A cuman statue from the Baga-Burul cemetery in the western part of Kalmykia

The paper explores a stone statue found in the course of excavations of the Baga-Burul kurgan group in the Republic of Kalmykia in 2002. The statue representing a sitting male figure was completely sunk into the mound of kurgan 5 and, therefore, was hidden from view. The archaeological context, the forms and details of the statue enable the researchers to date it to the middle - second half of the 12th - early 13th centuries. Comparison with similar finds in the south of Russia provides an opportunity to consider this site as a kind of a Cuman sanctuary.