Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of burial 2 from the Chernyakhiv culture cemetery Komariv-1 (Kelmentsy district, Chernivtsi region). The northern burial, destroyed in ancient time, belonged to a woman. The text provides a description of the archaeological complex, the reconstruction of the original appearance and the gradual reconstruction of the destruction process. Based on the known data about the costume of the bearers of the Chernyakhiv culture, the peculiarities of the funeral rite, the peculiarities of the placement of the grave goods, it was possible to reconstruct the original appearance of the completely destroyed burial. Thanks to anthropological determinations of the position of individual human bones in the burial, it was possible to determine the sequence of destruction of the skeleton and grave goods. After entering the grave pit, the skull was separated. The skull was then placed face down in the center of the grave. After that, the chest was destroyed. The bones of the legs were inserted in a certain sequence (crossed bones, inverted bones, mirror-embedded bones). The last stage of the destruction of the burial was the destruction of the skeleton of the sheep (food-offering) and turning over and breaking the utensils in the burial. After the burial was destroyed, the burial pit remained open. According to the information received, the burial was destroyed after the decomposition of the soft tissues of the body, but before the decomposition of the leather elements of the suit. According to the results of the study, the following conclusions were made: • Even a completely destroyed burial can be reconstructed to its original appearance. • Different areas of the skeleton were subjected to different manipulations. The thorax is destroyed, the skull and bones of the legs are re-inserted in a certain (non-anatomical) order. • Part of the inventory (at least one silver fibula) was removed from the burial, but the main purpose was not looting but the destruction of the burial. • Burial occurred between the decomposition of the soft tissues of the body and the leather elements of the suit. Key words: Chernyakhiv culture, funeral rite, destroyed burials, reconstruction of funeral rite, post-funeral rite.

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