Children’s Burials of the Srubnaya Culture in the Southern Urals. Research in the Age Groups and Stages of Children Socialization

The study concerns children’s burials of the Srubnaya culture (Bronze Age, the South Urals). The assumption that grave goods are related to the gender and age of the dead and may also reflect the stages of growing up of children and their inclusion in economic life (gender and labour socialization) was the theoretical basis of the research. A sample consisting of 178 anthropologically identified individuals who died before the age of 15 years was analyzed. This sample was divided into three age sub-groups in order to catch the dynamics in distribution of the grave goods in accordance to age and in order to identify the different stages of children’s life course. The author’s study demonstrated that children before 2 years old were mostly accompanied by gender-neutral grave goods (ceramic vessels) or were buried without any items. After this age grave goods become more diverse and numerous. It is possible to suggest that gender socialization in the Srubnaya society started around the age of two-three but female gender was marked more often than male. The study of age dynamics demonstrates that as the children grew older, the number of jewelry increased, while other items were still few in number. Labour socialization was not reflected in burial rite. The perspective of the study is seen in the extension of the source base and further analysis of artifacts, including ceramic material.