Barrows in the forest-steppe between the Dniester and Southern Bug, Ukraine. Initial results of comprehensive research (original) (raw)
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Sprawozdania Archeologiczne 75/1, 2023
Barrows in the forest-steppe between the Dnister and Southern Bug, Ukraine. Initial results of comprehensive research. Sprawozdania Archeologiczne 75/1, 299-333. The article presents the preliminary results of research by a Polish-Ukrainian team who in 2018-2023 worked on the project of comprehensive exploration of barrows situated in the forest-steppe between the Southern Bug and Dnister in modern Ukraine. There, two major stages of erecting and using barrows were distinguished for the 3 rd and 1 st millennia BC. Two barrows discussed herein, explored as part of the project, were erected in the second stage. Barrow 3 in Ivanivtsi-Antonivka can be dated to the second half of the 10 th-first half of the 8 th century BC, whereas Barrow 6 in Sloboda Noskovetska to the late 8 th-early 7 th century BC. The older one was erected and then used by communities related to the early period of the Chornolis culture. The younger one is at present one of the main pre-Scythian complexes of eastern Podillia. The multi-component set of artefacts deposited under its mound represents a mixture of the Chornolis culture, Basarabi-Şoldăneşti influences and the impact of early steppe nomads (Kimmerians?). This well illustrates the complex cultural mosaic found in the forest-steppe between the Southern Bug and Dnister rivers.
Praehistorische Zeitschrift, 2019
The aim of this article is to view the spatial distribution of Upper Dniester Basin’s (Western Ukraine) barrows and to interpret their location principles. These monuments were often situated on the flattened summits of watershed ridges or hills. It appeared also that some of them were located on upper parts of gentle slopes of not more than 8° of inclination. Mounds appear within linear and group-linear arrangements and were rarely observed as clusters, while more specific adjustments to their location were dependant on local terrain morphology. Barrow alignments run along the elevated ridges, while clustered groups were situated in places where erosive indentations or denudation cavities prevented barrows from stretching in a linear pattern. It can be noted that during the spatial development of barrow alignments, more attention was paid to the intervisibility between the mounds, than to their visibility from other places in the landscape. The potential of observing at least one o...
Treasures of Time: Research of the Faculty of Archaeology of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, 2021
Since 2009, the international Upper Dniester Expedition has conducted field research (field-walking surveys, non-invasive and excavation) and analytical studies in the Eastern Transcarpathia. These investigations are part of a broader research programme – a study of ‘The Biocultural Borderland between the East and the West of Europe’. The projects concern a comprehensive reconnaissance of barrow cemeteries dated to the 3 rd and 2 nd millennia BC, located in the mixed forest-steppe and forest belt in the basin of the Upper Dniester River. For almost 1500 years, this type of funeral architecture shaped the ‘mortuary landscapes’ of the communities successively inhabiting that area. Hence, the barrow cemeteries are an important source for understanding the mechanisms and trajectories of cultural development in this part of Europe, and consequently the subject of intensive studies within several research projects. This article describes the aims and results of two already completed and o...
Sprawozdania Archeologiczne, 2023
In the vicinity of Yampil (Vinnytsia oblast, Ukraine), there exists a cluster of barrows dating back to the Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age. Nestled upon the Podillia Upland, this concentration lies at the crossroads of two cultural spheres: the Eastern European steppe and Central European region. The exploration of the Yampil barrows began during the 1980s by archaeologists from Vinnytsia. This endeavour was enriched by a Polish-Ukrainian expedition that conducted fieldwork from 2010 to 2014. Seven barrows were then examined. Today, an abundance of radiocarbon data allows the construction of a precise chronological framework for the Yampil barrow graves. We can now discern four principal stages in this sequence: (1) Late Eneolithic, (2) early Yamna, (3) late Yamna era, and (4) Catacombna. During the first two periods (3350-2800 cal BC), these barrows were meticulously constructed, sometimes evolving in multiple phases. In the latter two stages (2800-2400 cal BC), cemeteries took shape, marked by graves deliberately dug into the fully formed mounds.
Bulgarian-Polish project of research on barrows in the Middle Tundzha Region
From the Steppes to the Balkans: Yamna culture in Upper Thrace, 2024
From 2018 to 2021, the Bulgarian-Polish expedition focused on the field research of barrows over Middle Tundzha, near Yambol and Elhovo. This work was part of the National Science Centre (Kraków, Poland) project entitled From the Steppes to the Balkans—the Yamna Culture in Upper Thrace. Implementation was made possible thanks to the cooperation agreement between the Regional Historical Museum in Yambol and the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. As part of the project, five burial mounds were excavated and discovered in the following locations: Mogila (2018, two barrows), Drazhevo (2019), Zimnitsa (2019), and Malomirovo (2021); of these, the investigation of the latest one provided the key results of the project. The results of the field research of Malomirovo, Pamukli Bair, together with a series of specialised analyses, are the primary source of study on access to the early steppe communities in Upper Thrace.
Sprawozdania Archeologiczne vol. 75/1, 2023
In the vicinity of Yampil (Vinnytsia oblast, Ukraine), there exists a cluster of barrows dating back to the Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age. Nestled upon the Podillia Upland, this concentration lies at the crossroads of two cultural spheres: the Eastern European steppe and Central European region. The exploration of the Yampil barrows began during the 1980s by archaeologists from Vinnytsia. This endeavour was enriched by a Polish-Ukrainian expedition that conducted fieldwork from 2010 to 2014. Seven barrows were then examined. Today, an abundance of radiocarbon data allows the construction of a precise chronological framework for the Yampil barrow graves. We can now discern four principal stages in this sequence: (1) Late Eneolithic, (2) early Yamna, (3) late Yamna era, and (4) Catacombna. During the first two periods (3350-2800 cal BC), these barrows were meticulously constructed, sometimes evolving in multiple phases. In the latter two stages (2800-2400 cal BC), cemeteries took shape, marked by graves deliberately dug into the fully formed mounds.
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2018
The area of the Upper Dniester Basin in Western Ukraine comprises one of the largest concentrations of barrows with the exception of the steppe zone. This article concerns the absolute chronology of one mound group in Bukivna, built in the Middle Bronze Age by the people of the Komarów culture. It also focuses on reconstructing the spatial arrangement of barrows and explaining the creation of their specific linear alignment. A Bayesian statistical analysis of radiocarbon AMS dates collected from five excavated tumuli revealed the chronological and spatial organization of the Bukivna barrows. Moreover, a seriation and correspondence analysis was performed on pottery from the barrows to expose the chronology of specific ornamentation groups. This research allowed for the scenario of the emergence of mounds in the first half of the 2nd millennium BC to be reconstructed. In light of the presented data, it is theorized that barrows were arranged in linear alignments along selected hill zones, although they did not necessarily proceed in a continuous or defined direction. Structuring of the funerary space resulted from the extension of mound groups, which probably represent family sub-necropolises. Linear arrangements of mounds were derived by merging the particular groups; barrows were erected in areas apart from the 'planned' structure, usually during different periods (but sometimes simultaneously). It was only after some time that the final alignment formation was accomplished, thus ending the process of structuring particular fragments of the barrow landscape.
Analecta Archaeologica Ressoviensia, 2017
AbstrAct Makarowicz P., Cwaliński M., Niebieszczański J., Romaniszyn J. 2017. Barrows from the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age in the Upper Dniester River Basin in Ukraine. Geophisical Research and Archaeological Verification. Analecta Archaeologica Ressoviensia 12, 59–74 This article evaluates the potential of magnetometry to establish the internal structure of three mounds in the barrow cemetery of Bukivna in the Upper Dniester River Basin in Ukraine. We also evaluate the effects of geomorphological processes on the magnetometric results. The three-stage research method we applied comprises the preparation of a digital elevation model of the mounds, conducting geomagnetic surveys and, finally, targeted excavations, the latter enabling the verification of previously detected magnetic anomalies. In effect our studies show exceptionally complex geophysical anomalies, difficult to interpret with any certainty. In the peculiar case of the barrows 6 and 7 in group I, partly connected by an earthen mantle, the overlapping magnetic fields did not allow the two mounds to be distinguished from each other; it was possible to achieve only through subsequent excavations. In both barrows, a series of ritual and sepulchral structures were discovered that provided clear magnetic signals. The arrangement of the anomalies in the mound 1, group II, potentially reflects various aspects of the barrow's structure and its state of preservation, beginning with postdepositional processes related to erosion or to the runoff of material down the slope, and ending with the mound's stratigraphy, formed over the course of two phases. In turn, in the case of mounds 6 and 7, it can be assumed that the effects of these processes have been 1
28th EAA Annual Meeting, Budapest, Hungary, Reintegration, 2022
The aim of the study is to demonstrate the potential of incorporating geophysical analysis towards identifying funerary customs. The conducted prospections verified the presence of a groups of barrows in the area located in East Slovakia mainly Ondava and Laborec Uplands as well as Eastern Slovakia Lowlands near mounds excavated in the XXth century by V. Budinský-Krička. All barrows are situated in the upper parts of hills, in exposed places and they often form chains. Comparison of currently visible mounds with earlier published maps shows that barrows located in woodlands are still present but these ones situated in agricultural terrains nearly completely disappeared and their existence can be noticed only by vegetation differences or the colour of the ground visible on Google Maps. The biggest of explored mounds, located in Lešne was over 3 meters high others were 1–2 m in height and 10–15 m in diameter. Under mounds, there was usually one, centrally situated burial pit or the dead were deposited directly on the surface of the ground or within a specially prepared place. The burials were poorly equipped but funeral rite is typical for Corded Ware or Yamnaya cultures. Generally in the Final Neolithic inhumation dominated but cremation graves have been also discovered, six of which were found in the Ondava Upland. The eastern Slovakia area seems to be a contact zone of both – the Corded Ware and Yamnaya cultures. Planned in the next years excavations of selected barrows will demonstrate the scale of these cultural units influences in time. The project is currently realized (National Science Centre, Poland, NCN 2020/37/B/HS3/03816).