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The catacomb cultural and historical community is an ethnocultural association of the Middle Bronze Age (XXV – XX centuries BC), widespread in the steppe and forest-steppe zone from the Urals and the North Caucasus to the lower Danube. It was originally identified as an archaeological culture in 1901—1903. V. A. Gorodtsov.

Later, researchers identified local variants, which were identified as independent archaeological cultures. The concept of “catacomb cultural and historical community” was introduced into scientific circulation. Presented by the monuments of the following catacomb cultures:

– Early Catacomb (XXV – XXIII centuries BC),

– Donetsk (XXIII – XX centuries BC),

– Middle Don (XXVIII – XXVII—XX centuries BC),

– ingul (XXVIII – XX centuries BC).

The pioneer of the catacomb culture was V.A. and a burial chamber (burial place). In accordance with the design features of the burial structure, the culture allocated by him was called the catacomb culture. Catacomb burials are known in the same region much later, both in the Sarmatian time, and in the burials of the Saltovsko-Maetskaya cultures. The very structure of the grave – consisting of a dromos and a burial chamber, often with a dome, has parallels in the famous tomb of King Hinze in Germany, and probably with the device of the famous domed tombs of Hellas. The southernmost monuments are known in the Crimean steppes, and the most northern ones are near Kursk and Yelets. Catacomb settlements are known on the Don (near Rostov), Kibikinskoye near Lugansk, Ternovskoye near Kamyshin on the Volga, etc. Later, researchers turned their attention to the heterogeneity of catacomb sites in various territories, which contributed to the identification of a number local options. With the accumulation of archaeological material, the prerequisites were created for understanding local variants as independent archaeological cultures of a single catacomb cultural-historical community, which was ultimately done in the early 1970s by researchers L. S. Klein and O. G. Shaposhnikova.

The problem of the origin of the catacomb culture (later the catacomb cultural and historical community) was posed at the beginning of the 20th century by V.A.Gorodtsov, almost immediately after the discovery of burial burials in the catacombs on the Seversky Donets, but it still remains controversial. Researchers are discussing autochthonous and migration theories of the origin of the tribes of the catacomb community. The adherents of the autochthonous theory believe that the emergence of the catacomb community should be associated with the further development of the local Yamnaya population. Supporters of the migration theory express the idea that the catacomb tribes go back genetically to the Yamnoye, but arise under the strong migration influence of the populations of the Ciscaucasia. The type of economy of the carriers of the catacomb cultural and historical community was determined by the ecological conditions of the steppe and forest-steppe zones. So, in the steppe, pastoral or distant pasture cattle breeding of the nomadic type, which was based on the breeding of cattle and small ruminants, took root. In the forest-steppe, the model of pastoral or stall cattle breeding is spreading with a predominance of cattle and pigs in the herd. The catacomb cultural and historical community is characterized by ancestral settlements and low (up to 1 m) burial mounds without cremation. Catacomb burial device, ritual ceramic censer, cord stamp ornament, flat-bottomed cups, twisted corpse position on the side. Wooden carts are found in the burials. Ceramic implements contain elements of the globular amphora and corded pottery cultures of Central and Eastern Europe.

Temple lobed rings Blackened dishes with spiral patterns

The pottery is also blackened, with a relief pattern, often spiral, which brings them closer to the Tripillian ones, but the people of the Catacomb culture did not apply the pattern to the dishes, but squeezed it out. This brings the ceramics of the Catacomb culture closer to that of the Middle Hellenic culture.

Minian pottery of Crete.

The pottery of the Catacombs differs from the primitive and uniformly shaped dishes of the ancient pit culture. Known flat-bottomed pots with convex sides and a narrowed neck, the surface of which is decorated with an ornament applied by prints of a twisted rope, comb teeth or just a sharp object. The motives of the ornament are triangles, zigzags, but circles and spirals are more common, reflecting the cosmic ideas of the ancient farmers about the solar deity and mysterious plant principles that turn grains into stems, which in turn give rise to many of the same grains.

A metallurgical center was located on the territory of Donbass. This is also confirmed by the finds in the Donetsk catacomb burials of stone beaters, which were used for crushing ore before washing and smelting. In the inventory of the catacomb culture, there are bronze items: leaf-shaped knives, axes with eyelets, awls and bronze decorations, but most of the tools were still made of stone and bone. In the Dmitrovsky mound No. 6 in the Zaporozhye region, at the entrance to the burial chamber, a wooden catacomb cart with a fully preserved wheel, 5 thousand years old, was found. A two-wheeled cart with a preserved wheel 0.6 m in diameter is known from the Tyagunova Mogila catacomb burial in the Zaporozhye village of Maryevka. In the burial complex Ulan IV of the Western Manich catacomb culture in the Rostov region, a four-wheeled carriage was discovered, made in the XXIII century BC. e.

Skulls of the catacomb stage are distinguished by brachycrania and a higher vault than in the Yamnaya culture. Male skulls are characterized by a high mesocranial cranium, a highly profiled wide face, wide cheekbones, a high nose bridge, and a very large protrusion of the nasal bones. In the steppe Dnieper region, there are three craniological options:

– brachycranial – does not find analogues of the Bronze Age.

– mesocranial – reveals a distant resemblance to the skulls of the Afanasyevsk culture of Altai.

– dolichocranic – similar to the Noua and Srubnaya culture groups.

If we talk about the catacomb culture, apparently, the rite of rendering harmless the dead, dismembering dead bodies to neutralize their harm to the living, was not only inherited from the pit, but also received further development. So, among the catacomb tribes, the custom of decapitation (separation of the head) became widespread, which can be considered on the example of the Middle Don catacomb culture.

Finds of burials with detached skulls are recorded throughout the entire territory of the Middle Don catacomb culture from the Seversky Donets to the Don-Volga interfluve (the Khoper River). On the territory of the Middle Don, among more than 400 burials of the Middle Don catacomb culture, five burials with skeletons are known, in which the separation of the skull of the buried person has been reliably recorded.

All examined burials were accompanied by ocher, which was located both in separate burial places and completely covered the skeleton of the deceased. In each burial, ocher, as it were, emphasizes the special ritual significance of the objects it accompanies. This type of “special burial” is distinguished by a variety of accompanying inventory. The set of implements in each burial is individual, but a common feature for all burials is its originality. Almost all decapitated burials were accompanied by animal bones. In addition, a particularly interesting find is two divination bones. According to some researchers, “dice”, but rather oracle bones, that is, the buried person was a representative of the priestly group. “Dice with signs” or dice, namely the oracular dice, originally had a cult character, were the prerogative of a certain class associated with the performance of priestly functions. The flute and the bone hairpin (Vlasovka 12/3) are among the cult objects. The deceased already have an artificial deformation of the skulls. According to A.T. Sinyuka, all burials, where the burial rite was used under the mound, indicate the high social status of the deceased. Only prominent representatives of society and their immediate entourage could claim burials under the mound. But even from this series of burials, decapitated burials stand out according to special features. Researchers believe that it is possible to assert with a fair degree of confidence that decapitated burials are not a specific feature of a particular culture of the catacomb community, but most likely have a supracultural nature, reflecting the complex social structure of tribes – carriers of catacomb traditions. The burial place of a teenager girl was found. It was hammered in with boulders weighing hundreds of kilograms, which speaks of a lot of fear inspired by such a young creature. But the belief in the “malefic” dead seems obvious and proven.