Graves and funerary rituals
Graves are in outstanding numbers.18 The majority had already been grabbed not long after the burial (Salvatori 1995; Sarianidi 2001, 2007; Rossi Osmida 2002; Bendezu-Sarmiento 2013), possibly by the family of the deceased (see Chapter 13); looking at the wealth of what is preserved, one can only wonder about the discoveries that would have been made had they not been looted.
Large cemeteries outside the settlements (and contemporaneous with them) have been excavated at Gonur and Dzharkutan, dozens others have been grabbed by looters in northern Afghanistan (especially the Dashly oasis), and smaller ones are known in Tajikistan (see Chapters 23 and 25). Individual graves within the buildings have also been uncovered and are sometimes said to be contemporaneous with the settlement (at Sapalli”) but usually were made after its abandonment, at least partially, since they are intrusive in the walls of the buildings (see Chapter 13). Finally, as mentioned above, a small group of specific imposing tombs or “hypogea,” mainly built underground and only partly visible on the surface, have been excavated. They are exclusively known at Gonur, within the settlement, but close to its borderline. Their house-like construction and outstanding material even though they have been grabbed several times made them attributed to the “kings” of the city (“Royal Necropolis”) (Sarianidi 2005: 204-259; see also Chapters to and 11).
Graves have various shapes (Askarov 1973; Askarov and Abdullaev 1983; Salvatori 1993,1995; Sarianidi 2001, 2007; Rossi Osmida 2002; Vinogradova 2004; Dubova and Rykushina 2007; Avanesova 2013a; Bendezu-Sarmiento 2013; Sarianidi and Dubova 2016; Dubova et al. 2018). Most of them consist of simple pits or of pits with a chamber on the side (podboj) called shaft tombs by some authors and pseudo-catacombs by others. Cist tombs (i.e., graves surrounded by a brick wall and covered by a vault, or house-like hypogea),“ are rare and only known at Gonur Depe up to now. Considering the weight of traditions attached to the rituals surrounding death, such a variety is unusual and would point at a mixed population (Sarianidi 1998a: 71; Babakov et al. 2001; Dubova and Rykushina 2004, 2007), but this is difficult to prove and it could also be linked to various social positions (Sarianidi 2007: 30). The discovery of obvious foreign items in them, like one Old Akkadian and three southeastern Iranian cylinder seals, have led some to consider that these graves are those of foreigners (Pittman 2014a, 2019; see also Chapter 8), but there is no certainty since these items could also have been transmitted, as suggested by Guichard (see Chapter 2). Moreover, the reuse of seals is known in Middle Asia, for instance at Kiiltepe/Kanesh (Teissier 1994: 46). Nevertheless, considering that Gonur was more an administrative and cult center than a living place, a fact confirmed by the meager daily life living remains like kitchen fauna (see Chapter 15), one may wonder who were the people buried there. The possibility of “exterior people” - whatever the distance - cannot be excluded until more analyses are done: In the Indus valley, where cemeteries are few, isotopic analyses have demonstrated that the deceased were not local people but came from the Indus hinterland (Valentine et al. 2015).11
Furthermore, other various rituals unknown before have been identified. This is the case for pits fired before the inhumation (Sarianidi 2007: 36-41), the presence of ashes and charcoals in the tombs,12 followed later by cremation (Avanesova 2013a), the presence of a few fractional burials (Sarianidi 1998a: 72-73), or for that of a supposed dakhma-’ for exposition of the bodies at Gonur North, room 92 (Sarianidi 2007: 163-167). The origin of these new rituals is as yet unknown. Moreover, in the “Royal Necropolis” “accompanying persons” (i.e., sacrificed) have been buried with an elite personage and/or in a ditch nearby (see Chapter 10). In the Near East, this practice is known only in a few cases; namely, in the Royal Cemetery of Ur, or during the Ur III period at least with Shulgi and perhaps already with Ur-Namma (Michalowski 1977), as well as, most probably, in the Dilmun Royal Mounds of Amorite rulers (Laursen 2017: 291), and it is still a puzzling question. It is better known in the Caucasus area (Maikop Kurgan, “Royal Tomb” of Arslantepe, or Martkopi Kurgans; see Lyonnet 2016).
The burial of complete animals - Bactrian camels, bovids, donkeys, dogs, rams or lambs, and even pigs - is also a typical phenomenon of the BMAC, especially at Gonur (Sarianidi 1990: 141; 1998a: 73-75; Sarianidi and Dubova 2008, 2015; Dubova 2012, 2015). It is attested in a lesser degree at other sites in Bactria (Sapallitepa, Dashly, Buston) where it mainly concerns sheep (or lambs) and dogs (see Chapter 12). This ritual, totally unknown before in Central Asia, certainly comes from the Near East as suggested by Sataev in Chapter 12. In a few cases, rather than a burial it seems that a sacrifice had taken place (see Chapter 12).
Most burials (except in the “Royal Necropolis”) are individual, though a few contain two or three skeletons. However, a detailed analysis of the teeth has shown that some graves may have contained more people, probably buried successively. Finally, some tombs are cenotaphs (Sarianidi 2.007: 32; Dubova and Rykushina 2007), which become more numerous at the very end of the BMAC (see Chapter 18).
It should also be mentioned that while the great majority of the tombs has nothing to signal them on the surface, some brick constructions have been recently noticed (see Chapter 13), and a few cemeteries, all situated in southern Tajikistan and related to the contemporary Vakhsh culture, present a low kurgan-like construction (see Chapter 25).
