Mongols on the Don: Recreating Lost Historical Context by Scientific Methods

Abstract

Research into a destroyed burial site in Bol'shaya Elista balka in the Remontnensky district of the Rostov oblast provides additional data on the "biography" of a 45-year-old medieval man. The horseman warrior died in the late 13th century and was buried in the open steppe in Bol'shaya Elista balka. An indirect indication of the warrior possibly being Mongol is the type of the burial site: the grave was built in the profile of a slope. The grave goods include parts of a medieval bridle set and stirrups for horse riding. The found copper bowl and preserved fragment of a cotton case suggest that the man could have been a member of the Mongol warrior class.