The Glass Beaker With Eclectic Features From Burial No. 112 of the Shyshaky Cemetery

In 2014 the burial No. 112 was excavated on the territory of the Shyshaky cemetery of Scythian period and Cherniakhiv culture. A woman aged about 18—20 was buried there. The interesting fact is that this woman had 34 teeth (18 on the upper jaw and 16 on the lower jaw). Near the right hand of the woman a conical glass cup with a capacity of 0,6 liters was found. The item is decorated with glass drops of different colours: amber, light-blue and deep blue. Polychromy of coloured drops is common for wares of the west Roman workshops. The scheme of ornaments and the quality of this item indicate that it was made in the later period. There are no analogies and that’s why here we can mention a new type of glass cups with coloured drops the «Shyshaky-112 type». Obviously, the burial No. 112 belongs to the group of the latest burials of the Shyshaky cemetery. It is difficult to date this burial correctly because there are no analogies of such items. However, it is reasonable to assume that this complex belongs to the Nuns time (the end of the 4th — first part of the 5th centuries) The rite of placing glass and clay cups into the hands of dead people was stated only at the Shyshaky cemetery and is not common for other sites of Cherniakhiv culture. It is also interesting that such cups were found only in the burials of women (112, 39, 60). Maybe such a rite is connected with representation of local people about the dead women taking part in ritual feasts. The presence of this glass cup of provincial-Roman production in the burial No. 112 proves that there were military and trading relations between provinces of Roman Empire and barbarians. It also should be mentioned here that local people stayed on the same territory and they didn’t have significant decline after the arrival of the Huns. It is possible that the presence of items of provincial-Roman production (glass cups) indicates that local people took part in campaigns of the Huns to the provinces of the Roman Empire.

IN-GROUND CEMETERY OF THE SCYTHIAN PERIOD NEAR THE VILLAGE OF KSIZOVO IN THE UPPER DON REGION (NEW DATA)

Комплекс памятников конца V - III в. до н. э., расположенный на р. Дон у с. Ксизово в Задонском районе Липецкой обл., включает городище, селище и грунтовый могильник. В результате радиоуглеродного датирования и анализа вещевых находок к названным столетиям отнесено пять захоронений, ранее соотносимых с гуннским временем. В итоге стало известно 17 погребений скифской эпохи, включая два парных. В них по обряду ингумации и в сопровождении довольно скудного инвентаря (стрелы, браслеты, серьги, бусы, пряслица) были захоронены 9 мужчин, 9 женщин и ребенок. Данные бескурганные комплексы дают представление о погребальных традициях оседлого населения донской лесостепи. The studied group of sites dating to the end of 5 - 3 cc. BC is located on the Don river near the village of Ksizovo in the Zadonsk district, Lipetsk region. The group includes a fortified settlement, an unfortified settlement and an in-ground cemetery. The radiocarbon dating and analysis of the found artifacts refer the five graves earlier dated to the Hun period to the above-mentioned centuries. Today the number of the Scythian graves totals 17, including two double burials. Nine males, nine females and one child were buried in these graves performed according to the inhumation funerary rite with rather scarce funeral offerings (arrowheads, bracelets, pendants, beads, spindle whorls). These burial sites without kurgans give an insight into funerary traditions of the sedentary population inhabiting the Don forest-steppe belt.

LAYOUTS OF SETTLEMENTS IN NORTHWESTERN CRIMEA IN THE SECOND HALF OF I C. BC - FIRST QUARTER OF I C. AD

Статья представляет собой часть серии, посвященной планировкам позднескифских поселений Северо-Западного Крыма. Ее цель - выделение главных характеристик позднескифской застройки в регионе, проверка рабочей гипотезы о преемственности планировок на протяжении всего «позднескифского» периода, сравнение облика поселений Северо-Западного Крыма с синхронными памятниками соседних регионов. Тема настоящей статьи - планировки второй половины I в. до н. э. - первой четверти I в. н. э. Это время можно признать периодом расцвета поселений. Они достигают максимальных размеров, вокруг укреплений формируются «посады». Планировки поселений выглядят упорядоченными. Единицами застройки выступают многокомнатные дома, которые блокируются в кварталы. Характерная черта - использование греческих сооружений. В начале периода поселения укреплены различными оборонительными сооружениями, к концу они полностью или частично теряют свое значение. The paper is one in a series exploring the layout of late Scythian settlements in northwestern Crimea. It is aimed to identify key characteristics of late Scythian buildings in the region, test the working hypothesis on continuity of layouts throughout the entire ‘late Scythian’ period, and compare the look of settlements in northwestern Crimea with that of contemporaneous sites in the neighboring regions. This paper focuses on settlement layout in the second half of the 1 century BC - first quarter of the 1 century AD. Settlements of that period reached peak in their development. Settlements reached maximum size, with trading quarters (suburbs) appearing around fortified settlements. The layout of a settlement appears to follow a regular pattern. Housing units are buildings with many rooms constructed in residential quarters. Settlement development is characterized by use of Greek constructions. Early in the period settlements were fortified with various defensive structures which lost their importance partly or completely.

REVISITING THE LIFE STYLE OF THE DON FOREST-STEPPE BELT POPULATION DURING THE SCYTHIAN PERIOD (THE CASE STUDY OF THE KSIZOVO-19 CEMETERY)

В статье рассмотрены палеоантропологические материалы грунтовых захоронений середины I тыс. до н. э., расположенных на территории Верхнего Дона. Находки получены в результате раскопок многослойного памятника Ксизово-19. Работы проводились Раннеславянской археологической экспедицией ИА РАН под руководством А. М. Обломского. Исследование антропологических коллекций проводилось по комплексной биоархеологической программе и позволило осветить ряд вопросов об образе жизни населения этой эпохи. Были проанализированы показатели уровня стрессов и физических нагрузок в рассматриваемой группе. Следует обратить внимание на очень высокий процент присутствия зубных патологий. При сравнении серий из грунтовых погребений и подкурганных захоронений выявлены различия в состоянии зубочелюстной системы и присутствие патологических состояний, фиксируемых на зубах в большей степени в группе из курганов. The paper provides an overview of paleoanthropological remnants from ground burials dating back to the mid I mill. BC located in the Upper Don region. The finds were obtained during excavations of the Ksizovo-19 multi-layer site. The excavations were carried out by the Early Slavic Expedition of the Institute of Archaeology, RAS, led by A. M. Oblomskiy. The study of the anthropological assemblages was performed according to a comprehensive bioarchaeological program. This makes it possible to cover a number of issues regarding the life style of the population at that time. The stress level and physical activity in the studied group were analyzed. A very high percentage of dental pathologies should be noted. Comparison of series from the ground burials and the kurgans burials revealed differences in the conditions of the dentofacial systems and presence of a greater number of pathological conditions of the teeth in the kurgan series.

RITUAL PITS AT THE MIDDLE DON SETTLEMENTS OF THE SCYTHIAN PERIOD

На городищах и селищах скифоидной культуры, существовавших в VIIII вв. до н. э. в лесостепной части бассейна Дона, фактически не были известны сооружения культового назначения. Для выявления таковых были проанализированы имеющиеся поселенческие материалы. Оказалось, что не менее 16 ям, открытых на шести памятниках и считавшихся хозяйственными, необходимо интерпретировать как ритуальные комплексы. Основанием для этого послужили специфичные находки и стратиграфия. Семь ям содержали человеческие кости вместе с костями животных и фрагментами керамики. В другие в качестве вотивных приношений были помещены наконечники стрел и копья, орудия труда, глиняные поделки и сосуды, нередко преднамеренно разбитые. Есть немногочисленные ритуальные захоронения собак. Как правило, в ямах имеются следы костров или продукты горения. Более половины сооружений найдены на Семилукском городище. Они, несомненно, были связаны с размещавшимися там же массовыми захоронениями. С выделением серии культовых комплексов появилась совершенно новая информация о сакральной сфере жизни оседлого населения региона. In reality, religious constructions have not been found at Scythoid hillforts and unfortified settlements in the forest-steppe belt of the Don basin. Settlement materials were analyzed to identify such constructions. The analysis demonstrated that at least 16 pits (Figs. 1-3) discovered at six sites that were considered to be of household character are to be interpreted as ritual complexes. Specific finds and stratigraphy were used to justify this conclusion. Seven pits contained human bones along with animal bones and ceramic fragments. Arrowheads and spearheads, implements, clay objects and vessels which were, in many cases, deliberately broken (Figs. 4; 5) were placed into some pits as votive offerings. There are some ritual burials of dogs that are few in number. Pits tend to show traces of fire or combustion products. More than half of such constructions were found at Semiluki. They are definitely associated with mass burials located at this settlement. Now that a series of religious complexes has been singled out, we have absolutely new information on sacral life of the sedentary population living in this region

Einmal ist keinmal. Peculiar burial practices of prehistoric communities settling the Lublin-Volhynia Upland in the Early Iron Age

The study addresses remains of two peculiar graves unearthed at the site Mikulin 9 in the Dobużek Scarp (Pol. Skarpa Dobużańska) area in Western Volhynia. Unique character of the burials under consideration consists in the peculiarity of funeral ritual performed, scenario of which was basically divided into two acts of burning of the deceased – once on cremation pyres, and then in the eventual places of their interment (grave pits). Both the graves under consideration as well as analogical finds from the western part of the Lublin-Volhynian Upland and its northern foreland can be connected with an impact form the Pontic area and dated back to the Early Scythian Period. Historically, their presence is commonly considered as a result of westward migrations of forest-steppe people form the area of nowadays Ukraine triggered by the appearance of Indo-Iranian Scythian tribes. In the case of the presented burials no less significant from the peculiar eastern burial rite performed seem their localization. When discussing the Dobużek Scarp area as a destiny point of one of such migrations, clearly Pontic character of the escarpment’s physiography should be taken into consideration. The local conditions of the already unsettled loess paha of Dobużek escarpment must have peculiarly attracted pastoral communities arriving from the east. Moreover, the graves were placed in a very exposed point within the preexisting prehistoric landscape, to wit – they were dug into today non-existent but then dominating the area long barrows of the Funnel Beaker Culture. It seems likely that by the act of burying their kinsman into the exposed Eneolithic mounds the incomers tried to create an ancestral tie with the area and thereby justify their presence “here and now”.

Middle Sarmatian Burial Complex from Opushki Necropolis, the Crimea

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.

New Pre-Scythian Burials from the Volgograd Region. Interpretation Problems

The article is devoted to the publication and analysis of new burial materials of the pre-Scythian period (9th – 7th centuries BC), obtained as a result of excavations of several burial mounds in the Volgograd region. The work was carried out by the expedition of Volgograd State University from the end of the past to the beginning of the present century. The burial mounds were located on the coastal terraces of the Don river and some of its tributaries, as well as on the steppe watersheds associated with the Don basin. The sample includes seven pre-Scythian burials, the burial rite and clothing material of which allows us to correlate them with the previously discovered monuments of the Chernogorovskaya Culture of the southern Russian steppes and date them within the boundaries of the initial stage of the early Iron Age. According to archaeological and anthropological data, various components were involved in the formation of this culture in the Lower Volga region and the neighbouring Don and the Volga-Ural regions. The basis was autochthonous substrates of the Late Bronze Age, as well as cultural formations derived from them at the final stage of the Late Bronze Age. The combination of local and imported cultural traditions is also reflected in the grave inventory of the studied series, especially in the ceramic complex, which shows technological and typological features of various origin. The variety of elements of the funeral rite and the mixed nature of the accompanying inventory of the presented burial series reflect the complex processes of cultural genesis in the Lower Volga region in the pre-Scythian period during transition to a nomadic economy.