Female Elite Grave in the Necropolis Luchistoe-2 (Southern Crimea)

Abstract

The article is a publication of the Grave 1 excavated in the necropolis of Luchistoe-2, which is so far the only known archaeological site in Southern Crimea with burial structures of the Early Roman period. The article includes suggestions regarding the scale and date of the necropolis, as well as the funerary rite, costume and cultural connections of the society using the burial-ground. It was established that the published grave contained the burial of a woman of high social status (probably a priestess) dated from the late-1st or early-2nd century ad. Analysis of the archaeological material in conjunction with information about the location of the necropolis and data from epigraphic documents and ancient litterary tradition, leads to the conclusion that the burial-ground was located in ‘Taurica’ – the territory between the Greek polis of Chersonesos and the Bosporan kingdom. It was used by the population, which was designated in the written sources as Scytho-Taurians (Plin. nh., iv, 85-86; Arr. ppe. 30). These peoples were bearers of the so-called Late Scythian archaeological culture and belonged to the sphere of the Bosporan state’s cultural influence. This information can be used in further reconstructions of the ethno-political situation in the Crimea in Roman times.