Burial Mannequin With Cremains From The Grave 4 Of The Oglakhty Burial Ground (Excavations By L.R Kyzlasov, 1969)

The funeral practice of Tashtyk ground burials (early stage of the Tashtyk culture, Minusinsk basin) combined those made according to two different rites: inhumation with evidences of probable mummification (crania trepanation) and cremation with bones placed in human-like mannequins. This biritualism is generally considered as a result of the heterogeneity of the early Tashtyk society, which included migrants who incorporated the tradition of the cremation. Age and sex analyses of individuals buried in the Tashtyk cemeteries excavated by E.B. Vadetskaya showed that men were mostly cremated, while women, as a rule, were buried according to the rite of inhumation. Both conclusions however are not sufficiently proved and need further justification and concretization on the base of the wide materials of both cultural (archaeological) and biological (physical anthropology and genetic) character. Complex of grave 4, Oglakhty cemetery (AD 3-4 centuries) thanks to the well preserved organic remains provides a unique opportunity of considering in conjunction both cultural and biological characteristics of individuals buried here - two mummies and two mannequins. Possible subjectivity of the conclusions, related to the individual character of the source data, can be partly made up for their detailed character. Cultural features of all adult people from grave 4 as well as craniological data of the male mummy have been considered in the previous papers of the authors. Current paper is devoted to a mannequin with cremated bones. Detailed description of the mannequin, its cloths and a leather pocket containing cremated bones is given here for the first time as well as results of the bone analises. Large size of the bone fragments allowed their age and sex determination and gave an idea on the very process of cremation. An overview of the scarce parallels to the Oglakhty mannequins known from the other cultures is given which is important for the further interpretation of the Tashtyk materials.