Aim. To review original artifacts made of wild boar tusk, which had been widespread across the vast steppe and forest-steppe zones of Eastern Europe starting from the Neolithic. In absolute dates, the chronology of the investigated materials covers the period from 7th to 6th millennium BC. Methodology. The paper considers materials from burial and settlement complexes taking into account geographical and chronological principles. Particular attention is paid to issues of absolute chronology. Results. The author advances the idea of the emergence of the tradition of making tools and jewelry from wild boar tusk in the Caspian Sea and the Lower Volga region in the early Neolithic. In the Late Eneolithic, the tradition of burying personal adornments made of wild boar tusk along with the dead was lost. Tools from this material were mainly used in pottery. Research implications. For the first time, the article presents a selection of wild boar tusk items (jewelry and tools) found across the East European steppe and forest-steppe and the Caucasus in a wide chronological range (Early Neolithic - Late Eneolithic).

Aim. To introduce an important reference monument of the Eneolithic era into scientific circulation. Methodology. The author analyzed 43 Eneolithic burials in the kurgan under study using a comparative typological method. A fractional typology of the burials was created, and their stratigraphic ratio was established. The cultural and chronological context was shown. Results. The analysis showed the cultural identity of these complexes, their earlier chronological position in relation to the early stage of the Yamnaya culture. Research implications. The article summarizes new data on the topic under study and introduces a new reference monument of the Eneolithic period.

Aim. To elaborate on the existing theoretical models describing cultural processes in the Balkans during the 4th and 3rd millennia cal. BCE from the perspective of the archaeology of pre-historic societies. Methodology. The research was conducted using the methods of synthesis and comparative analysis, as well as interpretation of well-known and novel archaeological records. Results. An evolutionary model was developed to describe two types of communities in the Balkans, including traditional and interactive communities. Research implications. The research results contribute to the theory of evolution of culture in Prehistory, thereby elucidating our understanding of cultural processes in the Balkans during the 4th and 3rd millennia cal. BCE.

Aim. To identify the relationship and mutual position of burial complexes (mounds and burials) of the Eneolithic and Bronze Age in the Arkhara mound group. Methodology. The author considers the main stages of creating a mound group, which was built in one line, as a string of mounds. The methods of observation, comparative inventory, generalization and interpretation were used. Results. The paper shows essential characteristics of using the mound space by the people of the Copper and Bronze age. Research implications. The obtained results elucidate the spiritual culture of the ancient population of the Copper and Bronze Age steppe zone of Eastern Europe.

Aim. Using paleogenetics data, to verify a hypothesis about the common origin of globular amphora and corded ware populations from the carriers of the funnelbeaker tradition. Methodology. A comparison of the data published in various literature sources was conducted. Results. According to ancient DNA data, the carriers of the globular amphora culture and those of the corded Ware culture were of different origin. The population of the globular amphora and corded ware cultures cannot be associated with the Black Sea region and Northern Europe, respectively. Research implications. The obtained results can be used for testing the reliability of alternative models describing the Indo-European settlement in Europe.

Aim. The aim of this paper is to elaborate a contemporary approach to warriors in archaeology. This particular type of social identity has been sufficiently researched and described in cultural anthropology. However, despite the abundance of information, the recognition of this phenomenon in the debate concerning prehistoric societies has been by no means satisfactory. Therefore, an attempt to provide new interpretations, incorporating various types of interdisciplinary data, must be made. Methodology. One of the ways to better comprehend the essence of warriorhood is to emphasize its universal “core”, consisting of a set of physiological reactions to confrontation and social mechanisms covering mutual relations between warriors and other members of a society they belonged to. As a social figure of great importance, a warrior was entangled in a vast network of social relations, which constituted his/her social being. Taking that into account, it is mandatory to study not only material symbols of martial prowess, such as weapons or anthropomorphic figurines, but also the so-called contextual background, including sex, age of weapon-wielders, burial customs attributed to them, as well as their relations to community members buried without attributes of war. This particular goal is often difficult to achieve, mostly due to poor preservation of skeletons or elusive and ambiguous character of social differences displayed in burial ritual. Nevertheless, few cultural traditions from the pre-state era in prehistory offer an invaluable field for this kind of research. The Corded Ware culture is undoubtedly one of them. It puts a strong emphasis on virility and martial prowess, by transcending these values from the world of the living into domain of the dead. Therefore, it will constitute the focal point of the presented idea of warriorhood. Results. The authors’ intention was to emphasize the fact that, despite its spatio-temporal variety, the phenomenon of warriorhood is characterized by a number of unique features, which occur universally in many cultures all over the world. Research implications. The approach to warriorhood presented in this paper combines the socio-anthropological background with the analysis of archaeological data in order to provide a more subject-oriented line of interpretation.

Aim. To present a rare monument - a late-Yamnaya burial with a cart, discovered in a multi-layered mound of the Yamnaya culture on the left bank of the Middle Prut (Republic of Moldova). Methodology. The author uses a comparative typological method to analyse the stratigraphy, burial rite and relative chronology of the burial mound under study. Results. The area of wheeled transport finds in the Prut-Dniester interfluve can be extended to at least the Middle Prut region. These finds can be associated with the late stage of the Yamnayaculture. Research implications. The article summarizes the data on the topic under study and raises the question of interpretation of ancient burials with wheeled transport of the early Bronze Age. A rare burial complex containing the structural remains of a cart was introduced into scientific circulation.

Aim. To present the results of rescue excavations of a Bronze Age tumulus located near the Chervonopartizansk town on the northern slope of the Donetsk ridge (Luhansk region, Severskiy Donets Middle Valley). Methodology. A preliminary characterization of the discovered burial complexes was given. The materials were analysed using both general scientific (analysis, synthesis) and specific archaeological (chronological, typological and analogues) methods. Results. A cultural and chronological description of the discovered materials was proposed on the basis of an analysis of inventory sets, burial rite details and the tumulus’ stratigraphic positions. Research implications. Previously unknown burials of the Middle and Late Bronze Age were introduced into scientific circulation. Known burials of the end of the Middle Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age were republished taking into account new data.

Aim. To publish the results of archaeological field research carried out by the Seversk-Donetsk expedition of the Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in the south of Donbass, in the Sverdlovsk district of the Luhansk region of Ukraine and in the Gukovsky district of the Rostov region of the Russian Federation in the 1970s. Methodology. The article presents the results obtained as a result of field studies of burial mounds, stone bookmarks, ground graves, enclosures and stone statues. The monuments under study belong to different eras, from the Eneolithic to the Middle Ages. Results. It was established that this small geographical area was highly attractive for cattle breeding communities in different eras. Research implications. The conducted studies contribute to the source base and knowledge of the ancient history of the South Donbass.

Aim. To describe a burial mound near Nogir, a village in the Prigorodny District of North Ossetia as a monument characterizing the Early and Middle Bronze Age in the Central North Caucasus region. Methodology. The mound under study was characterized as a reference monument of the Bronze Age in the Central North Caucasus region using stratigraphic, comparative typological and comparative historical methods. Results. As a result of the study it was found that the transition from the Kuban-Terek to the Catacomb culture in North Ossetia took place according to an algorithm of the formation of the early Catacomb horizon in other regions of Eastern Europe: the change of the burial structure from the pit to the catacomb while preserving the rite and complex of the inventory of the previous culture. Research implications. The research results give a contribution to the archaeological history of the Ciscaucasia and the Central North Caucasus. Kurgan near the village. Nogir is the most important evidence of the genetic relationship and continuity of the Kuban-Terek and Early Catacomb cultures on the territory of North Ossetia both among themselves and with the circle of Corded Ware and Globular amphorae cultures of Central Europe that is confirmed by the data of areal linguistics.

Aim. To examine the skeletal remains of 10 individuals (men, three women, 5 children and one without sex definition) discovered in August 2019 during excavations in the Nor Armavir burial ground. Methodology. The research methodology involved visual examination of skeletons, measurements, descriptions and radiography. The applied methodology revealed traces of pathological processes, whose etiology was further reconstructed. Results. The skeletal remains under study were conditionally distinguished into two craniological complexes, those of the low-head mesocrane and high-head dolichocrane types. The odontological complex was found to be of the southern gracile type characterized by a high level of reduction of the hypoconus of the second upper molars and small tooth sizes. At the individual level, the total size and shape of the body of an average adult were analysed. The structure of the paleopathological profile of the sample is dominated by inflammatory diseases, abnormalities and injuries. Research implications. The research results contribute to the theory of anthropological expertise.

Aim. To find new analogies of inscriptions no.117-120 from the Aï Khanoum palace treasury (Greco-Bactrian kingdom). Methodology. The mentioned inscriptions were compared with the so-called dipinti of the γευματηρά group, found mostly in Tanais (Bosporan kingdom) as well as in other sites in the north of the Black Sea region. The methods of observation and comparison were used. Results. A significant similarity between the Bactrian and Black Sea inscriptions under study was revealed. In both groups, the inscriptions were written with paint on vessels containing liquids to convey information about their serial numbers, the amount of the contained liquid and the cases of transferring the liquid from one vessel to another. This allowed the author to assume that all these inscriptions belonged to the same tradition. Research implications. The obtained results can be used in further research in the field of epigraphy to verify the existence of such a tradition.

Aim. To characterize new data on the Christianization of the North-Eastern Black Sea region in the light of new archaeological finds at the Verkhnegostagaevskoe fortified settlement (Krasnodar Krai). Methodology. The article presents the results of a preliminary study of a group of tombstone fragments having images of a cross in a circle, discovered during the study of the upper fortified site of the settlement. Results. A comparison of the images on the Verkhnegostagaevsky tombstones with probable analogues, the closest of which is the tombstone of the Utash necropolis near Anapa (ancient Gorgippia), we assumed the formation of a local tradition of making early Christian gravestones. Research implications. The article advances assumptions concerning the dating of the tombstones under study and the existence of a Christian community in the region in the early Byzantine period.