Rings around the neck and buckets at the feet: Ukrainian archaeologists have found unusual burials from the times of Kievan Rus
Ukrainian archaeologists told about an amazing cemetery recently discovered, where the dead were buried with unusual objects.
The cemetery, located about 80 kilometers from Kyiv, contains 107 graves, most of which are burials in wooden coffins, according to say archaeologists from the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
There are both men and women buried in the cemetery. Men are buried with weapons such as axes, spearheads and swords. But some of the women’s remains were decorated with exquisite neck rings, which probably served as a social marker of the time.
The graves are also of interest, where buckets were found at the feet of the dead. This element may have been part of a funeral ritual.
The finds also include a stone altar, bracelets, necklaces, and the remains of food offerings such as chicken bones and eggshells. Archaeologists believe that the altar could have been used for Christian or pagan rituals, and possibly for both. Some of the artifacts are similar to those found in the Baltic states, which may indicate the presence of people from this region who served in the army of Kyivan rulers such as Volodymyr the Great and Yaroslav the Wise.
The expedition was conducted from 2017 to 2022, but the excavations were suspended due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. Its results were presented at the annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, which took place on January 4-7 in Chicago.
