Archaeologists of the Irkutsk National Research Technical University (IRNITU) have discovered in Buryatia more than 30 ritual structures and the oldest burial in the Southeast Sayan of the Late Bronze Age, the press service of the university reports.
"Archaeologists have carried out excavations in the Okinsky region of Buryatia. They have discovered over 30 ritual structures and the oldest burial of a man of the late Bronze Age in the Southeast Sayan," the message says.
The university clarified that the buried person was not lying in a traditional burial pit, but on the surface of the earth under a stone mound surrounded by a circular masonry. Red and yellow stones were found near the chest of the deceased. Scientists believe that the finds have a sacred meaning. The burial also differs from those already known in the Baikal region by the fact that the skeleton is turned with its head to the southeast. Similar burials, but with the orientation of the body to the northwest, were found by archaeologists in the north of Khubsugul in Mongolia.
Scientists reported that the bones were poorly preserved, and therefore it is difficult to establish the sex of the buried - it is known that it was a teenager. The researchers donated samples of the remains to the Canadian scientist Anjay Weber, who will perform radiocarbon analysis in the laboratory of the University of Oxford. This will determine the age of the find.
Archaeologists have also discovered 34 barrow-like structures. The diameters of the embankments are four to six meters. Part of the cenotaphs suffered during the construction of modern houses. Local residents used masonry for construction, which they found in vegetable gardens.
