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Among the archaeological monuments of Setumaa barrow cemeteries are most numerous. The oldest of them belong to the Culture of Long Barrows, which was spread in the forest belt of East Europe in the 2nd half of the I millennium AD. The long and round barrows of East Estonia (including Setumaa) form the westernmost peripery of that culture in the immediate neighbourhood of the Estonian culture of stone graves. Hitherto, main attention in the investigations of the Culture of Long Barrows has been paid to the determination of their ethnic identity. In recent times, however, studies have been focused more on the nature of the transition to burials in barrows, the development of burial customs, the construction of long barrows, etc. All that has been studied solely on the basis of archaeological evidence. In the present project attempt will be made to use anthropological and archaeo-soological information for solving these problems. North Setumaa forms a distinct region in the area of distribution of East Estonian Culture of Long Barrows. Two of these (Rõsna-Saare I and II), located in the village of Rõsna, have been completely excavated - the only two in the whole area of the Culture of Long Barrows.The aim of the study is to give a thorough survey, on the basis of the whole gathered material, of the monuments of the Culture of Long Barrows in North Setumaa. The scientific output of the work should be a monograph about the barrow cemeteries near the village Rõsna (Rõsna-Saare I-II, Suure-Rõsna). Its annexes will contain the results of the analysis of osteological material from these cemeteries. |