Female Burial of Cherniakhiv Culture with a Red Slip Jar of Provincial Roman Production from the Shyshaky Cemetery

Abstract

The article is devoted to the publication of materials from the burial no. 88 discovered at Shyshaky cemetery of the Cherniakhiv culture. It consisted of the inhumation of a woman (20—25 years old), who was oriented with her head to the north and was lying in a subrectangular pit with rounded corners (fig. 1—2). Among almost all the burials (more than 150) in the Shyshaky necropolis, this grave was distinguished by the largest number of accompanying material. First of all, there were a lot of wheel-made pottery (11 items) (fig. 3—4). Among the latter there were: bowls shaped like vases (2 items), a two-handled jar, a bowl shaped like a drinking vessel, pots (3 items), bowls (2 items), an ornamented cup and an imported antique one-handled jar (fig. 3: 6). Fragments (7 items) of brown pebbles and the bowl where they were found should be associated with ritual rites. Beads made of carnelian (8 items) (fig. 6: 56—63), glass (21 item) (fig. 6: 35—55), coral (33 items) (fig. 6: 1—33) and amber (1 item) (fig. 6: 34) were found in the upper part of the woman’s chest. In the burial there were also two fibulae (fig. 5: 1—2) and a belt buckle (fig. 5: 3) made of white metal, a horn comb (fig. 5: 10), a bone needle case (fig. 5: 4), a bronze knife (fig. 5: 5), as well as a spindle (fig. 4: 1) whorl with a sharp edge made on a potter’s wheel, fragments of iron parts of a knife (fig. 5: 8—9) and probably the remains of a casket casing (fig. 5: 6—7). Next to the pelvic bones of the skeleton on the left there were the bones and jaws of cattle, probably accompanying food. An interesting discovery in the burial no. 88 is a bone needle case (fig. 5: 4) and a miniature knife (fig. 5: 5) made of a copper alloy, the analogies of which are often found in female burials at the Shyshaky necropolis. Such knives are oriented in the northern direction. Similar sets (a bone needle case, a needle and sometimes an awl or a small knife) for sewing and clothing or shoes repairing are typical for the burial monuments of the Cherniakhiv — Sântana de Mureș cultures. Part of the pottery from the burial no. 88 is associated with beliefs in an afterlife feast. A bowl (fig. 3: 1), a cup (fig. 3: 2), a two-handled and a one-handled jars (fig. 3: 4, 6) were used for this purpose. It is also interesting that although an imported glass cup was not found in this burial, imported pottery used for drinking alcohol was put into the grave. The one-handled red slip jar (fig. 3: 6) of provincial Roman production is also quite rare for burials of the Cherniakhiv culture and unique for the Dnipro Forest-Steppe Left Bank territory. Chronological indicators such as a fibula, a buckle and a horn comb found in the burial no. 88 make it possible to date it back to the last quarter of the 4th century. A significant number of beads, accompanying food can indicate the Sarmatian (Alan) tradition.