MOBILE LIFESTYLE AND SOCIETY: THE SRUBNAYA-ALAKUL PHENOMENON IN THE BRONZE AGE OF THE SOUTHERN TRANS-URALS
The study discusses the influence of mobile lifestyle and migrations on social groups in the Bronze Age, first of all, age and gender groups. The article considers the sites of the Srubnaya-Alakul contact zone in the Southern Trans-Urals. In total, 11 burial grounds (148 graves and 165 individuals) have been analyzed. The study has demonstrated that the formation of mixed cultural complexes definitely reflects the changes in the social sphere too. The contact area population treated the dead women more likely in the Alakul manner than in the Srubnaya rite. On the contrary, children were buried according to the Srubnaya rite, presumably with only pottery as grave goods. Males were also buried without any grave goods, except for vessels that corresponded equally to both Alakul and Srubnaya traditions. It is difficult to reconstruct the mechanism of transferring of cultural norms from archaeological source, but it seems that there were marriages between different in their origin groups of the population, and, as a result, the Alakul traditions were gradually eroded, and the new generation was brought up in the framework of the Srubnaya cultural stereotypes. Judging by the funeral data, the Alakul tradition related to the burial of women with jewelry as grave goods turned out to be the most stable rule.