EGU21-6170 https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-6170 EGU General Assembly 2021 © Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Paleoclimatic reconstructions based on the study of structures of large kurgans of the Bronze Age and soils buried under different structures for the steppe zone of Russia Alena Sverchkova and Olga Khokhlova Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems of Soil Science, Russian Academy of Sciences, Group of genesis and evolution of soils, Moscow, Russian Federation (
[email protected]) Geoarchaeological studies of soils buried under burial mounds (kurgans) and materials of kurgan structures make it possible to solve a wide range of scientific problems. In the steppe zone of Russia, such studies are carried out in order to determine and compare the composition of buried soils and materials of kurgan structures, as well as to study the structure of earth monuments and to obtain data on the technology used by ancient people for their building. We carried out geoarchaeological studies in two key areas: in Krasnodar (kurgan Beisuzhek 9) and Stavropol (kurgan Essentuksky 1) regions. For each object, the particle-size distribution and physicochemical properties of the earthen materials of the kurgans and buried soils were investigated. Kurgan Essentuksky 1 was built in the second quarter of the 4th millennium BC (Maykop culture) according to a single plan in a short time (several decades). The kurgan with a height of 5.5-6.0 m and a diameter of 60 m consisted of four earthen and three stone structures. The earthen structures consisted of alternating layers of dark, slightly compacted humified and light dense carbonate-rich material that were taken from buried soils, i.e.