The Okunev

Minusinsk Hollow Basin, southern Khakassia, Russia
2500 – 1500 BC

The Okunev, Shamans of the old

As a defined bronze age culture the okunev existed around 2500 to 1500 BC in what is now southern russia. These dates may vary a bit depending on which research you read, but time wise they are early bronze age. They are most likely the remnants of a smaller resurgence of the Afanasevo culture that inhabited the greater area for at least a thousand years before the Okunev appear. The Andronovo culture spreads into the Okunev territory from 2300 onwards, overtakes the Okunev and becomes decoherent around 1000 BC. They apparently came into the area from the northern taiga.

Minusinsk Hollow is the southern part of the wide Minusinsk Depression in Khakassia, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia located among mountains of South Siberia. The hollow has a large number of lakes, including saltwater ones. – wikipedia

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Burial customs

Besides their rock carvings, they are recognised as okunev because of the burial sites that have been found with that distinctive rock art and burial rituals. Their burials were done in stone boxes made out of stone slabs stuck vertically in the ground and sometimes covered with decorations. The okunev remains found are Mongoloid physically. The skeletons were buried on their backs with legs bent at the knees.