THE MONSTROUS (MONSTRUOSO) FIBULA FROM THE DNIPRO RIVER REGION

Abstract

In 2021, illegal antiquities seekers destroyed a Chernyakhiv Culture burial near the village of Lebedyn. Some of the items and succinct information about their provenance were given to the Cherkasy City Archaeological Museum of the Middle Dnipro Region. An examination of the items and an additional investigation of the find spot allowed for the conclusion that the items came from a Chernyakhiv Culture cremation. The grave goods included artefacts of Roman and Barbarian origin as well as hand-built pottery with direct analogies to the Wielbark Culture. It can be asserted that this was the burial of an East Goth woman of high social rank from the late 3rd – early 4th century, probably the early phase of Stage C3. Keywords: Late Roman period, Chernyakhiv Culture, cremation, Roman imports, rosette fibula (monstruoso), Wielbark Culture, Goths.