Burials of Horses from the Ladozhsky Burial Place, 1945–1946 (Based on Archival Materials)

Aim. To examine and analyze the horse burials from the excavations of the Ladozhskij burial ground on Kolodeznaya Street, conducted by the Krasnodar Museum of Local History in 1945–1946. One of the burials, with six horses at a stable, is an unusual feature for Mаeotian ground burial grounds. Since no finds from the horse burials were found in the museum's collections, an attempt was made to analyze the burial rite and inventory using archival materials, including the personal archive of the excavation author.

Methodology. The analysis of archival materials and documents of the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Krasnodar Historical and Archaeological Museum-Reserve named after E. D. Felitsyn. The comparative-typological method and the method of dating by analogy were used in the study.

Results. The article contains materials and documents on the horse burials from the Ladozhskij burial ground excavated in 1945–1946, which have not been fully published before. The findings are described, and analogies are provided from well-dated complexes. Previously unpublished archival materials are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time.

Research implications. The results of the study contribute to the archaeology of the Kuban region. This work is of undoubted interest to researchers of the Maeotian culture, as it is the first publication of excavation materials from one of the well-known archaeological sites. The materials presented in the article can be used in archaeology courses, as well as in the study of specific aspects of the archaeology of the Early Iron Age in the North-Western Caucasus.

1. Potemkin, V. P., ed. (1945). The materials for the All-Union Archaeological Meeting. Moscow (in Russ.).

2. Anfimov, N. V. (1947). Earthen crypts of the Sarmatian time in the soil burial grounds of the Kuban region. In: KSIIMK, XVI, 148–157 (in Russ.).

3. Anfimov, N. V. (1987). Ancient gold of the Kuban. Krasnodar (in Russ.).

4. Limberis, N. Yu., Marchenko, I. I. & Tkachev, A. N. (2024). On the history of the study of equestrian equipment from the Meot monuments of the Kuban region. In: Archaeological news, 45, 118–126. DOI: 10.31600/1817-6976-2024-45-118-126 (in Russ.).

5. Anfimov, N. V. (1951). Meoto-Sarmatian burial ground near the village of Ust-Labinskaya. In: MIA, 23, 155–207 (in Russ.).

6. Limberis, N. Yu. & Marchenko, I. I. (2012). Burial of the Sarmatian horseman on the necropolis of the Meot settlement. In: Eurasia in the Scythian-Sarmatian time. In memory of Irina Ivanovna Gushchina. GIM proceedings, 191, 261–280 (in Russ.).

7. Limberis, N. Yu., Marchenko, I. I. & Kondratenko, A. V. (2021). Swords and daggers without a metal top from the Meot monuments of the right bank of the Kuban. In: Nizhnevolzhsky archaeological bulletin, 20-1, 103–152. DOI: 10.15688/nav.jvolsu.2021.1.7 (in Russ.).

8. Limberis, N. Yu. & Marchenko, I. I. (2013). Horseman burial with umbon from the Middle Kuban. In: Stratum plus, 4, 105–115 (in Russ.).

9. Limberis, N. Yu., Marchenko, I. I. & Spasskaya, N. N. (2024). Horses and riders from the Meot burial ground in Prikubanye. In: Horses in world history and culture: abstracts of reports. St. Petersburg, 188– 190 (in Russ.).

10. Limberis, N. Yu., Marchenko, I. I., Tkachev, A. N. & Kondratenko, A. V. (2025). Horseback burial from the Leninokhabl burial ground. In: Raev, B. A., eds. XII Anfimov readings on the archeology of the Western Caucasus. Moscow, 164–172 (in Russ.).

11. Limberis, N. Yu. & Marchenko, I. I. (2022). Complex of horse bridle from the Meot burial on the Right Bank of the Kuban. In: Lower Volga Archaeological Bulletin, 21-1, 267–275. DOI: 10.15688/nav.jvolsu.2021.1.14 (in Russ.).

12. Ditler, P. A. (1961). Mogilniki near the village of Kolosovka on the Fars River. In: Collection of materials on the archeology of Adygea. T. II. Maykop, 127–187 (in Russ.).

13. Beglova, E. A. & Erlich, V.  R. (2018). Meota Zakubanya in Sarmatian time (based on materials from the Tenginsky soil burial ground). Moscow; St. Petersburg (in Russ.).

14. Sazonov, A. A. (1992). Burial ground of the first centuries of our era near the Gorodny farm. In: Questions of archeology of Adygea. Maykop, 244–274 (in Russ.).

15. Kozhukhov, S. P. (1994). Armament and equestrian equipment among the tribes of Zakubanya of the Meoto-Sarmatian time (3ed century BC – 3ed century AD): [dissertation]. Moscow (in Russ.).

16. Abramova, M. P. (1993). Central Ciscaucasia in Sarmatian time (3d century BC – 4d century AD). Moscow (in Russ.).

17. Antipenko, A. V. (2023). Equipping a riding horse of the 1st-4th centuries AD in the Foothill Crimea: [dissertation]. Simferopol (in Russ.).

18. Limberis, N. Yu. & Marchenko, I. I. (2005). Chronology of ceramic complexes with ancient imports from excavations of the Meot burial grounds of the Right Bank of the Kuban. In: MIAK, 5, 219–324 (in Russ.).

19. Limberisб, N. Yu. & Marchenko, I. I. (2021). Burials of Meot horsemen, accompanied by dogs from the Prikubansky burial ground. In: Stratum plus, 3, 131–150 (in Russ.).

20. Monakhov, S. Yu., Marchenko, I. I., Limberis, N. Yu., Kuznetsova, E. V. & Churekova, N. B. (2022). Amphorae of the 7th–1st centuries BC from the collection of the Krasnodar State Historical and Archaeological Museum-Reserve named after E. D. Felitsyn. Saratov (in Russ.).