The Stepnoye VII burial ground is located on the left bank of the Uy River 300–400 meters east of the village fence surrounding Stepnoye (Plastovsky District, Chelyabinsk Region). At the bottom of pit number 17, in the center of the burial chamber, there was a grave of people lying with their heads facing southwest. Two skeletons were placed side by side, the age of the buried was 15–17 years old; it was possible to determine the sex of only one of them, it was a girl. The third skeleton of a woman aged 45–55 was located a little further away, facing the couple. The hands of one of the buried teenagers clasped a bronze ax, the blade of which turned towards the second person.
The ax was an elegant product with harmonious proportions. The handle of the ax is only partially intact. The ax has an eye with a pickax protrusion on the poll. The 3.3 centimeters high spur is rhombic in cross-section. The ax wedge is long, the upper cheek of the ax is straight. The side edge bifurcates towards the back of the wedge, its edges extend to the lower and upper ends of the cutting edge. Inside the wedge there is a 6.8 centimeters long hole round in cross-section. The blade is hatchet-shaped, drawn downwards towards the end of the eye. The tip of the head is oval, inclined at an obtuse angle to the axis of the wedge. On the upper edge of the sleeve is a reinforced roller. On the “cheeks” of the eye, there are “plaques” in the form of “pearls”. The surface of the ax is polished and covered with a fine patina of green-brown color.
The grave is full of ceramic items: eight vessels and other burial implements were found there. One of the buried had a very rich outfit: bronze hemispherical plaques and beads stitched on the headdress, behind the back there was a plait ornament; pendants turned full and a half circle and wrapped in gold foil were attached to the headdress near the temples with bronze temporal rings. The buried man was adorned with a sophisticated face pendant. He was wearing one bronze bracelet on both hands, and a string of 12 amulets made of fox fangs and incisors on his right hand below the bracelet. Five bronze rings were on the fingers of the left hand: with no ring on the little finger and two rings on the ring finger. Another ring was found under the bones of the skeleton, near the shoulder blade. One string of bronze beads was on the buried man’s legs near the ankles.
