NO. 13 SOVIET ANTHKOPOLOGY — FIELD 87 



The third period is characterized by yurtlike semidiigout dwellings 

 closely related to those of the first pericjd. Their remains consist of 

 clay-paved circular or oval shallow pits, occasionally double, 2.5- 

 3.0 111. in diameter, with a hearth in the middle. Many of the dwellings 

 contained human skeletons in various positions, showing no signs 

 of orientation <ir proper grave inventories. On the other hand, the 

 finds from many of the dwellings were numerous and variegated. 

 Iron was widely represented by such objects as fishhooks, chisels, 

 scythes, plowshares, spades, sickles, and others. Most of these were 

 found in the dwelling pits which had been filled by bricks, fragments 

 of mortar, stone, mineral, and fishbones, and potsherds. 



The abrupt cessation of the third period probably occurred during 

 one of the invasions of the steppe tribes at the end of the tenth or at 

 the beginning of the eleventh century, at which time, after the down- 

 fall of the Khazar Kaganatc, these nomads were undisputed masters 

 of the South Russian steppes. Some traces of an attempt to repopulate 

 and even to refortify the gorodishcJic at some later period were also 

 found. 



These materials are of great importance for the understanding of 

 the settling of the nomads in the southeastern steppes which had 

 begun during tiie ninth century (cf. yurts with agricultural equip- 

 ment) and also for uncovering the character of the colonizing move- 

 ment of the Russian Slavic tribes to the southeast, which was begun 

 with the breaking up of the Khazar Kaganate during the tenth century. 



VOLGA REGION 

 Novo-Akkermanovka Cemetery 



The Archeological Expedition from Orsk, organized by G. Pod- 

 gaetskii ^" for the Marr Academy of the History of Material Culture 

 and the Museum of Regional Studies at Orenburg, studied during 

 1936 a Bronze Age cemetery situated 27 kilometers west of Orsk 

 near the village of Novo-Akkermanovka. 



The tombs were indicated on the surface by 19 stone boulders 

 arranged in a circle and belonging to 13 burials found at a depth of 

 0.3-1.0 m. In two cases it was possible to dctemiine the limit of the 

 graves : No. 4 was 0.6 x 1.6 m., and No. 13 was 1.3 x 1.8 m. 



The skeletons were lying on the right or left sides with legs and 

 arms flexed and the skull facing west. Nos. 4 and 8 were double 

 burials. The unnatural position of skeleton B. which was that of a 



'» Podgactskii. G., in Matcrialy i Issledovaniia po Arkheologii SSSR, No. i, 

 p. 82, Moscow, 1040. Resume in French. 



