IDEOLOGICAL CONCEPTS AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF
THE PRISULAK TRIBES IN THE MIDDLE BRONZE AGE
The article is devoted to the study of ideological concepts and the social structure of the population of one of the archaeological formations of the North-Eastern Caucasus of the Middle Bronze Age - the Prisulak culture. The work is based on the analysis of burial and religious monuments, the study of which allows revealing various religious concepts and rituals of the cult nature of the local population of the Middle Bronze Age. Examination of the burial structures and the rite of the early group of burials of the burial mounds of the Prisulak district testifies to the diversity of the burial structures and the great diversity of the funerary rites. Ground pits, stone tombs, small stone boxes were revealed: with stretched, seated and crouched bones oriented in the east, southeast, south and south-west directions. In the funeral rite of the early group of burials, along with ancient and local elements, features characteristic of the tribes of the North Caucasus and the steppes of Southeast Europe are noted. A comprehensive study of the burial structures and rituals, as well as cult objects of the Prisulak culture during the Middle Bronze Age, made it possible to highlight many of the problems associated with ideological concepts and social organization of society, to find out the genesis of culture and the ethnocultural contacts of the local population with adjacent tribes. A study of the materials of the Prisulak monuments made it possible to get an idea of the spiritual culture of the population of the region in question: to reveal that the tribes of the Middle Sulak basin in the Middle Bronze Age had complex and diverse beliefs, among which ideas about the “soul”, “afterlife”, magical and protective practices, animal and nature cults, and other cosmological beliefs were of a great significance.