8 August 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.

 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

Archeologists Discover Two Sphinxes measure 26 feet in length in Egyptian Ruins

21 January 2022

21 January 2022

Archeologists have discovered the remains of two huge sphinx statues, each measuring 26 feet in length, at the funerary temple...

New Type of Amphora Found in 5th-Century Roman Shipwreck

28 April 2024

28 April 2024

The first in-depth analysis of the cargo of a 4th-century Roman shipwreck found off the coast of Mallorca in 2019...

Polish archaeologists have uncovered nine crocodile heads within ancient Egyptian tombs of nobles

25 December 2022

25 December 2022

Polish archaeologists excavating the Theban Necropolis in Egypt discovered nine crocodile heads hidden inside two tombs belonging to high-ranking nobles....

Remarkable Roman Villa Full of Strange Artifacts Discovered from a Bronze Age Site in England

3 April 2024

3 April 2024

Archaeologists have uncovered a “richly decorated” remarkable Roman villa complex during excavations at Brookside Meadows in Grove, a village in...

New Huge Viking-age boat grave discovered by Radar in Norway

12 April 2022

12 April 2022

Archaeologists have located a boat grave from the Viking Age near Øyesletta in Norway during a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey....

Stone Age Swiss Army Knife? Experimental Archaeology Reveals Surprising Use of Bone Tools at Estonia Site

22 May 2025

22 May 2025

A groundbreaking new study published in February 2025 has revealed that mysterious bone tools discovered at Estonia’s oldest known human...

Thor’s hammer amulet discovered in Sweden

23 October 2022

23 October 2022

Archaeologists have unearthed the Thor’s Hammer amulet, which they call “one of its kind” in Ysby in southwestern Sweden’s Halland...

The camel carvings in Saudi Arabia are 8000 years old!

15 September 2021

15 September 2021

Life-size animal reliefs found in Saudi Arabia were carved almost 8,000 years ago, during the Neolithic period, when the desert...

Ancient Yayoi Period Settlement Discovered on Tokyo Condo Development Site

10 December 2023

10 December 2023

Excavations at the former site of the British Embassy in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward have uncovered the remains of a Yayoi...

With the withdrawal of Lake Van, the Urartian road to Çarpanak Island emerged

18 May 2022

18 May 2022

In Lake Van in eastern Turkey, the water level fell due to global warming, and a one-kilometer Urartian road connecting...

Thracian Horseman Votive Tablet Discovered in Bulgaria

28 July 2023

28 July 2023

A stone votive relief depicting a Thracian horseman was found during excavations at the ancient city of Heraclea Sintica, located...

Neanderthal Fingerprint on 50,000-Year-Old Pebble Could Be Europe’s Oldest Portable Artwork

29 May 2025

29 May 2025

New analysis reveals that a pebble marked with ochre and a fingerprint could be the earliest known example of transportable...

Could Therasia’s 4,500-Year-Old Seals Be the Missing Link in Aegean Writing?

3 June 2025

3 June 2025

Therasia’s archaeological discovery offers significant insights, influencing our understanding of Early Bronze Age communication and the emergence of writing in...

5,000-Year-Old Matrilineal Society Discovered in China: DNA Unveils Ancient Female-Led Clans

30 July 2025

30 July 2025

In a remarkable study, scientists have uncovered genetic evidence of a rare matrilineal society in Neolithic China, where women determined...

A 2,000-Year-Old Shoe Discovered in a German Bog

22 June 2021

22 June 2021

Archaeologists discovered a leather shoe that had been lost in a bog for 2,000 years and believe it may have...