Makhachkala, April 3, 2019. While excavating near the village of Uchkent (Dagestan), not far from the federal highway “Kavkaz”, the Russian archaeologists discovered a burial building - a monument that tells about the religious and ideological ideas of nomadic cattle-breeders of the Bronze Age.

The excavations were found in March 2019 jointly with the archaeological expedition of the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of Dagestan Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Research and Production Center "Tourism and Local History" LLC.

Murtazali Gajiyev, the head of the archeology department of the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography DSC RAS, believes that this find dates back to the turn of the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC. and refers to the culture of herders who migrated from the pre-Caucasus steppes towards the Southern Caucasus and Western Asia. “Considering the fact that the burial structure was looted in ancient times, the scientists gained a valuable material that informs about the burial rite of ancient pastoralists. According to the unique architecture of the mound, one can understand the degree of reverence of the heavenly bodies in antiquity, as well as the high lifetime status of the deceased, who could be the leader of a clan or tribe” - Gajiyev added.

The bone remains found are intended to be sent to experts for further radiocarbon and DNA analysis. Consequently, the scientists will get an opportunity to obtain the exact date of this ancient burial, and then determine the genetic roots of the deceased.