Yurü. D. Razuvaev

Voronezh State Pedagogical University, Voronezh (razuvaevyd@mail.ru)

Key words: forest-steppe Scythia, fortified settlements, open settlements, burials, human remains.

In the forest-steppe Scythia over 40 fortified and open settlements of the 7th–3rd cc. BC are known. At some of them human remains were discovered. Some burials, not culturally related with functioning settlements and showing rituals features identical to usual cemeteries have been excavated. Assemblages of another type are represented by skeletons of children and adults deposited in dwelling and household constructions, as well as isolated human bones placed in construction trenches, sacrificial complexes and cultural layers of the settlements. Some researchers interpreted these remains as traces of the armed conflicts, sacrifices or cannibalism. There are all grounds to consider them an evidence of specific funeral practices of the forest-steppe population.