Avlasovich, A. Early Christian Burials of the Mogilev’s cities near Dnieper and Sozh (original) (raw)
Related papers
Early Christian Burials of the Mogilev’s cities near Dnieper and Sozh
Gardarika, 2016
This article is dedicated to the first Christian burials, discovered in the archaeological researches of urban complexes at the territory of Mogilev near the rivers Dnieper and Sozh. In this region, the four early ground cemeteries were discovered and they date back approximately to the XII century. The authors note that the change in funeral rites in burial necropolises on the territory of Mogilev Dnieper and Sozh indicates the penetration of Christianity in this region at the end of X-beginning of XI century. At the same time, in the cities, the centers of the spread of a new religion, the ground of the cemetery is dated from not earlier the XII century. A likely explanation for this can be observed in the XI century tradition of burying the dead under the earthen embankment in nearby barrow cemeteries.
The small kurgan group excavated near the village of Cotiujeni (the southern area of the Middle Dniester basin in what is now the Republic of Moldova) (Fig. 1, Cotiujeni) included three barrows of the Early Iron Age (nos. 2, 4 and 5). These were earthen mounds (0.5-1.0 m high, 24 m and 36 m in diameter) with burnt layers. The kurgans were constructed each at a time for a single interment (Fig. 2: 1, 3, 6). The mortuary structures are rectangular pits with certain peculiarities, namely undercuts and steps (Fig. 2: 2, 4, 5). The rite of interment was inhumation. Of the grave goods, 53 ceramic fragments were preserved: from five burnished vessels (Fig. 3: 14) and a pot (Fig. 3: 5). Bitruncated-conical bowls appeared in the Carpathian-Danubian region as early as the Late Bronze Age and further on became one of the leading pottery types of the cultural complex of Basarabi (beginning from the second quarter of the 8th century BC) throughout the entire area of its distribution, including the Basarabi-Soldanesti variant in the Middle-Dniester basin (Fig. 4). Direct parallels to bowls of this type are known among the materials from the Zhabotin settlement on the right bank of the Dnieper river where similar vessels were among the most widely distributed ones in horizon Zhabotin-II (from the mid-8th century BC). Ladles with shallow bowls from the Carpathian-Danubian region are of an Early Hallstatt period origin (Fig. 5). The appearance of such scoops on the Middle Dniester and in the forest-steppe region of the Dnieper right bank is linked with the archaeological culture of Gáva-Holigrady-Granicesti in the East-Carpathian region. In addition, they have direct parallels among the finds from the settlement of Zhabotin (horizons Zhabotin-II and Zhabotin-III). Notwithstanding the fact that the kurgan complexes of Cotiujeni are situated within the area of the Basarabi-Soldanesti culture, analysis of the burial structures and the rite allows us to link them with the early nomadic (Cimmerian) burials of the Northern Black Sea region (the Novocherkassk group -?) and to compare them with the latest pre-Scythian forest-steppe complexes of the second half of the 8th century BC (Fig. 6). The Cotiujeni kurgan group combines the funerary traditions of the early steppe nomads and the pottery of Basarabi-Soldanesti types. The Cotiujeni barrows can be attributed to the «Thraco-Cimmerian» complexes of the Northern Black Sea region and are dated to the second half of the 8th century BC.
The actual questions of the anthropology of the Ancient Pus population are discussed. 47 burials from the Grigorovka burial-ground were examined for craniological, osteological, and demographic characteristics. According to the craniological data, the group is included to the circle o f Slav popula tions inhabited the Kiev Principality in the X—XIII th centuries. The assessment o f the features of muscul relief development and the distribution o f arthritis on the postcranial skeletons allowed us to reconstruct professional occupations of individuals. Some of the epigenetical features, traumas, teeth pathologies, and signs of infectional deseases were described and interpreted. Cribra orbitalia and teeth enamel hypoplasy were examined as markers of physiological stress and indicators of ecolo gical adaptation of the Grigorovka population.
2022
In 2018, geneticists presented the results of a special study conducted within the framework of studying the problem of the origin and evolution of Yersinia pestis – the bubonic plague. Apparently, the most ancient strain of this virus known to date comes from the Mikhailovsky II burial mound located in Samara Oblast. Excavations of three barrows at this site in 2015 revealed materials from the initial stage of the Late Bronze Age associated in the steppe Volga region with the Pokrovka type of the Srubnaya cultural and historical community. The authors publish information about the burial complexes of barrows 2, 3, 7, three of which (barrow 3, burials 2, 5, 9) actually contained remains with the gene samples of the Yersinia pestis strain. Along with descriptions of burials and grave goods from the excavated portion of the Mikhailovsky II burial mound, the paper features details of the ceramics manufacturing technology, as well as the results of anthropological studies. The fact that the most ancient form of plague was discovered in the materials of the Srubnaya culture, perhaps, makes another contribution to the range of issues related to the study of the Late Bronze Age of Eurasia.
Погребение № 2, скифское (рис. 4,3). Выявлено в 15,20 м к ЮВ от центра на глубине 3,87 м по темному пятну заполнения. Погребение было впущено у основания насыпи, накрытой сверху каменной наброской. Контуры ямы зафиксированы на уровне перехода чернозема в материк. По длинной оси вытянута с ЮЗ на СВ. Она в плане подовальной, вытянутой формы, её размеры: 1,31 х 0,52 м, прослеженная глубина -0,12 м. Дно находится на глубине 3,99 м. Заполнение ямы -рыхлый чернозем с небольшой примесью суглинка и камней. Кости скелета плохой сохранности, анатомический порядок нарушен. Возможно, погребены части человеческого тела, которое по каким-то причинам оказалось расчлененным. Среди костей было найдено пряслице (1)) и фрагмент бусины (2).
2020
The article addresses the burial rites and grave goods of a burial investigated in 1975 in the Saratov region. The burial belongs to the culturally original monuments of "Avilovo" type widely spread in the Hunnic and Post-Hunnic periods in the Lower and Middle Volga regions. The author comes to the conclusion that the Avilovo burial rite differs from that one of other groups of burials of the post-Hunnic and Early Turkic times by a significant peculiarity. Burials made according to this rite formed a compact area in the steppes of the Lower Volga. The dating of the later Avilovo burials coincides with the time of the beginning of the active spread of the influence of the Khazar Khaganate in the steppes of Eastern Europe. The author supports the hypothesis expressed earlier about the inclusion of the Avilovo burial rite carriers in the Khazar ethno-social community.