Scythian Burials Research Articles

A New Greek Graffito from the Bilsk Hillfort and Greek Graffiti in Scythian Contexts

Abstract The article presents a recent find of a potsherd, bearing an ancient Greek graffito, reported from the area of the Bilsk Hillfort. The area of discovery, considered by some archaeologists to be the city of Gelonos (Hdt. 4.108), makes this otherwise ordinary graffito potentially significant. The authors discuss the historical, archaeological, and epigraphic contexts of the find and possible scenarios of how it may have ended up at the site. To provide an epigraphic background for the find, the study is accompanied by a catalogue of Greek graffiti and dipinti from Scythian burials and settlements of the Northern Black Sea area and steppe and forest-steppe zones of Eastern Europe.

Римські бронзові черпаки у варварів Північного Причорномор’я

The paper examines all known finds of Roman bronze casseroles from the Sarmatian and Late Scythian burials in the territories of Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania. The items were classified according to relevant typological schemes, the dating of the finds was substantiated and a cross-cultural comparative analysis was carried out. Bronze casseroles, which were part of the equipment of a Roman legionary, are probably the most numerous type of Roman metal vessels found in the Sarmatian and Late Scythian burials. The typology and chronology of Roman bronze casseroles is well developed, and they are a reliable chronological marker. Roman bronze casseroles from the Sarmatian and Late Scythian burials of modern Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania have been studied in several works, but a comparative analysis of these vessels among the Sarmatians and Late Scythians of the Northern Pontic region has not yet been conducted and is one of the tasks of this work. Ten bronze casseroles have been discovered in the Sarmatian graves in modern Ukraine, Moldova and Romania and seven ones in the Late Scythian burials in the Crimea. The Sarmatian assemblages with Roman casseroles of Eggers types 137—144 in the Northern Pontic region are dated from the second half of the 1st to the mid-2nd centuries AD. It should be noted that the majority of similar vessels from Asian Sarmatia were also found in the graves dated mainly to the second half of the 1st — the first third of the 2nd centuries AD. There is a version that such casseroles got to the Sarmatians after the Bosporus-Roman war of 45—49 AD. A somewhat different picture is observed among the Late Scythians. All assemblages with Roman casseroles are dated since the mid-1st century AD (Ust-Alma, grave no. 720, Eggers type 133) until the last quarter of the same century (the rest of the assemblages of Ust-Alma and Belbek IV burial grounds). Sarmatian graves with casseroles have been accompanied by various and often expensive grave goods. The burials of the Late Scythian necropoli with bronze vessels also belonged to the wealthy members of the community. The assortment of Sarmatian and Late Scythian imported casseroles is somewhat different — the Sarmatians had no early casseroles of Eggers types 133—136, and the Late Scythians had no Gödåker type casseroles (Eggers type 144). There are no casseroles in the Late Scythian burials of the Lower Dnipro region, all finds are concentrated in the Crimea.

Животные в погребально-поминальном обряде скифов левобережья Нижнего ДнестраV—IV вв. до н. э.

This paper presents the results of a study of animal bones from Scythian burials of the second half of the 5th—4th century BC from the cemeteries “Vodovod” and “Garden” near the Glinoe village, Slobodzeya district, on the left bank of the Lower Dniester. The Scythians more often used bull meat (39.2%), a little less often — meat of small cattle (37.3%), and much less often — horse meat (19.6%) as sacrificial food. Horse meat and the hip cut of the carcass of a bull are more often marked in the graves of men; the shoulder — shoulder part of the carcass of a domestic bull were put in the graves of children and women. The vast majority of children’s burials were accompanied by the meat of small cattle, mainly sheep. The use of goat meat as sacrificial food is obviously a distinctive feature of the population that created the cemeteries Glinoe/Vodovod and Glinoe/Garden in the second half of the 5th—4th century BC. The lower boundary of the separation of the anterior and posterior shanks in the carcasses of horses, bulls and small cattle obviously passed along the distal row of wrist and tarsal bones, what can be considered a characteristic feature of the funerary rite of the Scythians in the 5th—4th centuries BC. It is noted that the kind of animal and part of the carcass used as sacrificial food are associated with the sex and age of the buried. It is shown that data on the age of cattle and small cattle, as well as horses slaughtered for use as sacrificial food, can be used to determine the time of year when the burials were made.

Наборы костяных пластин с орнаментом «плексис» из раннекочевнических погребений III в. до н. э. на Южном Урале

Sets of bone plates covered with braided ornaments (plexys) which were found in Bishungarovo and Zhaiyik-1 Burial Mounds in Southern Sub Urals belong to Greek-type caskets. Similar caskets were often found in Scythian burials of the Northern Black Sea region. But here the “plexys” ornaments are more widely spread than anywhere else in the early nomadic environment — in the decoration of weapons, vessels made of precious metals, on bone combs and details of spindles. In the décor of a Greek-made casket, a similar ornament was found only once — in the Chirikrabat Culture Balandi-1 in the lower reaches of the Syr Darya. Probably similar caskets came here from the state of Seleucids or Greco-Bactria in the end of the 4th—3rd century BC. Nomads of the Southern Sub Urals spent winters in the oases of the lower Syr Darya and took a few of such caskets north in the area of their summer nomadic camps where they were buried in their burials.

BATTLE AXES OF AMAZONS OF EUROPEAN SCYTHIA

Weapons are one of the most important elements of the material culture of the North Pontic nomads. Archaeological finds from the steppe kurhans testify that the Scythians were armed with bows and arrows, spears and javelins, slings, swords and daggers, battle axes, horseman’s picks (pick axe), hammers and maces. However, not all types of weapons were equally common, and battle axes were less popular.
 Relatively few battle axes came from burial assemblages on the territory of European Scythia — from 50 to 100 items, according to the data of various researchers. By morphological features, two groups are distinguished: battle axes (three divisions) and axes with hammers (two divisions). The length of the wooden handles in most cases is about 50―70 cm. Battle axes are known in Scythian burial sites from the 7th to the 2nd century BC. Finds of early specimens are correlated mainly with antiquities of the Forest Steppe, while later specimens are concentrated in the central part of the territories of European Scythia. Until recently, it was believed that this type of weapon marked only male Scythian burials, however, the presence of axes in several female burials proves otherwise.
 The use of axes by the Amazons is mentioned in the works of several ancient authors, the works of ancient art demonstrate this phenomenon as well. According to archaeological materials, battle axes were found in only six (2 %) women’s graves: two in the Lower Dnipro Steppe Group and four in the Lower Dniester Steppe Group. An examination of the burial complexes of Scythian female warriors with axes made it possible to note several characteristic features.
 
 All axes are iron. Five of them have a single blade, from 16.5 to 22 cm long. And only one axe has a double blade. It is also stand out by its small size — 14.6 cm. Typologically and in terms of size, all these axes fully correspond to samples from other Scythian graves of European Scythia.
 An examination of the placement of axes in the graves showed a variety of its options. This means that there were no clear canons for the location of axes regarding the dead.
 The nature and size of the burials, as well as the assortment and number of grave goods testify that Scythian female warriors armed with axes were mainly representatives of the middle class of nomadic society.
 The age of women who were buried with axes is determined to be between 20 and 35 years old. This means that we are talking about the most active members of military units.
 Only ordinary iron axes were found in women’s graves, usually in sets with other weapons, mainly arrows. Gala and artistically decorated pick axes or sceptre axes, which served as symbols of high social status and power, are not known in women’s graves.
 Axes from women’s graves typologically and chronologically do not differ from those found in men’s graves.
 
 Therefore, iron axes from women’s graves, along with other types of weapons, were obviously used for their intended purpose. They were not part of the insignia of power but marked the belonging of women to the military state.

The Construction and Functional Technology of Scythian Greaves: A Recent Find from the Elite Kurgan 6 near the Village Vodoslavka, Southern Ukraine

In the North Pontic region, bronze greaves appeared among the Scythians and noble members of the tribal world of the eastern European steppe in the middle of the fifth century BC and were used until the end of the fourth. Both the “classic” full-length Greek greaves and greaves without knee pads were in use. Surviving greaves and fragments thereof from different Scythian burials allow for analysis of the peculiarities of their construction. A distinct feature of the greaves from the burial in Barrow 6 near the village Vodoslavka, Ukraine, is a series of large openings made on the inner side of both greaves, in the area where the muscles of the calves protrude most prominently. These holes are covered (both from the inside and from the outside) with sewn-on pads made of thick leather. Similar holes can also be seen on the greaves from Kerch in eastern Crimea and were likely cut to make these greaves more suited for horse riding. The greaves from Soboleva Mogyla were additionally modified for horse riding in that the parts that covered the knees were shortened and the side parts had deep cuts (more than a half-height) on the inside of the calf muscles. Thanks to this cut, the rider’s leg (around the medial gastrocnemius in particular) fitted snugly to the horse’s side.

Двусторонние геммы-литики из погребения № 13 кургана № 1 могильника «Богомольные пески-I»

The article examines five double-sided glass gems found as elements of a bracelet on the left wrist of a child aged 2,5–3 years in the burial no. 13 of the kurgan no. 1 of the “Bogomol’nye peski-I” group near the village of Nikol’skoe, Enotaevskiy District, Astrakhan Region. The inventory of the burial gives grounds for its dating within a broad frame of the 1st – first half of the 2nd century AD. As in the Scythian burials of the Dnieper region, glass gems in the kurgan of the “Bogomol’nye peski-I” group were found in a child’s burial. They were considered by their owners as items of jewelry and amulets, and not as a means for imprinting images. It is worth noting that the images on the sides of the same gem are rarely semantically related to each other, but rather give the impression of a rather random choice of subjects. In many cases, the motives go back to gems of the late Classical and Hellenistic periods. Given the fact that the images on the glass gems were mechanically reproduced from intaglios, there is reason to suppose that these were works of glyptics from the late Hellenistic period, which could theoretically be used for making glass gems at a later period. The uniqueness of double-sided glass gems, on the one hand, and their distribution in the North Pontic region in the 6th–4th centuries BC, on the other hand, give grounds to suggest the possibility of the origin of finds originating from the Sarmatian burials of the Lower Volga region from the workshops of the North Black Sea region, possibly of the Bosporan Kingdom.

Golden Jewellery of the Vodoslavka Scythian Burial-Ground of the Second and Third Quarters of the 4th Century BC

Abstract The Scythian barrows investigated near Vodoslavka in the Sivash region form a tribal burial-ground for one of the groups of the steppe population dating from the second and third quarters of the 4th century BC. In several barrows of this Scythian burial-ground, which contained burials of representatives of the local élite, a spectacular and most unusual set of gold items was discovered. These items served as decorations on the clothes and headdresses of the men and women buried there. The comparison of materials from Vodoslavka with finds from other élite Scythian kurgans of that time allowed the identification of a group of barrows, in which identical series of plaques and other decorative elements for clothing and headwear were found, including those made using one and the same matrix. The presence of gold in the Scythian burials could be regarded as an unmistakable marker of the high position within their community which the deceased had enjoyed. The specific range of categories of artistic objects made of gold, or decorated with gold, is assumed to have been different for men and women. This includes headdresses, torques and necklaces, rings, decorations for garments, vessels and so on: the combination of such items characterized the place of a specific individual in society. The female burials, which are similar in many respects, not only reflect the centres of power dominated by certain Scythian clans, but also demonstrate the existence of the shared hierarchical system of those clans, based in places far apart but all within the single territorial entity that was Scythia. The selection of images on the plaques of female headwear is worth noticing as well. It includes various mythical beasts: dragons, various types of griffins and sphinxes. Their depiction is virtually obligatory. All this clearly emphasises the specific status of the buried women and illustrates yet unknown themes of Scythian mythology and ideology.

Погребение бийкенской культуры из Северного Алтая

The article presents the results of the study of one of the early Scythian burials of the Karban-I archaeological complex. This site is located on the left bank of the Katun river, 1.7 km northwest of the Kuyus village, in the Chemal district of the Altai Republic. The key characteristics of the published burial mound No. 22 are a stone tomb structure; a box of slabs set at the level of the ancient horizon; strongly crouched posture of a deceased person, laid on his left side; orientation of the deceased head to the north-western sector of the horizon. This object belongs to the Biyke archaeological culture of the early Scythian period. Due to the lack of accompanying inventory, the dating of the burial, taking into account the available results of radiocarbon dating, is determined within the broad framework of the 8th – first half of the 6th centuries BC.

THE BARROW OF THE EARLY IRON AGE NEAR MOTRONYN HILLFORT

In 2019, the Scythian Right-bank expedition organized by the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the National Historical and Cultural Reserve «Chyhyryn» excavated the barrows on the Motronyn hillfort suburb, located near Melnyky village, Chyhyryn district, Cherkasy Region, in the south of the Forest-Steppe of Dnieper Right-bank area.
 The barrows were erected in pre-Scythian Age and the barrow 97 also contained the inlet Scythian burial. This mound was 0.65 m high, the diameter was 8.8—9.8 m. A pre-Scythian burial-memorial complex was discovered under the mound, destroyed by a later burial. Finds from it are represented by fragments of ceramic ware: pots, large earthenware pots, bowls, ladles. Some fragments are decorated with geometric patterns. Ceramic spindle whorls, iron knives, bronze arrowheads, plaques, and animal bones were also found.
 During the Middle Scythian period another deceased was buried in the center of the mound. The tomb had the shape of a rectangular pit, oriented along the west — east line. Its length was 1.89—2.16 m, width — 0.7—0.82 m, depth from the surface of the mound — 1.45 m. The skeleton laid supine, with its head to the west. The left leg was lying on a stone slab. A quiver with arrows was placed next to it. An iron sword and a knife with a bone handle were found near the belt. This burial was also accompanied with the laying of wares in the mound borders. A pot was buried in the north, and handmade and wheel-made bowls in the east.
 Pre-Scythian finds from the mound have analogies in different regions of the Ukrainian Forest-Steppe where antiquities of the Late Chornoliska and Zhabotyn cultures are widespread, in particular on the Middle Dniester and in the Southern Bug River region, on the Right-bank of the Dnieper and in the Vorskla River region. A set of pottery and an arrowhead of the Novocherkassk type allows us to date the mentioned assemblage by the second half of the 8th century BC.
 Funeral rite and grave goods of the Scythian Age burial also have parallels in the sites of that time, including the south of the Right-bank of Middle Dnieper. According to the pot type and arrowheads, this burial can be dated to the second half of the 6th century BC.

Scythian Burials: The Problem of Localization of the Royal Mounds

The localization of the Scythian Gerros is still completely uncertain. The problems associated with it cover a wide range of currently unresolved topical issues due to both the state of preservation of rich burials and the lack of clear criteria for their definition, in particular, social ranking, i. e. issues related to the identification, number and location of the royal mounds. The study is based on the logic of the general scientific inductive and deductive method as the conceptual core of obtaining the initial and inferred knowledge about the object of our research – the localization of the mounds of the Scythian kings, the subject of which is the general cultural and archaeological signs of the Scythian kings’ mounds. We have come to the conclusion that the use of craniological studies of anthropological material from burial monuments located within the Scythian “square” of Herodotus, for their proximity to the Tuvan Okunevians will firstly allow us to identify and select the royal Scythians from the entire massif of Scythian material, then subsequent mapping of the data will make it possible to determine the area of their settlement. Secondly, with the help of craniological analysis, it will be possible to determine the burials of the Scythian kings, which should contain homogeneous anthropological material within the same burial room. Thirdly, in the process of searching for Scythian burials outside the steppe, we will also be helped by craniological studies of material that was not initially classified as “Scythian” due to the lack of clear criteria for its selection. Fourthly, the mapping of the burials of the royal Scythians and the systematization of all the signs of groups located in the same vector of their closest ties will bring us closer to solving an even more extensive problem – the definition of the concepts of “Scythian”, “Scythian culture” and “Scythian archaeological culture”. Keywords: Gerros, mound, localization, Scythian kings’ mounds, royal Scythians

Погребальный комплекс среднесарматского времени из могильника Опушки в Крыму

The Necropolis of Opushki is located in approximately 15 km to the east from Simferopol, 2–2,5 km to the south-west from the village of Opushki of Mazanka Rural Settlement in Crimea. Illegal excavations have been conducted on the territory of the cemetery since 2002. More than 200 burials constructions were destroyed as a result of grave robbers actions on the territory of about 3 hectares. Scientific researches of the necropolis were conducted in 2003 – 2005, 2007, 2009, 2013–2014, 2016–2020. During this period, more than 300 burials of different types have been uncovered (crypts, simple pit graves, shaft-and-chambers graves, slab graves and cist tomb). Judging by excavated sites, the cemetery was in continuous use from the 1st century BC until the 4th century AD. Among the researched burial constructions there are crypts typical for the Late Scythian period, middle and late Sarmatian burials, crypts influenced by the Northern Caucasus Alans arriving in Crimea, cremation performed by German tradition. The paper is devoted to the middle Sarmatian paired burial in the grave № 233 excavated in 2018. The assemblage of grave goods from that grave is quite various and informative: bronze fibulae, bronze and iron bracelets, red slip pottery, beads. The chronology of the burial assemblage may be defined as the second half of the 1st – first half of the 2nd centuries AD. The funeral rite of paired burials is not typical for the tradition of individual burials in first centuries, although its features are found in the burial grounds of the Central and South-Western Crimea. This funeral rite is associated with the issues of family structure and social relations in the late Scythian society.

Scythian barrow 12 of the «Sluiceway» Group in the Lower Dniester

The article publishes and analyzes the materials obtained in the study of the barrow 12 of the «Sluiceway» («Vodovod») group near the Glinoe village, Slobodzeya district, on the left bank of the Lower Dniester. The grave in a catacomb of the type I (undercut) was the main under the mound, and three other in the pits were secondary. A similar situation is extremely rarely recorded in the North-West Black Sea region. The construction of round cult pits accompanying the main burial is also noteworthy. The handmade pot with a beak from the children’s burial indicates the manufacture of special dishes designed for dispensing food during feeding. The finding of the miniature bracelet with a plate receiver in the burial of a child, apparently, indicates the Thracian influence on the material culture of the Scythians of the North-West Black Sea Region, at least from the second half of the 4th century BC. It was at this time that the published mound was built and graves were made under its mound. Materials from the barrow Glinoe / «Sluiceway» 12 and other, later, Scythian burials on the left bank of the Lower Dniester demonstrate that the Scythian culture of the North-West Black Sea region continues to maintain its originality not only in the second half of the 4th century BC, but also in the next two centuries.

Scythian Burial of the Child with the Sword Model in the Lower Dniester

The paper for the first time publishes and analyzes the materials obtained in the study of the burial of the child no. 10 in the barrow 16 of the “Sluiceway” group near the Glinoe village, Slobodzeya district, on the left bank of the Lower Dniester. The grave dates back to the third quarter of the 4th century BC and contained the burial of a small child. The western part of the pit was intended to sacrificial food and a knife, and the eastern part was intended for the body of the child and grave goods, where a “bed” was made of a mixture of natural clay and humus. Two Cypraea moneta shells, one glass bead, as well as an iron model of the sword were part of the necklace. The last find is a unique item in the Scythian burials of the North Black Sea region. It imitated swords of the Solokha type (with claw-shaped tops and false-triangular crosshairs), known in the Scythian burials of the Northern Black Sea Region from the last quarter of the 5th century BC until the end of the 4th century BC. It is noteworthy that it was such a sword that was found in the pair burial of the same barrow where the burial of the child was sunk. There is no doubt that the model of the sword in the necklace of a child was a votive object. Perhaps it indicated the child's belonging to the estate of the warriors.

MEDITERRANEAN AND NORTH PONTIC GREEK IMPORTS IN THE NOMADIC BURIALS OF THE LOWER VOLGA REGION AND FOOTHILLS OF SOUTH URALS OF THE 4th — FIRST THIRD OF THE 3rd CENTURY BC

In the Archaic period, Mediterranean and Greek North Pontic imports, rather well represented in Early Scythian burials on the Lower Don, are practically unknown in the burials of the nomads in the Lower Volga and South Urals regions.
 The analysis of archaeological sources shows that in the second half of the 4th century BC imported beads and pendants made of glass, frit and amber reach the nomads of the Lower Volga and South Urals, and a little later, at the turn of the 4th and in the first third of the 3rd century BC — in addition, Greek pottery and possibly vessels made of precious metals, alabaster and onyx. Olbian bronze «borystheni» of the late 4th—3rd centuries BC also were found into the Lower Volga region.
 If for the 5th and most part of the 4th century BC. imports that entered the South Urals were mainly represented by products of the Achaemenid circle, then after the fall of the Achaemenid state and the resulting geopolitical changes in the Lower Volga region and the South Urals imports began to be distributed from (via) the North Pontic region. It is worth noting that in the burials on the Manych river and in the Lower Volga region, finds of transport amphorae were combined with similar black-glazed echinus bowls, and the find of another such bowl in the South Urals suggests that they enjoyed particular popularity among the nomads, even if they did not penetrate Sarmatia within the same batch.
 The above discussed observations rather convincingly support the hypothesis put forward by D. B. Shelov and I. B. Brashinskii. There are grounds reason to suggest that beads and pendants, as well as amphoras, black-glazed pottery and coins could have reached the nomads of the Lower Volga and South Urals precisely via the Elizavetovskoe settlement at the mouth of the Don: probably, beads and pendants — even through the Scythian settlement, on which various industrial complexes and shops existed, allegedly destroyed in the 340s BC, whereas amphoras, black-glazed pottery and coins — already through the so-called Bosporan colony, founded on the site of a settlement in the last quarter of the 4th century BC, which existed until the mid-70s of the 3rd century BC.

СОПРОВОЖДАЮЩИЕ ЗАХОРОНЕНИЯ КОНЕЙ ВО ВХОДНЫХ ЯМАХ КАТАКОМБ И ПОДБОЕВ СТЕПНОЙ СКИФИИ ВТОРОЙ ПОЛОВИНЫ V – IV ВВ. ДО Н.Э.

The paper analyzes a total of 43 Scythian burials of the Northern Black Sea region dating back to late 5th - 3rd quarter of the 4th centuries BC with an accompanying burial of a horse or horses in the entrance pits of the catacombs and undercuts, or their replacements in the form of a horse bridle in the same areas, with due account of the anthropological defi nitions and dating of the complexes. It has been established that the accompanying burials of horses in the entrance pits of the Scythian catacombs at barrows and burial grounds are a reliable indicator of male burials, and in the case of burials in a catacomb with two entrance pits, additional male burials. In contrast to the accompanying horse burials in separate pits, which became widespread in Scythia during the 5th century BC, (and widely spread since the mid-5th century BC), the rite of burying horses in the entrance pits only appeared at the end of the 5th century. BC and was relatively widespread in the 2-3rd quarters of the 4th century BC. For this time period, such burials have mainly been discovered in the Lower Dnieper region and are only partially spread in the Dnieper-Danube interfl uve. For the 3rd-2nd centuries BC such burials have mainly been discovered in the Lower Dniester region and in signifi cantly smaller numbers in the Crimea, whereas there are no such burials in the Lower Dnieper region. Later, this tradition only preserved in the Late Scythian culture of the Crimea in the period from the 2nd – 1st centuries BC until the 3rd-4th centuries AD. They become especially widespread and diverse in the 1st-4th centuries AD.

Barrows of the Eneolithic-Early Iron Age in the Kalinovka in the Dnieper Nadporozhye

The main aim of this article is description and publication of the materials of two barrows which was explored by the expedition of the Dmytro Yavornytsky National Historical Museum of Dnipro by L. P. Krylova in 1973. They located near the Kalinovka village of the Solonyansky raiion of the Dnipropetrovska oblast. Methods: comparative-historical, typological, chronological, descriptive. Main results. The barrows near the Kalinovka village of the Solonyansky raiion of the Dnipropetrovska oblast belonged to a large burial ground, which was partly destroyed. Only the mound with a sign of triangulation remained was saved at the time of excavation. The mound 1 was build in two construction receptions. The primary mound, fixed on the V-shaped ditch, is filled for the main grave 7 of post-mariupol culture. It is connected with the device of a near-tomb pavement made of wood with separate inclusions of stones and a peculiar covering of the sub-square site with a layer of clay. Both ritual actions are known in a member of post-mariupol burials of the territorial variant of the Steppe Dnipro and the Dnipro Nadporizhzhya. The main markers of the burial rite of the post-mariupol burials are the shape of the burial pit, elongated position of the deceased on the back, orientation to East, the presence of ocher carmine color. The group of pit burials (№№ 3,5,6,9) forms the second cultural-chronological horizon. One of them may be associated with a ring filler, which brought the mound to a modern size. The most recent are burials of zrubna culture (№№ 2,8), in one of which ceramic fragments were found. Cultural identity of grave 1 has not been established. Barrow 2 was 4 m high and 30 m in diameter, was erected for four simultaneous Scythian burials. The embankment was surrounded by a ditch with two bridges at the East and Nord edges, 1,5 m in length and bones of animals from the reed. Outside the pit, vertically standing stones of the cromlech are traced. All the graves are made in the same type of catacomb, which are distributed in the Northern Black Sea in the IV–III centuries BC. The main grave 3 was collective – two adults (a man and a woman) and a child. The surviving in situ parts of the male skeleton testify to the position of the burials elongated on the back, the head to the East. The burial was repeatedly robbed. At the entrance to the chamber, from the inside, a part of the wall of a bronze boiler was found. For the chronological definitions, well-dated categories of inventory (arrowheads and ect.) are involved, allowing to date grave 3 to the second half of the IV and beginning of the III BC. The life-long social status of a man of grave 3 in the hierarchy of the caldron-holders is related to the head of the genus of the lower aristocratic stratum of the Scythian society. The three graves contained various age burials of children, accompanied by ornaments. Their status is ambiguous since may reflect both generic or tribal affinity with those buried in grave 3, and a dependent position relative to the child in grave 3 as a possible heir to a sufficiently high social rank of the father. Concise conclusions. The obtained materials allow to determine the time of occurrence of a burial mound near the Kalinovka village by the Eneolithic in the presence of post-mariupol burials, which mark the appearance of a mound rite in the Steppe and Pre-Dnipro Ukraine. Its further functioning is connected with the Bronze Age, represented by pit and log complexes. The later cultural and chronological layer is formed by the Scythian burials, which reflect the processes of social stratification of the society. Practical meaning. The published materials can be used in generalizing research of the problems of archeology of the Early Iron Age of Ukraine. Scientific novelty. The cultural and chronological features of mound construction and burial complexes near the Kalinovka village of the Solonyansky raiion of the Dnipropetrovska oblast had been determine. Type of article: analytical.

Scythian Leather Quiver from Bulgakovo

Abstract What were items of Scythian archer’s equipment? What materials were used, and how were they produced? These issues remain currently practically unknown. Objects made from organic materials (wood, leather, and textile) in Scythian burials are lost or provide little information. For this reason almost nothing about Scythian archery equipment (bow and quiver) has been known for a long time. This article describes and analyzes the only well preserved quiver found in the Scythian burial of the 4th century BC in the North Pontic Region. The details of a leather quiver bag, a wooden stiffening plate, wooden painted arrows with bronze arrowheads have survived.

Barrow 11 of the “Garden” Group in the Lower Dniester Region and Contemporary “Mythmaking” About Scythian “Amazons”

The article publishes and analyzes materials obtained during the study of the Scythian barrow 11 of the “Garden” group excavated in 2018 near village Glinoe, Slobodzeya district, on the left bank of the Lower Dniester, for the first time.The barrow was surrounded by a circular ditch and contained four burials – one infant and three female. The tools from the barrow are represented by knives, spindle-whorls, needle. The only piece of tableware was found and it was a wooden bowl. The adornments (a pair of earrings, two bead necklaces, one bead bracelet, two “elbow bracelets”) were also discovered. Earrings with conical bulges on one of the endings testify to the Thracian influence on the material culture of the Scythians of the North-West Black Sea region. All female graves contained mirrors. Two of them are identical, and both were laid under the body of the buried. One of the mirrors has handle aforethoughtly broken in antiquity. The cult objects are a pendant made of a dog’s tooth and a stone slab, the arrowheads are the only weapons. The barrow dates back to the second half (preferably the third quarter) of the 4th century BC. Finding a quiver set in the grave 4 of barrow 11 of Glinoe/”Garden” group made the authors to analyze the burials of the so-called Scythian “amazons” of the North Black Sea region. It turned out that many of them were attributed with flagrant violations of scientific methods as burials of women-warriors, which is nothing more than modern “myth-making”. As a result, the authors claim that an open-minded analysis allows us to distinguish three groups of Scythian burials with weapons: 1) containing weapons, placement of which reflects certain “ethnographic” features of the rite or the special status of buried; 2) containing arrowheads that may indicate hunting; 3) the burials of warriors with diverse and numerous weapons.

Скифские браслеты и кольца с выступами из могильника у села Глиное

The article examines bracelets and rings of the La-Tene style from Scythian burials of the cemetery near the Glinoe village, Slobozeya district, on the left bank of the Dniester. Bracelets were found in three burials belonging to different kurgan groups (Glinoe-“Sad”, kurgan 8, burial 5; Glinoe-“Vodovod”, kurgan 16, burial 6; Glinoe, kurgan 71, burial 1). Single rings with protrusions were found in two burials (Glinoe-“Sad”, kurgan 8, burial 2; Glinoe-“Vodovod”, kurgan 7, burial 2). Two chains of double rings and one chain of the triple rings of the La Tene style comes from burial 3 of kurgan 14 of the Glinoe-“Vodovod” cemetery. The author considers the typological attribution of these objects according to existing classification, concerns the issue of their manufacturing and dating, as well as the nature of using. Bracelets with protrusions in the form of rosettes of two, three and four ledges from the Glinoe cemetery were likely produced by lost-wax casting. Taking in account the small number of such bracelets found in the North Black Sea region, it is still difficult to draw an unambiguous conclusion about their local production. All researchers agree on the dating of such bracelets in the second half of the 4th – the beginning of the 3rd centuries BC. The purpose of the items analyzed appears obvious. They were worn by women and children. The dating of rings with single, double and triple protrusions almost matches the dating of bracelets of the same type. They were common in the 4th – the beginning of 3rd centuries BC. There is data allowing to consider those bracelets have been used in complex necklaces.