Gultural palimpsest in the kurgan no. 5 of the Uytag-3 burial ground (Republic of Khakassia)

In 2021, as a part of rescue archaeological work in the Askiz district of the Republic of Khakassia a unique burial complex was studied. Kurgan No. 5 at the Uytag-3 burial ground was a cultural-chronological palimpsest. A mound of the Afanasyevo culture with two graves was located at the base of the site. Its territory was used by the Tagar people for the construction of their mound. A powerful fence with corner and paving stones, an earthen platform made of blocks of loam with sod, 4 burial vaults covered with larch logs, and passages were erected. During the Tesinsky stage, another burial vault with a dromos was built at the central part of the embankment. All the tombs functioned for a long time for the burial of new deceased. Despite the disturbance (and partial robbery) of the complexes in antiquity, many details of the funeral rituals characteristic of several chronological stages of the Tagar culture, from the Saragashenskiy (IV-III centuries BC) to the Tesinsky stage (II-I centuries BC), remained intact. Field research yielded abundant assemblage of burial goods including bronze daggers, battle hammer-axes, awls, mirrors; bronze and iron knives and belt plates with pendants; costume decorations in the form of hemispherical bronze plaques, beads, perforated clothing decorations and deer plaques. A variety of ceramics was found in each grave: from large jars to small vessels-incense burners. An interesting ceramic complex was also excavated from the Afanasyevo burials. The unique clay-plaster funerary masks portraying the deceased were cleaned up and secured at the Tesinsky vault. Almost all of the masks displayed Caucasian features. Samples of wood from burial structures were taken for analysis, and the anthropological collection was replenished. It is worth noting the Okunevo stele with a face carved on its side edge used in the fence of the Tagar mound.