Classification of burial rituals of the cemeteries without burial mounds in regions of the Tsarevskoe ancient settlement

Article is dedicated to analysis of burial rituals of the Golden Horde cemeteries without burial mounds in surroundings of the Tsarevskoe ancient settlement. 51 burials (19.9% of total number) in mausoleums or in crypts can be attributed as burials of the Golden Horde aristocracy. In the graves found without burial mounds the most wide-spread were of western, south-western and north-western (which could be considered as azimuth deviation from western) orientations (they comprise 94.9% of all burials), which are peculiar to the majority of the urban Muslim population of the Golden Horde. However it must be considered that 56 from these burials (21.9% of total number) are burials of necropolis of the population of Old Russian settlement of the Vodyanskoe site. Comparing the aristocratic (in mausoleums and crypts) burials without burial mounds in the Lower Volga, it is possible conclude that their percentage was significantly higher in the region of the Tsarevskoe settlement, than in other regions; these data allow to assume here the greatest density of residence of settled elite of the Golden Horde. The smallest share of Muslim burials in coffins in the Lower Volga (44.9%) and the maximal one of burials with grave goods (13.6%) recorded in the region of the Tsarevskoe site. Burial grounds in the region of the Tsarevskoe ancient settlement were in vicinity of the settlements, that is clearly testified about the degree of territorial closeness of cemeteries of settled population of the Golden Horde with urban and rural settlements of the considered period.