Kurgan no. 1 in the burial mound 2 near the village of Gavrilsky Sady on the Middle Don

Aim. To introduce into scientific circulation the materials of an unusual burial mound complex from the Bronze Age on the left bank of the Middle Don region.

Methodology. The excavation materials were studied using comparative typological, X-ray fluorescent and traceological analysis methods.

Results. Five burials were found under a mound up to 1.5 m high. It was established that the main one is burial 5 with pit-catacomb signs of rituals and metal inventory of the second quarter of the 3rd millennium BC. Later, burials 3 and 4 of the Middle Don Catacomb culture with vessels were successively made. In the late 3rd – early 2nd millennium BC, burial 2 of the Pokrovsky type was made, and after filling, the mound acquired an oval shape. In this burial, two metal goad tips are noteworthy. The last was the inventory-less burial 1 of the Srubnaya culture, released into the center of burial mound.

Research implications. New data on the Middle – Late Bronze Age of southern Eastern Europe are being introduced into scientific circulation.

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