Maikop

The site of one of the richest Eneolithic Kurgan burials ever discovered, located in the northern Caucasus Mountains of Russia and dating to the late 3rd millennium BC. The barrow covered a timber mortuary house divided into three sections. In the central one was a royal burial of a man sprinkled with ochre and laid under a canopy with gold and silver supports. The corpse was accompanied by copper tools and weapons, gold ornaments, gold vessels and figurines, rich textiles, carnelian and turquoise jewelry, wooden carts or wagons, and silver vases engraved with animal scenes. The metalwork shows links with Mesopotamia and southwest Asia. The Maikop burials have given their name to the Maikop culture and its walled settlements.

A tumulus cemetery in the northern Caucasus, Russia, dating to the late 3rd millennium bc, which yielded exceptionally rich grave goods comparable to the finds of Alaca HUyOk in Anatolia. Wooden and (exceptionally) stone mortuary houses were constructed under the barrows. The richest grave was filled with wooden carts or wagons, copper, gold and silver objects, carnelian and turquoise jewellery and well-preserved textiles with elaborate designs. This ‘royal’ grave gives its name to the Maikop culture, distributed in the southern Caucasus. Most settlements were located in defensible positions, occasionally girt with stone walls or timber palisades. Slabcist graves and small barrows were provided for burial of less important individuals.