In 1976 an expedition of the Archaeology Institute of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic investigated Scythian Burial-mound No. 9 in a group of burial-mounds near the village of Mar’evka in the Zaporozhie District of the Zaporozhie Region. The mound had been erected from blocks of turf in the manner traditional for the Scythians. Later on a Polovtsian shrine was evidently erected on top of the mound but in the post-Medieval period this would appear to have been destroyed (the base and the lower part of a statue have survived intact). The mound was erected over a grave in the form of a catacomb with two entrances and a burial of a bridled horse in a separate pit. The grave was looted in antiquity. Among the remains of grave goods typical for Scythian burials of various levels rare items were also discovered, including fragments of a sword with one cutting edge, a gold ring with a coin used for its bezel (a Pantikapaion stater). The most remarkable find of all was a board from the lid of a sarcophagus bearing painted decoration. The decoration, applied in three tiers, consisted of battle scenes depicting three pairs of fighting warriors. The attire, weaponry and poses of the warriors make it possible to assume that the decoration illustrates one of the motifs from the mythology of Ancient Greece – Amazonomachy.
The dimensions and arrangement of the burial-chamber and the diverse grave goods indicate that a number of individuals had been buried in it – an individual of high rank accompanied by his servants. Details of the funerary rite (the overall lay-out of the grave and its details, features of the horse burial) and also the range of artefacts enable us to date the burial-mound to the very end of the 4th or beginning of the 3rd century BC.
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Anokhin V. A. Monetnoe delo Bospora 1986 Kiev
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Chochorowski J. Rings with Panticapaeum staters from the Great Ryzhanovka barrow. Zapiski numizmatyczne 1999 III/IV Kraków 31 41
Connolly P. Greece and Rome at War 1998 London
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Fialko E. Candea I. Wooden Sarcophagus with Polychrome Paintings from Scythian Barrow. The Thracians and Their Neighbors in Antiquity 2010 Braila (in print)
Frolova N. A. Problema monetnoï chekanki Bospora 6-2 vv. do n.é. (po povodu vÿkhoda knigi V. A. Anokhina “Monetnoe delo Bospora”. Kiev, 1986). VDI 1988 n° 2 122 143
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Marchenko K. K. Varvarÿ v sostave naseleniya Berezani i Ol’vii 1988 Leningrad
Melyukova A. I. Vooruzhenie skifov (SAI D1-4) 1964 Moscow
Mozolevskiï B. M. Tovsta Mogyla 1979 Kyiv
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Regling K. Der griechische Goldschatz von Prinkipo. Zeitschruft für Numismatik XLI 1931 1 36
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Rudynskiï M. Ya. Arkheologichni zbirky Poltavs’kogo muzeya. Zbirnyk, prysvyachenyï 35-richchu Muzeya 1928 1 29 62
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Shramko B. A. Arkhaicheskaya keramika Vostochnogo ukrepleniya Bel’skogo gorodishcha i problema proiskhozhdeniya ego obitateleï. ASGÉ 1983 23 73 92
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Sokol’skiï N. I. Antichnÿe derevyannÿe sarkofagi Severnogo Prichernomor’ya (SAI G1–17) 1969 Moscow
Sparkes B. A. & Talcott L. Black and plain pottery of the 6-th, 5-th and 4-th centuries B.C (The Athenian Agora XII) 1970 New Jersey
Terenozhkin A. I. Skifskiï kurgan v g. Melitopole KSIA 1955 5 23 324
Vaulina S. & Wasowicz A. Bois Grecs et Romains de l’ Ermitage 1974 Wroclaw
Zograf A. N. Antichnÿe monetÿ MIA 1951 16
Boltrik 2000, 130-133.
Boltrik 1980.
Boltryk & Fialko 2005, 246.
Chernenko 1985, 107, figs. 64-65.
Rudynskiï 1928, pl. VII, 11; Melyukova 1964, pl. 18, 11; Chernenko 1985, pls. 44 and 57.
Melyukova 1964, 51.
Fialko 1994, fig. 10.
Ol’khovskiï 2004, fig. 4.
Bunyatyan 1985, 95.
Petrenko 1967, pl. 8, 6-9.
Shramko 1983, fig. 11; 1987, fig. 51.
Bessonova & Skorÿï 2001, fig. 39.
Marchenko 1972, fig. 2.
Kulatova 2008, fig. 6.
Marchenko 1988, figs. 29, 32.
Sparkes & Talcott 1970, pl. 44.
Marchenko 1988, 101, fig. 32, 5.
Alekseev, Murzin & Rolle 1991, No. 92.
Grebennikov 2008, fig. 37, 4. M. Yu. Treister defines these vessels as large hemispherical bowls of a Macedonian type.
Ganina 1970, fig. 23; Galanina 1980, pl. 8; Boltryk, Treister & Fialko 2009, fig. 7.
Boltryk & Fialko 1999, fig. 1; Babenko 2005, fig. 18.
Petrenko 1978, 63.
Anokhin 1986, Nos. 115–116.
Gil’ 1892, Nos. 22, 23.
Chochorowski 1999, fig. 2.
Frolova 1988, 135; 2002, 291. E. Turovskiï, to whom we should like to express our sincere gratitude for his consultation, also supports the latter date.
Anokhin 1986, 141; 1999, 76; Skorÿï 1998, 124.
Zograf 1951, 42–43; Karÿshkovskiï 1961, 119.
Connolly 1998, 45.
Charbonneaux, Martin & Villard 1969, fig. 253; Kolpinskiï 1977, figs. 324–325.
Loseva & Sidorova 1988, 55; Bottini & Setari 2007.
Fialko 2009a, 525-532; 2010.
Fialko 1987, 133-136, fig. 5.
Romashko & Skorÿï 2009, fig. 16, 53, 57.
Bidzilya 1971, 46.
Mozolevskiï 1979, 110.
Alekseev, Murzin & Rolle 1991, 56.
Terenozhkin 1955, 23–24.
Sokol’skiï 1969, pls. 12, 1; 11, 1; 3, 4–6.
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
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In 1976 an expedition of the Archaeology Institute of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic investigated Scythian Burial-mound No. 9 in a group of burial-mounds near the village of Mar’evka in the Zaporozhie District of the Zaporozhie Region. The mound had been erected from blocks of turf in the manner traditional for the Scythians. Later on a Polovtsian shrine was evidently erected on top of the mound but in the post-Medieval period this would appear to have been destroyed (the base and the lower part of a statue have survived intact). The mound was erected over a grave in the form of a catacomb with two entrances and a burial of a bridled horse in a separate pit. The grave was looted in antiquity. Among the remains of grave goods typical for Scythian burials of various levels rare items were also discovered, including fragments of a sword with one cutting edge, a gold ring with a coin used for its bezel (a Pantikapaion stater). The most remarkable find of all was a board from the lid of a sarcophagus bearing painted decoration. The decoration, applied in three tiers, consisted of battle scenes depicting three pairs of fighting warriors. The attire, weaponry and poses of the warriors make it possible to assume that the decoration illustrates one of the motifs from the mythology of Ancient Greece – Amazonomachy.
The dimensions and arrangement of the burial-chamber and the diverse grave goods indicate that a number of individuals had been buried in it – an individual of high rank accompanied by his servants. Details of the funerary rite (the overall lay-out of the grave and its details, features of the horse burial) and also the range of artefacts enable us to date the burial-mound to the very end of the 4th or beginning of the 3rd century BC.
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 523 | 89 | 6 |
Full Text Views | 141 | 10 | 1 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 206 | 23 | 0 |