Vasiurinsk Burial Mounds

a group of third-century B.C. burial mounds on the Taman’ Peninsula (Krasnodar Krai, RSFSR).

The Vasiurinsk burial mounds are located on Vasiurinsk Hill. They were studied between 1868 and 1872 by V. G. Tizengauzen and A. E. Liutsenko and from 1907 to 1908 by V. V. Shkorpil. Stone crypts consisting of a burial chamber with an arch, adromos (corridor), and a stairway descending to it were found inside the burial mounds. Along the sides of the corridor are stone tombs for the slain horses of the funeral chariot, adorned with rich bridles. The walls of the crypt of one of the burial mounds are covered with murals. A stone sarcophagus, marble tables with legs in the form of lion’s paws with claws, many Greek and local clay vessels, and iron weapons were found in the burial mound. The crypts of the Vasiurinsk burial mounds were family tombs for the Sind aristocracy.