St. Andrew's Barrow - an outstanding archaeological monument of 1-2 centuries. n e. near the village of Andreevka Bolsheignatovsky district . Here in one monument were two different groups of burials, at the same time, to some extent close. Two stages of the life of people who left soil graves and burials in the embankment stand out quite distinctly.
It belongs to the early stage of the formation of the Old Mordovian culture . P.D. Stepanov in 1963-1964 explored 52 graves. In the center - the leader’s burial in a large (6.6 x 4.5 m) pit, lined with wooden blocks. With him, rich military equipment: helmet , chain mail , sword , dagger , 2 spearheads , bit , quiver with arrows . At the head are trophies from severed human jaws. Nearby are buried 2 well-armed warriors, a prisoner or a slave with tied hands. Some military graves appear to belong to aliens from the south or southeast; part of the burials is in the mound mound. Among the finds there are many imported items: a bronze South Italian bowl, a provincial Roman bowler hat, brooch-clasps, etc. Pottery utensils of the local population testify to the Finno-Ugric belonging, various ornaments, including those with signs characteristic of the ancient Mordvinians: temporal pendants with a weight , breastplates, sulgamy, etc.
The entire complex of soil graves, the rite of burial and clothing material lead us to the last centuries of the first millennium BC, while the inlet burials are well dated to the beginning of our era, including some quite clearly: the first century of our era. Chronological dates are proved by a number of analogies from the Pianobor culture, as well as from the monuments of the Sarmatian world. A feature of all burials is the presence of a large number of various weapons and the absence of a number of household items, which was common in the ancient Mordovian burial grounds known to this day. Completely missing sleeve iron axes. Ground graves are a necropolis of leaders and warriors. Only one burial site belongs to a woman. Among burials in the mound, female prevail. As for men, there were about a third of them. Part of the burials was with a large number of things, in some things there were few, and several burials did not have things at all. The graves in the embankment in their structure do not reflect social inequality, although property is clearly reflected.
According to the materials of the Andreevsky mound, it is very difficult to resolve the issue of economic activity. Even a nearby village belonging to those buried in the mound does not make up for this shortcoming. But for some details, one can still say something about the occupation of the population. The presence of cattle breeding should be considered indisputable. In three graves, bones of horses were found, probably riding horses, not harnesses. Many fishing rods were found with different types of psalms, sometimes decorated with gold and silver. They, of course, could belong only to riders. Warriors buried in the inlet graves were also horsemen, since there were also private finds of fishing rods. Judging by the findings in the neighboring settlement, cattle breeding was developed. In addition to equine bones of a cow and a sheep were found. However, horse bones prevailed. So the horse was also a meat animal.
The absence of traces of stationary dwellings in a settlement can be considered as evidence of the use of portable housing. But, given the clearly temporary nature of this settlement, there is no way to talk about the nature of the dwelling. And the temporary nature of the settlement is confirmed by an insignificant cultural layer, moreover, completely inverted by deep plowing. Only in one place weak traces of a bonfire were found. Undoubtedly, some of the weapons were made on the spot, in particular, bone arrowheads, quivers, and probably simple bows. The Andreevites were undoubtedly familiar with the leather processing, as indicated by leather belts and bridles. On the spot, perhaps, they made other wooden and bone things, pottery.
In a settlement near the Andreevsky mound, on the Pichke-Sorche settlement, we find in combination elements of the Gorodets culture and clothing material close to the ancient Mordovian burial grounds, including things of the Andreevsky mound. Consequently, with considerable reason, we can now talk about the Gorodets base for the culture of St. Andrew’s Barrow. In this monument we find things of Gorodets culture - pots. But the type of burial and the rest of the material material must be considered as Old Mordovian. These were people of the Gorodets culture time, but who perceived and reworked the cultural elements of the Ananyin and Pianobor tribes, that is, the creators of the Old Mordovian cultural complex. It can be said that this was the second component in the St. Andrew's Barrow, as well as in the Old Mordovian monuments.
On the eve of the beginning of our era on Wednesday, the former Gorodets, that is, the ancestors of the ancient Mordovian tribes, who adopted the features of the cultures of Prikamye (Pichke-Sorche), the horse-conquerors invade. They achieve domination among the conquered by fire and sword, become leaders, create military squads, arm all men of the tribe. Through the conquerors, the third component penetrates into the Andreevsky mound - the Sauromato-Sarmatian (burial rite in deep graves with shoulders, military trophies, a mass of weapons, burial places in the mound and slaves).
Gorodets tribes were attacked before. There is evidence that the Scythians and Sarmatians attacked them, but there were people who were captured and sold as slaves in the Black Sea . Now the conquerors pursued other goals. They plundered the wealth that had been accumulated, but at the same time asserted their power in the tribe. Introducing a new element among the local tribes, the conquerors probably contributed to the emergence of new social relations, but, without a solid material base, they disappeared into the mass of Aborigines. Burials in the mound of the St. Andrew's Barrow retain traces of “military democracy”, but differ from burials in unpaved graves. They are very close in nature to the ancient Mordovian burial grounds - Koshibeyevsky and Sergach. Obviously, in this way the ancient Mordovian tribal culture took shape.