Succession of the manas group monuments and kayakent-khorochoy cultures of the bronze age in the northeast caucasus

The article is devoted to the study of the problem of continuity and innovations of the archaeological formations of the North-Eastern Caucasus: the Manas group of monuments of the early stage of the Middle Bronze Age and the Kayakent-Khorochoyculture of the late stage of the Middle Bronze Age and the early stage of the Late Bronze Age. Based on the analysis of archaeological material (settlements, burial structures and rituals, ceramics, jewellery, tools, weapons), the issues of the decline of the Manas group of monuments and the formation on its basis of a new archaeological formation - the Kayakent-Khorochoi culture - have been investigated. The study of the materials of these sites allows us to assert a smooth, evolutionary transition of the Manas group of sites into the Kayakent-Khorochoy culture. According to the main features of culture (settlements and dwellings, ceramics, weapons, jewellery and other implements, except for burial structures and rituals, antimony appendages), the Kayakent-Khorochoy culture is genetically related to the previous Manas group of monuments. The study of the monuments of the Middle and Late Bronze Age in central Dagestan makes it possible to reveal more fully and deeper than before the problem of the transformation of the Manas group of monuments of the early stage of the Middle Bronze Age into the Kayakent-Khorochoy culture. In addition, the research is important for clarifying the problems of cultural genesis in this region, the development of Middle and Late Bronze Age cultures in the Northeast Caucasus, and identifying the patterns of their development at the time in question.