FUNERARY PRACTICES OF THE CHIRIKRABAT CULTURE WITHIN INDO-IRANIAN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47390/ydif-y2026v2i4/n04Keywords:
Chirikrabat, Sakas, dakhma, Zoroastrianism, Avesta, funerary rites, Aral region.Abstract
The article examines the funerary rites of the Chirikrabat culture (4th–2nd centuries BC) within the context of Indo-Iranian religious traditions. Drawing on archaeological evidence and the texts of the Avesta and the Rigveda, it analyses the semantics of funerary structures, including dakhmas and above-ground mud-brick mausoleums. The study traces the evolution of ritual practices from cremation to excarnation, a shift conditioned by contacts with the settled agricultural populations of Central Asia in the 4th–3rd centuries BC. Cultural continuity in funerary practices from the Bronze Age to the Late Saka period is identified. It concludes that the Chirikrabat population formed part of the broader sphere of Zoroastrian religious and cultic traditions of Central Asia.
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