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The Dolmen Kolikho, Western Caucasus: Isotopic Investigation of Funeral Practice and Human Mobility

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

V A Trifonov
Affiliation:
Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint Petersburg, Russia
G I Zaitseva*
Affiliation:
Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint Petersburg, Russia
J van der Plicht
Affiliation:
Centre for Isotope Research, Groningen University, Groningen, the Netherlands Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands
N D Burova
Affiliation:
Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint Petersburg, Russia
E S Bogomolov
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology and Geochronology of the Precambrian, Saint Petersburg, Russia
A A Sementsov
Affiliation:
Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint Petersburg, Russia
O V Lokhova
Affiliation:
Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint Petersburg, Russia
*
Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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We investigated the dolmen known as Kolikho (Black Sea coast, Russia), discovered accidentally in 2008. It is a unique, undisturbed megalithic structure. The burial chamber contains disarticulated human remains from about 70 individuals. Radiocarbon dating shows that the dolmen was in use between roughly the 19th to 13th centuries BC. Strontium isotopes are used to investigate the origin and last residence location of the people buried in the structure.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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