Ma BC 8 is located 2.88km southeast (bearing 129°) of Mets Mantash village, along the southern edge of agricultural fields (map quadrant B1k).
The cromlech burials are predominantly set on the upper reaches of a gentle northerly slope. The kurgans cluster primarily on the lower slope, near the edge of the cleared fields.
The primary group of 8 kurgans in this cluster extends along an east-west line just beyond the boundaries of the fields (this may be an effect of land amelioration rather than planned order). Several small kurgans are barely visible interspersed between the kurgans. The most visible cromlechs are upslope, where 2 paved cromlechs are positioned.
No surface materials.
Tomb 3 (plate XIVb): During the 2000 season, we excavated a kurgan near the northern edge of the cluster (fig. VI.24, 25). The tomb consisted of a mound of small to medium-sized basalt blocks piled atop two large basalt capstones covering the central chamber and a smaller basalt plinth covering a smaller antechamber. The central chamber (chamber a: 210cm E-W and 180cm N-W) was a simple earthen pit located in the center of the kurgan beneath two capstones. The antechamber (b), was a simple circular pit (90cm in diameter) located to the west of chamber A. No human or faunal remains were found in either chamber. During the course of excavation several artifacts were found in the soil matrix above the kurgan mound, including a bronze mace head and an iron trilobed point (fig. VI- g, h). Chamber A included a single bronze dagger, three sizable concentrations of carnelian beads, a single obsidian point and the remains of four ceramic vessels (fig. VI- a, c, f, j-k, m-n ). Chamber b contained a large quantity of paste and carnelian beads and three ceramic vessels (fig. VI- b, d, e, I, o-p).
The ceramics from within the tomb are typical of the Iron 1 period, but the artifacts found in the matrix above the mound suggest later activity in the area as well. In particular, the trilobed point is traditionally ascribed to Scythian manufacturing and dated to the Iron 3 period.
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