6 October 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Women buried with thick twisted bronze neck rings and buckets on their feet found in Ukraine

Archaeologists discovered the remains of men buried with weapons such as axes, spearheads, and swords, and women buried with thick twisted bronze neck rings in an 11th-century cemetery near the village of Ostriv, south of Kiev, Ukraine.

Researchers Vsevolod Ivakin and Vyacheslav Baranov presented their study of the remains at the Archaeological Institute of America, which was held Jan. 4-7 in Chicago, according to Live Science.

In 2017, the Ukrainian Institute of Archaeology conducted an expedition that discovered the Ostriv graveyard. Between 2017 and 2022, excavations uncovered 107 inhumation burials from the late 10th and 11th centuries. The graves’ uniqueness was quickly apparent. Unlike the unusual funerary practices of the Kyivan Rus during this period, the graves were facing south and west rather than north.

The deceased were laid in supine position (on their backs), with outstretched limbs. In most of the graves, there were remnants of wooden coffins. The remains of funerary food offerings (chicken bones and eggshells) were discovered in the graves and in wooden buckets at the feet of some of the deceased. Some people were buried with extremely valuable items, including slate spindle whorls, jewelry such as bronze neck rings and bracelets, pennanular brooches, cast bronze belt rings, cowrie shell bead necklaces, and weapons such as battle axes, knives, and spearheads.

The skeleton of a woman who was buried with elaborate neck rings as well as rings around her arms. Image credit: Vyacheslav Baranov
The skeleton of a woman who was buried with elaborate neck rings as well as rings around her arms. Image credit: Vyacheslav Baranov

Though the comparison was not exact, the orientation and funerary furnishings bore a strong resemblance to the practices of tribes in the Western Baltic. Most remarkably, none of the Ostriv graves were cremation burials; the Western Baltic peoples generally burned their dead. Furthermore, Baltic funeral customs do not generally involve buckets.



📣 Our WhatsApp channel is now LIVE! Stay up-to-date with the latest news and updates, just click here to follow us on WhatsApp and never miss a thing!!



 Archaeologists hypothesize that these key differences may be attributed to restrictions placed on traditional funerary practices by the Christian dukes of Kyiv, primarily Volodymyr the Great (r. 980-1015) and Yaroslav the Wise (r. 1019-1054), and by the process of Christianization of the Baltic settlers of the region during the 11th century. A stone altar found in the cemetery could have been used for Christian or pagan rituals, or a mixture of the two.

Research continued at the site until 2022 but the excavation has been paused due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Cover Photo: Vyacheslav Baranov

Related Articles

The exciting discovery of a 4000-year-old stone box grave in western Norway

10 November 2023

10 November 2023

Archaeologists report an extremely important 4,000-year-old stone box grave has been unearthed in Western Norway, describing it as the most...

Ancient tomb discovered under parking lot greenery in Japan

16 September 2023

16 September 2023

Shrubbery intended to illuminate a corner of a nondescript parking lot in Japan’s Nara prefecture turned out to be hiding...

2,000-Year-Old Unique Composite Fish Scaled Armor Found in Ancient Tomb

20 December 2024

20 December 2024

Chinese researchers have recently found fish-scaled armor in the tomb of Liu He, Marquis of Haihun from the Western Han...

Persian-era plaster walls were discovered during excavations at Zeyve Höyük in central Turkey

2 August 2022

2 August 2022

This year’s excavations at Porsuk-Zeyve Höyük (Zeyve Mound) near the Porsuk village of the Ulukışla district of Niğde, located in...

Scientists unlock the ‘Cosmos’ on the Antikythera Mechanism

13 March 2021

13 March 2021

Scientists may have finally made a complete digital model of the 2000-year-old Cosmos panel of a mechanical device called the...

2000-years-old Hercules Rock Relief is being Vandalized

17 February 2024

17 February 2024

The 2000-year-old Hercules Rock Relief, located in Deliktaş, approximately 2.5 kilometers northeast of the Iznik district center of Bursa, is...

Metal Detectorist Finds on 4,000-year-old Dagger in Poland Forests

24 February 2024

24 February 2024

A copper dagger more than 4,000 years old was found in a forest near the town of Jarosław on the...

After 1,300 years, water to again flow from monumental fountain in the City of Gladiators in Turkey

30 December 2022

30 December 2022

The approximately 2,000-year-old monumental fountain in the ancient city of Kibyra in Golhisar, Burdur in southwestern Turkey will start flowing...

A very Rare Medieval Pocket Sundial Discovered in Germany

31 July 2023

31 July 2023

A rare Medieval sundial, which is approximately the size of a matchbox was discovered in the old town of Marburg,...

Interesting discovery at Crowland digs, a human poo from the Saxon period or coprolite found

16 August 2021

16 August 2021

Excavations in Abbey Church Field in Crowland, near Peterborough, have also yielded such amazing finds results for archaeologists. The archaeological...

The remains of two new Doric temples are discovered under the Italian site of Paestum

15 January 2024

15 January 2024

Archaeologists have unearthed two new temples in the Doric style in Paestum, an ancient Greek colony in southern Italy. The...

Seven Roman altars multicolored in the Great Northern Museum

12 November 2021

12 November 2021

We know that the ancient world is now very colorful. But these colors weren’t just limited to robes and other...

13.000 Ostraca Discovered in Upper Egypt

20 December 2021

20 December 2021

The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism announced that a German-Egyptian mission at the Al-Sheikh Hamad archaeological site in Tel...

The ruins believed to belong to Noah’s Ark date back to 5500-3000 years BC.

26 October 2023

26 October 2023

Rock and soil samples taken from the area where the ruins of ‘Noah’s Ark‘ are believed to be located in...

Archaeologists have pinpointed the location of a famous early Islamic battle using declassified spy satellite images

14 November 2024

14 November 2024

Archaeologists from Durham University in the UK and the University of Al-Qadisiyah have identified the site of the historic Battle...