New scientific data of materials from the Starshy Nikitinsky burial ground and its place in the chronology of the Middle Volga Abashevo culture

The paper is devoted to the introduction of a new radiocarbon date into scientific circulation and the analysis of the results of determining the metal composition of the items of the Starshy Nikitinsky burial ground of the Middle Volga Abashevo culture. The overwhelming majority of the burial ground’s decorations are made of «pure» copper. One pendant ornament is made of silver; in two other items the content of silver and arsenic was noted in small quantities. Products made of «pure» copper are usually associated with the Volga-Ural sources of metal, traditional for the Middle Volga Abashevo culture. The appearance of silver and arsenic in the metal composition of the Middle Volga Abashevo culture is associated with the South Ural ore sources and their development by the Volga-Ural Abashevites. Within the framework of traditional relative chronology, this corresponds to the time of the end of the developed stage of the Middle Volga Abashevo culture. The preservation of organic materials, which is rare for the sites of the Middle Volga Abashevo culture, makes it possible to compare the results obtained only with the materials of the Pepkino burial mound. Speaking of metal composition, both sites belong to a single stage of the Middle Volga Abashevo culture. The radiocarbon dates of the two burial grounds obtained at the Oxford Laboratory are close and indicate a somewhat later age of the burials of the Starshy Nikitinsky burial ground relative to the burials of the Pepkino kurgan.