Borisovo Burial Ground

a cemetery with burials dating from the fifth to the 14th centuries, located near the city of Gelendzhik, Krasnodar Krai, RSFSR. Between 1911 and 1913, 135 graves were excavated by V. V. Sakhanev. The remains of the dead that he discovered in earthen graves and stone boxes date from the fifth to the seventh centuries. Weapons, work tools, metal decorations, and imported beads were also found. Burials of cremated bodies prevailed in the eighth and ninth centuries. The abundance of weapons, bits, stirrups, and richly decorated harnesses is indicative of the increased significance of the druzhina (the prince’s bodyguard). The objects found in the burial ground are important for studying the history of the Zikhi and of the formation of a class society among the Adyg tribes—the ancestors of the modern Adygeians, Circassians, and Kabar-dins.