New data on Maykop funerary constructions (Klady Cemetery, Northwestern Caucasus)

© 2019 Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Archaeology. All rights reserved. The paper reports on the results of excavating an above-ground Maykop tomb of unknown type. This construction precedes the dolmen in kurgan 1 excavated by N. I. Veselovsky near the Tsarskaya village (northwestern Caucasus) in 1898. The tomb is an above-ground construction made of dry-stone walling, the floor paved with pebbles and covered with clay with wooden beams along the perimeter and a clay roof. The tomb facade with an entry aperture is made in the form of a shallow portal. The radiocarbon dating evidenced that a twin burial in the tomb had been made between 3300 and 3100 BC. The technical design of the tomb has some similarity not only with the Tsarskaya dolmens but also with Maykop burials made in pits and above-ground tombs. These data help clarify an overall development trajectory of the Maykop funerary ritual.