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Abstract

The article examines the time and reasons for the appearance of undercut graves in the barbarian necropolises of Crimea during the Roman period. A number of the earliest undercut graves are analyzed, dating from the second half of the 1st century BC to the first half of the 1st century AD, which immediately precede the time of the mass distribution of this type of burial structures on the peninsula. Two main points of view on this issue are identified, conventionally called “migrational” and “autochthonous”. The author supports the “migrational” version, according to which undercut graves in Crimea appear together with waves of new population. The most probable are long-distance migrations from the Lower Don region, where the number of undercut burials is highest in relation to others.

Keywords

Northern Black Sea region, Crimea, Early Iron Age, late Scythians, Sarmatians, Roman period, undercut graves, funeral rite.

Viktor K. Maksimenkov

V.I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University, Simferopol, Russia

Institute of Archaeology of Crimea of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Simferopol, Russia

State Museum-Preserve “Chersonesus Taurica”, Sevastopol, Russia

E-mail: victorskiff @mail.ru

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