Scythian Barrows 18 and 19 of the «Sluiceway» Group in the Lower Dniester Region
Abstract
The results of the excavations of Scythian barrows 18 and 19 of the «Sluiceway» group, studied in 2019 near the village of Hlinaia, Slobozia District on the left bank of the Lower Dniester River are published for the first time.
Barrow 18 was dug in parallel trenches using machinery. One Scythian child’s burial was found in the barrow, as well as three round ritual pits. Barrow 19 was dug in parallel trenches using machinery. One Scythian burial was found in the barrow.
Materials from the barrows 18 and 19 of the «Sluiceway» group near the village of Hlinaia show that they were constructed for the burial of ordinary community members. The burial structures are represented by pits, and the inventory from the complexes practically does not differ from previously studied both in the «Sluiceway» group and in the neighboring burial mounds. However, certain elements of the ritual are of great importance for the study of the Scythian archaeological culture in the North-West Black Sea region. In particular, the construction of the Hlinaia/«Sluiceway» barrow 18 over only one child’s burial almost does not have analogies in the North-West Black Sea region.
The collection of data gained during the study of published barrows not only specifies the fact of the Scythian presence in the North-West Black Sea region but also makes it possible to pay attention to a number of elements of the burial ritual, which previously were very rarely or never recorded in the region. This is the construction of mounds only over children’s burials, the installation of ritual pits, the secondary use of amphora (as a cauldron?), the burial of dogs on a green clay coat, placing the detached head of the dog on the slab covering the pit.
In addition, it is necessary to note that earlier, when publishing Scythian barrows of the «Sluiceway» group and the neighboring «Garden» group, the continuous existence of the Scythian culture on the left bank of the Dniester during the 4th-2nd centuries BCE was repeatedly emphasized. However, in 2018, not only the mounds of the first half of the 4th century were excavated in the «Sluiceway» group, but also barrow 9, constructed in the second half of the 5th century BCE. Studied in 2019, the Hlinaia/Vodovod barrow 18, relying on the Chios amphora analysis, is dated to the first half of the 5th century BCE. This is the earliest of the Scythian mounds of the burial ground. Barrow 19, obviously, was constructed in the 4th century BCE.
Taking into account the available data, it can now be stated that the Scythians permanently lived on the left bank of the Lower Dniester during the 5th-2nd century BCE, and that is most clearly shown by the sites near the village of Hlinaia, Slobozia District.
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