The Andronovo and Saka cultures (respectively Bronze and Iron Age) developed between the 2nd and 1st millennia B.C. over a vast area of central Asia, including present-day Kazakhstan. The research presented here covers three regions of this country (eastern and central Kazakhstan, Semirech'e) and concentrates on variation in burial practices. For many years the archaeology of central Asia remained more or less under Soviet hegemony. Many discoveries were made and most of the theories proposed in the middle of the last century are still accepted. This is generally the case for Kazakhstan and the periods examined in this study. With the opening up of the socialist block, large numbers of archaeological archives have become accessible, especially data on over one thousand burials excavated over the last fifty years. All this evidence is analysed and reassessed here, providing new information on funerary practices. In addition, study of unpublished anthropological material (346 individuals), together with re-examination of earlier work, has considerably improved knowledge on the biological characteristics of these populations. By confronting ideas from published data with the new evidence, and by placing the osteological analysis in its funerary context, the different theories are discussed in the light of current archaeo-anthropological research methods and approaches.