Warrior Graves of the Scythian Period in the Zayukovo-3 Cemetery

The article examines the relationship of the local population from the foothill zone of the North Caucasus on the territory of the western variant of the Koban cultural and historical region with the steppe nomads in the second half of the 6th — first half of the 5th centuries BC. The authors analyzed the funerary ritual and inventory of four warrior graves from the Zayukovo-3 cemetery (Baksansky district, Kabardino-Balkaria) in which weapons were found, an object in the Scythian animal style (a bronze scabbard-end with an image of an elk), ceramic sets, jewelry sets, and came to the conclusion that the studied materials demonstrate a rather insignificant presence of steppe imports in warrior graves of the population that founded the necropolis. However, the military items produced by local craftsmen manifested the embodiment of ideas that emerged from the steppe world. In other aspects of material culture, the local population remained faithful to the traditions of the previous era, which partially changed over time, but retained their key features

Aesthetics · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Bronze Age · Geography · Population · Sociology · Steppe · Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Demography · History