Scythian Mound of the 4th Century BC near Kobrynove Village

Abstract

The article is devoted to the publication of materials from the excavations of the barrow no. 2 near Kobrynove village in Cherkasy Oblast. It belongs to the Scythian sites of the confluence of the Hirskyi Tikych and Hnylyi Tikych rivers. Most of the burial sites excavated by archaeologists in the region are dated to the 4th century BC — Ryzhanivka, Ryzyno and Rubanyi Mist. The barrow no. 2 had been excavated by the Cherkasy archaeological expedition led by H. T. Kovpanenko in 1986. An archaeologist S. S. Bessonova carried out direct work on the mound. At the time of the excavations, the barrow was 1.8 m high from the horizon level. The soil of the barrow slopes became soft as a result of plowing. The diameter of the mound at the time of research was 35 m, in ancient times it was about 25 m. The ditch was not recorded. It consisted of chernozem. In the mound there was excavated a burial in the catacombs. According to the classification of V. S. Olkhovskyi, the latter belong to the Type IІ. The long walls of the exit chamber and the pits are located on the same axis. Above the grave a complex wooden ceiling in the shape of the so-called ‘lattices’ was built. Its basis was made of oak beams. The analogies to the constructions in the shape of ‘lattices’ are known from the excavations in the south of the forest-steppe in the Dnipro Right Bank, on the Left Bank in the lower reaches of the Dnister, Middle Don, the Urals and Northern Kazakhstan. It is possible that similar ceilings over graves are of Eastern origin. Unfortunately, the catacomb was robbed in ancient times. The skull found in the robber’s pit allows claiming that the burial belonged to a woman. A round bronze spinning wheel and a fragment of realgar represent the finds from the barrow. The dimensions of the mound, the complex wooden floor indicate that the deceased had a high social status. Burial in the catacomb, a wooden covering and a realgar find suggest that she was a nomad. Thereby the mound is another evidence of the penetration of steppe nomads into the Right Bank forest-steppe. The proximity of the burial structure and the overlap to the sites of the Late Scythian period in the Dnipro Right Bank allows dating the burial in the barrow near Kobrynove village to the 4th century BC.