagestan, warty beads have been found both in the monuments of the early stage of the Middle Bronze Age and in the monuments of the Kayakent-Khorochoy culture. Previously, it was believed that they were dating objects and their chronological framework was determined within the middle – third quarter of the II millennium BC. Their finds in Dagestan in monuments of a fairly wide chronological range somewhat change our ideas about them as dating objects. This indicates that warty beads have been in use in Chechnya and Dagestan for much longer than in the North Caucasus.

Fig. 6. Burial mound No. 1 of the Gudermess burial mounds No. 1. Inventory –jewelry: beads and beads made of glass - 2-6; Beads made of jet - 2; beads made of shells of small grass snails 1; beads and pendants made of Caspian shells - 7.

         In conclusion, it is necessary to point out the finds in the mound under consideration of beads and pendants of various shapes from Caspian shells (Fig. 6, 7), as well as beads from the shells of small grass snails (Fig. 6, 1-2).  These ornaments made of Caspian shells are widely distributed in the monuments of the Bronze Age of Dagestan and Chechnya. It is believed that they penetrated from Dagestan to the tribes of neighboring regions and other regions of the North Caucasus, which is proof of the influence of the culture of the population of Dagestan on the culture of other regions of the Caucasus ^{[18, 130; 13, 142-145; 26, 26-27]}.

         In general, in the inventory of burials of the late Middle and early Late Bronze Age, as well as in the funeral rite, there are features characteristic of both the burials of the early stage of the Middle Bronze Age and the inventory characteristic of the monuments of the Kayakent-Khorochoy culture that existed at the final stage of the Middle and early Late Bronze Age in Eastern Chechnya and throughout Dagestan. Small ornaments – beads made of metal, carnelian, paste, shells - are similar to ornaments from the burials of the early group. In the burials under consideration, lamellar temporal rings with two blades appear, which are the most characteristic type of jewelry in the monuments of the Kayakent-Khorochoy culture. According to V.I. Markovin, "they are a mass material that unites various monuments into a single culture" ^{[12, 67]}. Outside of the North-Eastern Caucasus, temporal pendants with blades are very rare. The only exceptions are monuments on the territory of South Ossetia ^{[26, 26-27]}.

The monuments of the late stage of the Middle Bronze Age and the early stage of the Late Bronze Age include underground burials at the hut. New Arshti in Chechnya studied by R.M. Munchaev in the late 1950s and S.B. Burkov in the late 1980s and early 1990s in the foothill and plain zones of Chechnya. As a result of the excavations, the main underground burials with ceramics typical of the Late Bronze Age monuments of the mountainous foothill zone of Chechnya and Dagestan and characteristic of the "Proto-Kuban" period of the XIV – XII centuries BC were discovered. The analysis of their materials allowed S.B. Burkov to conclude that "perhaps at least two lived in this microdistrict at the final stage of the late Bronze Age population groups with both Mountain Caucasian and mixed steppe prototypes. Among the components that took part in the formation of culture at its initial stage are the traditions of the late "North Caucasian" (funeral rites, ceramics), the pre-Caucasian late Catacomb, Kayakent-Khorochoev (ceramics) and Transcaucasian (metal) cultures of the final stage of the Late Bronze Age. .... ^{[27, 58]}.

At the end of the Early and at the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age, active cultural and historical interactions of the local population with the tribes of the more western regions of the North Caucasus and the steppes of Southeastern Europe took place on the territory of the North-Eastern Caucasus. If in the early Bronze Age the territory of Eastern Chechnya and Dagestan was part of the distribution area of the Kuro-Arak culture, then at the end of this period there are direct penetrations of the tribes of the Maykop culture and steppe tribes (Yamnaya culture), followed by a significant change in the appearance of the local culture. There is a decline of the early Bronze age Kuro-Araks culture and the disintegration of the cultural unity of the region. New cultures of the Middle Bronze Age are being formed here. Monuments of North Caucasian culture are spreading in the flat part of Western Chechnya. Sporadically, they also penetrate into the territory of Eastern Chechnya and Northern Dagestan. This is evidenced by the materials of the early burials (the main burial and the early stage of the Middle Bronze Age) of the burial mound No. 1 of the Gudermes burial mounds No. 1.

 The newcomer North Caucasian and steppe populations played a significant role in the ethno-cultural processes that took place in the North-Eastern Caucasus, but subsequently, about the second quarter of the II millennium BC, ethno-cultural differences between individual population groups disappear as a result of assimilation of the newcomer tribes by the local population. At this time, in the depths of the cultures of the early stage of the Middle Bronze Age, the main signs of the new Kayakent-Khorochoy culture gradually begin to mature. This is clearly evidenced by the funeral rite and the burial inventory of the late Middle and early Late Bronze Age burial mound No. 1 of the Gudermess burial mounds No. 1.  

Funerary monuments on the territory of the plain-foothill zone of Chechnya show that the life of the local population of the tribes was held in close contact with the tribes of the North Caucasus and the steppes, as well as with neighboring tribes of Dagestan. This determines the peculiarity of the cultural appearance of this region.

This is the material characterizing the late stage of the development of the culture of the late Middle and early stages of the Late Bronze Age on the territory of the plain zone of Eastern Chechnya. Its value lies in the fact that it allows you to recreate a picture of the life of local tribes and reveals their relations with each other, outlining their ties with the tribes of other regions of the North Caucasus, especially Dagestan, with the population of Transcaucasia and with nomadic tribes of the steppes. The material is also important because it can help in solving the problem of the origin of the cultures of the end of the II millennium BC – the Zandak and Koban.

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