Gabuev T.A., Khokhlova O.S.

Key words: Alans, North Caucasus, kurgans, catacomb burials, chronology, buckles, paleosoils.
Brut I kurgan cemetery with catacomb burials dates to the late 4th – middle of the 5th cc. AD, i.e. it functioned for 60–70 years at the most. For the fractional chronology we used the kurgans (No 2, 7, 9–14) where soil samples were taken. Pedologists assigned the kurgans to relative chronological groups: first group (kurgan 13), second group (kurgans 7, 12, 14), and third group (kurgans 2, 9, 10, 11). Archaeological data (fibulae and buckles) provides the absolute dates. The fibulae allow dating kurgan 13 to late 4th – early 5th cc. AD. The two other periods within the single time interval (first half of the 5th century) had not been identified previously.
The fractional dating was based on the buckles. Analysis of the buckles, the microdetails of the other artifacts in the assemblage and the constructional elements of the catacombs confirmed the conclusions of pedologists that the 5th-century materials could be divided into two chronological horizons. Kurgans 2 and 7 can be considered as benchmarks for their respective groups. Comparison of natural scientific and archaeological data shows that the identification of the chronological groups is methodologically correct.