دانلود کتاب Eventful Deaths - Eventful Lives? Bronze Age Mortuary Practices in the Late Prehistoric Eurasian Steppes of Central Russia (2100-1500 BC)

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In: Renfrew C., Boyd M.J., Morley I. (eds). Death Rituals, Social Order and the Archaeology of Immortality in the Ancient World. 'Death Shall Have No Dominion'. — Cambridge University Press, 2015. — pp. 328-347.Various studies of Bronze Age mortuary evidence in the southern Ural Mountains of Russia have highlighted an apparent similarity with religious rites described in the Rig Veda and Avesta. Indeed, late prehistoric populations in this region have been discussed critically with regard to the emergence and spread of Indo-Iranian languages and Aryan migrations. Although the use of ancient texts to interpret prehistoric religion and death practices is tantalising, their relevance to the primary funerary contexts discussed in this paper remain, at best, quite generalized and may constrain both method and interpretation of this diverse body of evidence. It is argued here that there is significant scope in the archaeological evidence to develop more nuanced understandings of how specific elements of material culture were valued in life and incorporated in rites of death.
Light spoke-wheeled chariots and associated artefacts (cheek pieces, sacrificed horses, weaponry) recovered from middle Bronze Age (MBA) cemeteries in this region have been the focus of discussion and debate over the relationships among mortuary evidence, warfare, and socio-political organization. In this paper, however, we focus more intently on recovered metal grave goods and their compositional analysis. Evidence recovered from recent archaeological field research indicates that the selection and placement of specific metal objects changed through time in the context of life, death, and the burial event. This paper examines this new information as an important component of funerary practices, social memory, and the broader context of metal production as connected with the use and deposit of metal objects. Evidence discussed will include the detailed analysis of metal objects, key shifts in the nature of metal deposits in burials, and new evidence on the scale of copper metal production in the broader region.