Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 44 (1) 2016 document link DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2016.44.1.082-092

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A RITUAL COMPLEX WITH DEER STONES AT UUSHIGIIN UVUR, MONGOLIA: COMPOSITION AND CONSTRUCTION STAGES (Based on the 2013 Excavations)

A.A. Kovalev¹, D. Erdenebaatar², and I.V. Rukavishnikova¹

¹Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Dm. Ulyanova 19, Moscow, 117036, Russia

²National University of Mongolia, P.O.-51, Box-167, Ulaanbaatar-51, Mongolia

The composition and construction history of a ritual complex with deer stones at Uushigiin Uvur, Hovsgol Aimag, Mongolia, are inferred from fi ndings of large-scale excavations in 2013. The earliest elements of the complex were six catacombs fi lled with stones, and ritual-pits. Possible placement of known deer stones was discovered, and lower parts of fi ve new ones were found in situ. The excavated part of the complex included two ensembles similar in composition, and consisting of rows of deer stones. Each ensemble rested on two stone platforms, one curved (oriented north–south), the other rectangular (oriented east–west and accompanied by stone steles). Deer stones were placed along the western edges of the curved platforms. East, north, and south of the ensembles, sacrifi ce structures with buried horse-bones were discovered. They did not overlap one another, suggesting that the structure had been designed as a whole. Further north, two more rows of deer stones were situated. On the eastern side of those, there were similar horse sacrifi ce burials; and on the western side, stone rings with fragments of calcined animal-bones. In terms of structure and composition, all ensembles (platforms with steles, an arc of sacrifi ce structures with horse-remains on the east, stone rings with calcined animal-bones on the west) are similar to ritual constructions around funerary mounds—the khereksurs of Central Mongolia, supporting the idea that deer stones had replaced actual burials.

Keywords: Mongolia, Late Bronze Age, Early Iron Age, deer stones, khereksurs, funerary rituals, cenotaphs.

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