A Cemetery of the Western Balts at Ostriv (11th Century C.E.) in Light of the Latest Archaeological Research (20 min)

Presenters

Vsevolod Ivakin, Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine; and Viacheslav Baranov, Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

Abstract

In 2017, a unique cemetery was discovered on the right bank of the Ros River between the villages of Ostriv and Puhachivka (80 km south of Kyiv). The materials discovered are unusual for the southern Rus’, and instead find their best analogies along the southeastern coast of the Baltic Sea in contexts dated to the 11th century. A total of 107 burials were investigated between 2017 and 2022. The funeral rites in the graveyard differ considerably from those of Kyivan Rus’ burials. Most of the identified burials were deposed in wooden coffins. All of the bodies were in a supine position, most of them with extended limbs and heads oriented mostly to the southwest. Only a small number were oriented to the north, northeast, or southeast. The orientation of the burials follows that of the river that flows next to the necropolis. The remains of a stone structure, probably an altar, were also discovered. Several burials presented evidence for food offerings, including chicken bones, eggshells, and containers for liquids and powders.

Other burials contained numerous funerary goods. Male graves included weapons such as axes, spearheads, and a single-edged sword, as well as belt hardware, bone containers, grinding stones, and flints. Wire-twisted and zoomorphic bracelets, massive spiral neckrings, and beads of various types, including gold-glass and cowrie-shell beads, were found in female burials. Numerous penannular brooches of various types appear in both male and female burials. While some artifacts, such as weapons, beads, and slate spindle-whorls, may be local products, most of the ornaments in this cemetery are most closely paralleled among the western Balts. The cemetery at Ostriv illustrates information in the Rus’ Primary Chronicle regarding the activity of the first Kyivan dukes, Volodymyr the Great and Yaroslav the Wise, who established the southern borders of Kyivan Rus’.