scholarly journals Sarmatian Burials of the Kovalevka Burial Mound: Strangers Among Friends?

Author(s):  
Valeriy Klepikov

Introduction. The Nomads of early Sarmatian time is a complex conglomerate of constantly growing groups of new population in the Volga-Don interfluve area. Determining their location is becoming a relevant problem in the current research. The early Sarmatian burials of the Kovalevka burial mound are significantly different from the synchronous array of similar monuments. It makes possible to clarify the historical situation in the final stage of the early Sarmatian culture in the studied region. Methods. The method of cross-dating and comparative-typological analysis of 12 burials of 8 barrows of the Kovalevka burial mound, located in the southern part of the Volga-Don interfluve area, allow clarifying the chronology of materials and identify the specifics of the funeral rite. Analysis. The ceramic complex as a part of the North Caucasian antiquities of the 3rd - 1st centuries BC, can be identified through the presence of iron stemmed arrowheads, common for the period 2nd - 1st centuries BC. The tradition of the ancestral mounds-cemeteries with multiple burials under one mound dominated during this time period. However, the analyzed complexes represented a new tradition of individual burial places, more common in the latter period. Besides, the horse bones, iron bits and a few iron spearheads were found in the burial mound. This is a rarity in the funeral rite of the early Sarmatian culture. All of these innovations are known in the controversial Sarmatian complexes of the turn of eras when the change from early Sarmatian culture to middle Sarmatian culture took place. Another common feature of all the burials under study is a ritual robbery of buried people. The burials were destroyed, mostly for the purpose of their desecration. The bones of the buried were found at the bottom of the grave, and the remaining parts of the skeleton were thrown out of the pit. Results. It can be assumed that at the end of the 1st century BC a group of well-armed nomads entered the territory uder study and was not accepted by the local population. The attempt to settle in the place led migrants to founding their own cemetery in the floodplain of the Esaulovsky Aksai river (local Sarmatians chose watersheds for this). However, this action caused discontent of natives, which led to the desecration of strangers’ graves by the local population.

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 264-281
Author(s):  
O. D. Kozak ◽  
V. M. Okatenko ◽  
T. V. Bitkovska

In 2013 near Kustorivka village of Krasnokutsky district, Kharkov region the Scythian burial mound (5th—4th centuries BC.) was excavated. The inserted burial of a beheaded man has been discovered there. Fragments of horse bones, horse harness, numerous arrowheads, the spearhead and knife were unearthed in the grave. Funeral inventory dates the burial to the 2nd half or the end of 5th — the early 4th century BC. The grave goods allowed us to suggest that the man was a horseman and possessed a bow with arrows, javelin or lance. These assumptions have been confirmed by anthropological studies of the development of muscles relief, injuries and specific skeletal markers. The skeleton showed clear signs of a horseman’ and archer’ osteological complexes. The man died at the age of 20—25. The skull, first and second cervical vertebrae were absent in the undisturbed burial. The upper part of the left intervertebral condyle of the 3rd vertebra was cut off by the hit from left behind and below. These signs are evidence of decapitation. In addition, numerous cut marks made with a sharp blade were found on the anterior and lateral surfaces of the 3rd and 4th cervical vertebrae, as well as on the left femur above the knee. Thus could be the signs of the body cleaning of waste tissue for its transportation or in course of the preparation for the burial. Studies of the horse’s remains showed that it has deceased at the age of 10—12 years. The horse was decapitated as well by the hit directed between first and second cervical vertebra. The head was also cut in half and only one part of it was present in the burial. There were also some bones of the animal’s skeleton, which do not belong to the edible parts of the body. The severed head of the horse was located above the place where the man’s head was supposed to be, thus the horse harness was situated on the level of the human skeleton. Traces of the possible preparation of the human body for burial and the location of the remains of a horse over a lost human head along with other changes in the skeleton indicate a certain funeral rite, direct analogies of which have not yet been found in the North Pontic region.


Author(s):  
Piotr Włodarczak

The borderland of the Vistula Plain and the Proszowice Plateau is part of the loess zone extending mainly to the north of the Vistula River, known for numerous discoveries of archaeological sites from the Eneolithic period and the early Bronze Age. The state of reconnaissance of settlement is far from satisfactory here. From the final Eneolithic period primarily cemeteries of the Corded Ware culture (around 2800–2300 BC) are known. Falling within this age range is probably the only burial mound in the area, in Igołomia, which yielded a niche grave of the Corded Ware culture within the eastern part of its cover. Another cemetery was investigated in Rudno Górne, where niche graves of the culture in question were found dug into the embankments of Funnel Beaker culture megalithic graves from the middle Eneolithic period. From the early Bronze Age, the richest and most cognitively significant sites of the Mierzanowice culture (around 2200–1600 BC) are concentrated on loess hills rising above the valleys of Ropotek and Rudnik. They are both cemeteries and large settlements. Particularly valuable results were obtained during research on the cemetery in Szarbia, where as many as 44 graves were found. These findings enable the reconstruction of funeral rite rules from the early Bronze Age.


Author(s):  
Edvard Zajkoŭski

The range of Medieval burial structures on the territory of Belarus includes barrows with stone lining. Commonly, one layer of stones encircled a barrow, but two layers’ lining could also be met. Funeral rite can be described as inhumation at the horizon level or in a pit with western orientation of the dead. Individual burials are most characteristic though double burials were practiced too. Not every burial mound contains grave goods. The items are represented by ornaments, amulets and pots of mostly Slavic type. The finds date back to the 11th – early 12th or 12th – 13th century. The same burial ground could also contain barrows composed entirely of earth, ones including stones interspersed or in the form of thin pavement at the horizon. Barrows of this kind are spread both in central Belarus and farther to the north, covering partly the Dzvina Basin, or more often to the south-west – in the Middle Buh Basin including Polish and Belarusian parts. In Ukraine barrows with stone construction were studied in Zhytomyr Polissya Region where almost 20 burial grounds of this type are known. Such barrows can be found in some other places too: in the Ros’ Basin, in Bukovyna (two barrows with stone lining dated back to the 12th – mid 13th century have been excavated there), in Podilia (burial sites in Zhnyborody I, Sokilets’, Hlybochok). In archaeological studies, there’s a tendency to assign all the barrows with stone constructions to the range of so called stone barrows which are considered to be burial sites of the Jaćviahi. Though in the eastern part of Mazur Lake region and in the basin of the Chornaya Hancha river where the Jatvingians have been located according to the evidence from chronicles there’s no barrows dated back to the 10th – 13th centuries at all. At the same time, in the first millennium AD barrows with stone lining were spread in the range of the Eastern Balts tribes: on the territory of Latvia (tribal areas of Latgaly, Siely, Ziemgaly) and Lithuania (the area of the Eastern Lithuanian Barrows Culture) where they dominated between the 4th and 7th centuries and still could be met in the 7th – 10th centuries. However, we know Eastern Balts’ barrows with stone lining of the eleventh century in the south of Lithuania and bordering part of Belarus, which are chronologically close to the barrows with stone constructions in the rest part of Belarus and in the Middle Dnipro region. The emergence of these kind sites in Bukovyna and Podillia became possible in the result of the union of Volhynian and Galician principalities, i.e. after 1199. Key words: barrows with stone lining, grave goods, Middle Buh region, Zhytomyr Polissya region, Bukovyna, Podillia, Jatvingians, the Eastern Lithuanian Barrows Culture.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 96-116
Author(s):  
Gamzat D. Ataev ◽  
Sergey B. Burkov

The article is devoted to the study of ideological concepts and the social structure of the population of one of the archaeological formations of the North-Eastern Caucasus of the Middle Bronze Age - the Prisulak culture. The work is based on the analysis of burial and religious monuments, the study of which allows revealing various religious concepts and rituals of the cult nature of the local population of the Middle Bronze Age. Examination of the burial structures and the rite of the early group of burials of the burial mounds of the Prisulak district testifies to the diversity of the burial structures and the great diversity of the funerary rites. Ground pits, stone tombs, small stone boxes were revealed: with stretched, seated and crouched bones oriented in the east, southeast, south and south-west directions. In the funeral rite of the early group of burials, along with ancient and local elements, features characteristic of the tribes of the North Caucasus and the steppes of Southeast Europe are noted. A comprehensive study of the burial structures and rituals, as well as cult objects of the Prisulak culture during the Middle Bronze Age, made it possible to highlight many of the problems associated with ideological concepts and social organization of society, to find out the genesis of culture and the ethnocultural contacts of the local population with adjacent tribes. A study of the materials of the Prisulak monuments made it possible to get an idea of the spiritual culture of the population of the region in question: to reveal that the tribes of the Middle Sulak basin in the Middle Bronze Age had complex and diverse beliefs, among which ideas about the “soul”, “afterlife”, magical and protective practices, animal and nature cults, and other cosmological beliefs were of a great significance.


Author(s):  
Alan A. Tuallagov

The article is devoted to the problem of manifestation of the influence of Islam in the Alanian monuments on the territory of the modern Republic of North Ossetia-Alania from the position of the possible acceptance of this religion by the Alans themselves. In general, in the North Caucasus, according to archaeological data, Muslim communities were represented in the pre-Mongol period. But for the region of interest to us, such evidence is not recorded. Individual artifacts presented in Alanian burials cannot serve as a basis for this. In the context of the funeral rites and other accompanying inventory recorded in them, one should assume the adherence of the buried and their community to their own traditional religion of the Alans. Therefore, one should reject the attempts of individual researchers to attribute the burials to Islamic ones. The spread of Islam among the multiethnic population of the North Caucasus during the period of its entry into the territory of the Golden Horde was repeatedly noted by specialists based on an analysis of archaeological material. This process was especially evident in urban centers. It was interrupted as a result of the end of foreign rule in the region. According to the researchers, some Alanian burials of the Zmeyskaya burial ground are associated with these processes. The direct influence of Islam in this area is also confirmed by other archaeological sites. As for the specific Alanian burials, the interpretation of the features of their funeral rite as purely Islamic raises certain doubts. Information from some written sources about the spread of Islam among the Alans of the North Caucasus also cannot be perceived unambiguously. It is possible that they were influenced by information about the conversion to Islam of a part of the Alans who left the region and settled in the capital’s center of the Golden Horde. Probably the transfer to the local population of ideas about its Islamization due to the fact of the adoption of Islam as a state religion.


2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 84-109
Author(s):  
Kulemzin A. ◽  
◽  
Ilyushin A. ◽  

The article publishes and investigates the materials of the excavations of 1976 and 1980 at the Shestakovo-II burial mound in the Chebulinsky district of the Kemerovo region. The burial monument is located in the Achinsko-Mariinsky forest-steppe on the second floodplain terrace of the Kia River near the village of Shestakovo, next to other archaeological sites investigated (the Shestakovo-I settlement, the Shestakovo-II settlement and the Shestakovo i burial mound), which belong to the final stage of the early Iron Age and form a single archaeological cultural and chronological complex Excavation materials are systematized at the level of elements of burial structures, memorial funeral rite, burial method and burial equipment. A comparative analysis of published materials with sources from neighboring territories and the valley of the middle reaches of the Kii River is carried out. It is concluded that the published sources are close to the excavation materials of the objects of the third and fourth stages of the Shestakovo i burial mound, which is a reference site for the Shestakovo archaeological culture of the transitional Tagaro-Tashtyk time in the Achinsk-Mariinsky forest-steppe in 1979. Based on the statement that the Tesin archaeological culture of the 3rd century BC is the middle of the 3rd century in the steppes of the Middle Yenisei is a synchronous Shestakov archaeological culture of the Achinsk- Mariinsky forest-steppe and, taking into account the observations made by various authors about the late creation of similar processes in this region, we model a cultural and chronological development scheme. This suggests that the Shestakov archaeological culture could have function from the 2nd century BC to the 4th century. This model and the analogies given to the materials from the Shestakovo II burial mound allow us to date this monument to the 3rd — 4th centuries and attribute it to the final stage of the development of the Shestakovo archaeological culture. Key words: Achinsk-Mariinsky forest-steppe, finale of the early Iron Age, Shestakovo-II burial ground, Shestakovo archaeological culture


2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 451-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rama Mani ◽  
Thomas G. Weiss

AbstractCulture has been absent from analyses and debates about the responsibility to protect (R2P) norm. The use of the military to enforce a no-fly zone in Libya and to protect civilians took place with support from the local population and more widely across the Arab World even when the dominant 'culture' supposedly made outside interference unthinkable. As R2P enters its second decade, a deeper understanding of culture is desirable, as is the incorporation of cultural perspectives in framing responses to mass atrocities. UN debates and resolutions have helped dispel myths about R2P and reaffirmed its validity as a universal norm that is close to a 'tipping point'. Instead of an 'emerging' norm (the original contention in 2001 by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty), R2P has 'emerged' as consensus continues to widen and deepen across the North and the global South. This essay shares insights from research about cultural perspectives in the global South from local researchers who explore three themes (religion and spirituality, philosophy and ethics, and art and aesthetics) and three country cases (Rwanda, Kosovo, and Nepal).


Elements ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dmitri Phillips

The history of England did not begin with the Industrial Revolution and not everything supposed about the Anglo-Saxons reduces to the myth of King Arthur and the Round Table. Contrary to commonly held beliefs, the Dark Ages of the North were full of splendor and brilliance; the only thing dark about them is their enshrouded history, but that only makes them all the more fascinating. The great burial mound at Sutton Hoo in East Anglia, discovered just before World War II, shines as one of the most grandiose sepulchers in history, yet the identity of its occupant remains a mystery. Was it a wealthy merchant, a warrior from overseas, or a great king? This paper gathers, presents, and scrutinizes the evidence and arguments from ancient records, opulate grave-goods, and contemporary investigations in an attempt to determine the most likely candidate for the individual interred in Mound 1 at Sutton Hoo.


Kavkaz-forum ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 101-119
Author(s):  
Г.Н . Вольная (Керцева)

Материальная культура позднего средневековья Дигорского ущелья Северной Осетии недостаточно хорошо изучена по сравнению с другими периодами. В статье впервые представлен комплекс археологических памятников, расположенных на Поляне Мацута Дигорского ущелья: памятники, их расположение, история изучения. Цель исследования – рассмотреть Поляну Мацута как погребальный и культовый комплекс, где находятся позднесредневековые полуподземные склепы, каменные ящики, менгиры, цырты, «нартовский» ныхас, поселения кобанского и аланского периодов. Это памятники являются почитаемыми у местного населения, упоминаются в нартовском эпосе. В статье использовались полевые методы исследования, метод анализа и аналогий. В статье представлен авторский материал спасательных раскопок 2020 г. «Грунтового могильника Мацута I, средневековье» XVI-XVIII вв. в зоне реализации проекта «Строительство фельдшерско-акушерского пункта в с. Мацута». Могильник представляет собой погребения в каменных ящиках. Всего было раскопано 75 ящиков, в которых покойные лежали вытянуто на спине головой на запад с широтными отклонениями. Некоторые ранние погребения сопровождаются обрядом кремации. Погребальный обряд находит аналогии в горной Балкарии. Для погребального обряда характерно отсутствие керамической посуды в погребениях. Над ранними погребениями могильника была устроена тризна с кремацией и большим количеством фрагментированной керамики, скорее всего местного производства. Погребальный инвентарь достаточно беден и характерен для горнокавказской культуры позднего средневековья. Во взрослых погребениях найдены одежда, обувь, пояса, головные уборы, пояса; в женских – украшения; в мужских – ножи, оселки. В детских погребениях (в большинстве случаев) слева от головы обнаружены только куриные яйца, либо погребальный инвентарь совсем отсутствует. Отмечается высокая детская смертность. Детские погребения составляют почти 50% от всего числа раскопанных погребений. The material culture of the late middle ages of the Digor gorge in North Ossetia is not well studied in comparison with other periods. The article presents for the first time a complex of archaeological monuments located in The Matsuta Glade of the Digor gorge: monuments, their location, and history of study. The purpose of the study is to consider the Matsuta Glade as a funerary and cult complex, where there are late medieval semi-underground crypts, stone boxes, menhirs, tsyrts, "nartovsky" Nykhas, settlements of the Koban and Alan periods. These monuments are revered by the local population, mentioned in the Nart epic. The article uses field research methods, the method of analysis and analogies. The article presents the author's material of rescue excavations in 2020 of the "Ground burial ground of Matsuta I, middle ages" of the XVI-XVIII centuries in the area of the project "Construction of a paramedic and midwifery station in the village of Matsuta". The burial ground is a burial in stone boxes. In total, 75 boxes were excavated, in which the deceased lay stretched out on their backs with their heads facing West with latitude deviations. Some early burials are accompanied by a cremation ceremony. The funeral rite finds analogies in the mountainous Balkaria. The funeral rite is characterized by the absence of ceramic dishes in the burials. A funeral feast with cremation and a large amount of fragmented pottery, most likely of local production, was built over the early burials of the burial ground. The grave goods are rather poor and typical for mountain Caucasian culture of the late middle ages. In adult burials found clothes, shoes, belts, headwear, belts; women's jewelry; the men's knives, whetstones. In most children's burials, only chicken eggs are found to the left of the head, or there is no burial equipment at all. Children's funerals account for almost 50% of the total number of excavated graves.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haibo Bi ◽  
Yunhe Wang ◽  
Xiuli Xu ◽  
Yu Liang ◽  
Jue Huang ◽  
...  

Abstract. Sea ice export through Baffin Bay plays a vital role in modulating the meridional overturning process in the downstream Labrador Sea. In this study, satellite-derived sea ice products are explored to obtain the sea ice flux (SIF) through three passages (referred to as A, B, and C for the north, middle, and south passages, respectively) of Baffin Bay. Over the period 1988–2015, the average annual (October–September) sea ice area export is 555 × 103 km2, 642 × 103 km2, and 551 × 103 km2 through passages A, B, and C, respectively. These amounts are less than that observed through the Fram Strait (FS, 707 × 103 km2). Clear increasing trends in annual sea ice export on the order of 53.1 × 103 km2/de and 43.2 × 103 km2/de are identified at passages A and B, respectively. The trend at the south passage (C), however, is slightly negative (−13.3 × 103 km2/de). The positive trends in annual SIF at A and B are primarily attributable to the increase during winter months, which is triggered by the accelerated sea ice motion (SIM) and partly compensated by the reduced sea ice concentration (SIC). During the summer months, the sea ice export through each Baffin Bay passage usually presents a negative trend, primarily because of the decline in SIM and it is further enhanced by a dramatic decrease in SIC. A significant positive trend in the net SIF (i.e. net ice inflow) is found for between the passages A (or B) and C at 54.5 (or 64.2) × 103 km2/de. Therefore, Baffin Bay may have presented a greater convergence of ice. Overall, the connection between Baffin Bay sea ice export and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is tenuous, although the correlation is sensitive to variations in the selected time period. In contrast, the association with the cross-gate sea level pressure difference (SLPD) is robust in Baffin Bay (R = 0.69–0.71 depending on the passages), but relatively weaker compared with that in the FS (R = 0.74). Baffin Bay is bounded by Baffin Island to the west and Greenland to the east, thus, sea ice drift is not converted to the free state observed in the FS.


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