Employing Methods of Natural Science in Dating Burytia Slab Graves and Khirigsuurs and Exploration of Related Migration Processes in the Region

The article reports radioactive dating for slab graves and a mongun-taiga type tumulus of Staraya Kapcheranka and Bain-Ulan II burias situated on the border between Buryatia and Mongolia. Data are supplied on palaeosoils buried under the stonework of slab graves and khirigsuurs. The significance of palaeographic findings in determining the reasons for the migration of the Khirigsuur Culture population from West Mongolia to eastern parts of Central Mingolia and South Buryatia at the end of the 2nd – the beginning of the 1st millennium BC is demonstrated. The migration has been found to happen as a result of climate aridisation.

Keywords: The Bronze Age, the Slab Grave culture, the Khirigsuur culture, radiocarbon dating, buried soils, palaeogeography, aridisation, migration.