VERTICAL TYPE OF SCYTHIAN CATACOMBS OF THE 5th—4th CEN¬TURY BC IN THE NORTHERN PONTIC STEPPE

The vertical type of catacomb graves unusual for Scythian funeral practises is discussed in the paper. If numerous types of Scythian catacombs and their subcategories in the Northern Pontic Region have the vertical-horizontal layout, where the entrance pit has the vertical-horizontal layout, and the dromos and the connected catacomb have exclusively horizontal layout, the burials under discussion have only the vertical layout. The oval entrance pit to these small burials is located directly above the large oval or sub-rectangular chamber. From our viewpoint in these cases we have the catacombs of fundamentally different construction which we term the «vertical type» of Scythian catacombs. Only 25 vertical-catacomb burials have been discovered so far. Taking into account the total number of about 4500 burials dated to the 5th—4th cent. BC discovered in the steppe region, the infrequence of this type of burial type constituting only 0.6 % of the total number of burials becomes quite obvious. Eleven burials are concentrated in the Lower Dnieper region, whereas one is located in the Lower Dniester region and thirteen in the Crimea. This type of catacombs belonges to the common population, the females and children burials predominate, males grave are very few. This type of burials appears in the Crimea in the first half of the 5th cent. BC and no later than the end of 5th — beginning of 4th cent. BC appears in the Lower Dnieper region. For most of the 4th cent. BC exists both in the Crimea and in the Lower Dnieper region. During the almost whole 4th cent. BC such graves exist both in the Crimea and in the Lower Dnieper region. Apparently, the group of Crimean Scythians who practiced the burial rite in vertical catacombs, to the beginning of the 4th cent. BC has completely developed the stable route of seasonal migrations of the circulation type in the meridional direction.