Burials of Horses from the Ladozhsky Burial Place, 1945–1946 (Based on Archival Materials)

Aim. To examine and analyze the horse burials from the excavations of the Ladozhskij burial ground on Kolodeznaya Street, conducted by the Krasnodar Museum of Local History in 1945–1946. One of the burials, with six horses at a stable, is an unusual feature for Mаeotian ground burial grounds. Since no finds from the horse burials were found in the museum's collections, an attempt was made to analyze the burial rite and inventory using archival materials, including the personal archive of the excavation author. Methodology. The analysis of archival materials and documents of the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Krasnodar Historical and Archaeological Museum-Reserve named after E. D. Felitsyn. The comparative-typological method and the method of dating by analogy were used in the study. Results. The article contains materials and documents on the horse burials from the Ladozhskij burial ground excavated in 1945–1946, which have not been fully published before. The findings are described, and analogies are provided from well-dated complexes. Previously unpublished archival materials are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. Research implications. The results of the study contribute to the archaeology of the Kuban region. This work is of undoubted interest to researchers of the Maeotian culture, as it is the first publication of excavation materials from one of the well-known archaeological sites. The materials presented in the article can be used in archaeology courses, as well as in the study of specific aspects of the archaeology of the Early Iron Age in the North-Western Caucasus.