A. V. Safronov’s research while affiliated with MIREA - Russian Technological University and other places

Aim. To introduce the chronology of the last stage of the Middle Bronze Age of the North Caucasus (the Kuban-Terek culture).Methodology. A description of the burial complexes of the Kuban-Terek culture and their stratigraphic position in the Bronze Age mounds near the village of Khaznidon of North Ossetia is given. For the first time, a complete complex with multi-hammer pins (ceramics + jewelry) was outlined and their ethnocultural attribution was determined.Results. Evidence of the coexistence between the Kuban-Terek culture and the Catacomb culture in one microregion of Chikola-Khaznidon in North Ossetia was obtained based on the data from both horizontal and vertical stratigraphy in the monuments of these cultures. Contacts between the Kuban-Terek and Catacomb cultures were confirmed in the form of a change in the shape of the grave (from pit to catacomb) while preserving the inventory of the Kuban-Terek/North Caucasian culture at all stages of the Catacomb culture in North Ossetia. For the first time, the ceramic complexes with multi-hammer-shaped pins of the final period of the Kuban-Terek culture are presented, and their ethnocultural attribution is are interpreted as tan Indo-Aryan component in the “Аncient European” Kuban-Terek culture.Research implications. New data have been obtained for the reconstruction of ethnocultural processes in the North Caucasus in the Middle Bronze Age.