Kostromskaia Stanitsa

a group of barrows dating from the Bronze and Iron ages located near the Kostromskaia stanitsa (cossack village) in Labinsk Raion, Krasnodar Krai, RSFSR. The barrows were investigated in 1897 by N. I. Veselovskii. The most interesting is the barrow from the beginning of the sixth century B.C. containing the burial of a noble warrior, evidently the leader of one of the Maeotae or Scythian tribes of the Transkuban’ Region. A tent of logs was built over the body, around which lay the servants and slaves of the deceased and 22 horses; the servants and slaves, as well as the horses, were killed at the time of burial. The various weapons found in the burial included a unique shield with a solid iron covering, decorated with a golden plaque in the form of a small leaping deer; an iron scalelike cuirass; spearheads; and quivers with bronze arrow-heads.