NEW DATA ON THE BURIAL RITE OF THE POPULATION OF THE SMOLENSK-POLACK LONG BARROWS CULTURE (Based on the Excavations of the Barrow Cemetery Achremaŭcy (Biaĺmonty))

Abstract

Barrow cemetery Achremaŭcy (Biaĺmonty) of the Braslaŭ district of the Viciebsk region of the Republic of Belarus has been known in special literature since the end of the 19th century. At the same time, the first amateur excavations of barrows in his Belmont estate were carried out by Count Plater in 1856. Scientific excavations in Achremaŭcy were carried out in 1893, 1938, 1978, 1982 and 1997. A total of 19 burial mounds were excavated during this time. Judging by both the burial goods and rite, the necropolis in Achremaŭcy belongs to the Smolensk-Polack Long Barrows Culture. The purpose of this article is to present the results of the excavations of the Achremaŭcy (Biaĺmonty) barrow cemetery, carried out by an expedition led by M. Plavinski in 2019 and 2021.
 In 2019 pit I with a total area of 99 m2 was laid in the main part of the necropolis in order to study barrow 20 (due to the large amount of work, the excavations were finished only in 2021). The Barrow contained two cremation burials that were made outside its borders. At the moment, this burial complex can be dated only within the boundaries of the existence of the Smolensk-Polack Long Barrows Culture, namely, within the middle of the 8th — the first half of the 11th century.
 Excavations in Achremaŭcy testify to the extreme complexity of the ritual actions carried out in the process of the Smolensk-Polack Long Barrows Culture burial mounds erecting. It is obvious, that the possibilities of a detailed reconstruction of individual forms and types of funeral rites are limited both by the degree of preservation of certain sites and by the specifics of the archeologization of burials, due to specific natural conditions. All these features should be considered and subjected to primary interpretation already in the process of excavation. Since without an analytical experiment, which provides for the reconstruction of both the process of performing a burial and the erection of a burial mound, as well as the natural and anthropogenic factors of its destruction, valuable data may be lost that are necessary for an adequate interpretation of each specific burial complex.