Contents

Sławomir Kadrow ........................................................................................................................................................................... 7

Contents ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 9

About Sławek ................................................................................................................................................................................... 13

Part I. Early Neolithic ................................................................................................................................................................... 15

Valeska Becker
La dolce vita. The early Neolithic in northern Italy and its connections to southeastern Europe ....................................... 17

Christian Jeunesse
Vertical social differentiation and social competition in the LBK: ‘rich’ and ‘poor’ cemeteries ........................................... 33

Thomas Saile, Martin Posselt

Diemarden in Lower Saxony: An Early Neolithic settlement and its environs ...................................................................... 43

Andrzej Pelisiak, Maciej Dębiec

Searching for siliceous marl and chert exposures as potential zones of lithic raw material acquisition in the Early
Neolithic. The case of the Dynów Foothills and the Rzeszów-Łańcut settlement region (SE Poland) ............... 65

Anna Rauba-Bukowska, Agnieszka Czekaj-Zastawny

New data on vessel production in the pre-Music Note phase of the LBK from site 2 in Gwoździec,
Zakliczyn commune ....................................................................................................................................................... 73

Paweł Valde-Nowak
Early Želiezovce site in Żerków in the West Carpathian Foothills in the light of the lithic industry .................................. 85

Marcin Szeliga, Katarzyna Gawryjołek-Szeliga

An unusual anthropomorphic vessel from a Linear Pottery culture settlement in Wólka Wojnowska
(southern Poland) ............................................................................................................................................................ 95

Aldona Kurzawska, Iwona Sobkowiak-Tabaka

Lithoglyphus naticoides – a small but significant shell of the “Danubian” communities ...................................................... 109

Janusz Budziszewski, Joanna Pyzel

Take a rest and build a house: settlement of the first farming communities on the Vistula River in the Warsaw
Basin region ..................................................................................................................................................................... 121

Katalin Sebők
Black painted pottery in the Tisza cultural complex ................................................................................................................. 133
Albert Zastawny
New radiocarbon dates for the Malice culture in western Lesser Poland ............................................................................... 151

Part II. Cucuteni-Trypillia and steppe ...................................................................................................................................... 173

Nadezhda Kotova, Sergey Makhortykh, Sönke Szidat, Ebbe H. Nielsen, Simon Radchenko, Willy Tiner
New discoveries of the Swiss-Ukrainian expedition in the western Azov Sea region ........................................................... 175

Aleksandr Diachenko, René Ohlrau, Johannes Müller

The answer is blowing in the wind: wind direction inscribed in burnt houses as chronological proxy ............................ 187

Robert Hofmann, Liudmyla Shatilo

Tripolye population aggregation and dispersal in light of regional settlement trajectories ................................................. 197

Johannes Müller, Robert Hofmann, Mykhialo Videiko, Nataliia Burdo

Nebelivka – rediscovered: A Lost City ......................................................................................................................................... 213

Dalia Pokutta, Taras Tkachuk, Peter Tóth

Strontium in pots: an experimental study on the determination of strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr)
and provenance of prehistoric vessels from Verteba Cave, Ukraine (Tripolye culture) ........................................ 223

Constantin Preoteasa
Unique Cucuteni artefacts used to the salt production by recrystallization process ............................................................. 233

Taras Tkachuk
Migrations from the west to the east. Trypillia-Cucuteni culture at stage BII ....................................................................... 241

Part III. Late Neolithic – Chalcolithic ...................................................................................................................................... 253

Pál Raczky, András Füzesi, Knut Rassmann, Hajo Höhler-Brockmann, Melani Podgorelec, Eszter Bánffy
Neolithic settlement mounds in the southern Alföld (previous research and new investigations
at Hódmezővásárhely-Kökénydomb) .......................................................................................................................... 255

Cornelia-Magda Lazarovici
Central-European influences at the end of the Copper Age in Transylvania ......................................................................... 279

Gheorghe Lazarovici
Analytical study on Central-European influences at the end of the Copper Age in Transylvania ...................................... 293

Jaroslav Peška
A remarkable hoard of copper objects in the foothills of the White Carpathians in Eastern Moravia .............................. 317

Marzena Szmyt, Janusz Czebreszuk

Before Barrows. Funnel Beaker culture settlement preceding the Early Bronze Age cemetery in Łęki Małe
(site Wilanowo 12) ........................................................................................................................................................................... 337

Kathryn M. Hudson, Janusz Kruk, Sarunas Milisauskas

Wagon trails: considering the iconographic contexts of the Bronocice vessel ......................................................................... 347
Małgorzata Rybicka
Some remarks on the Funnel Beaker culture in the area between the Ikva River and the middle Horyn River .............. 357

Anna Zakościelna, Halina Taras

Miniature pottery forms of the Funnel Beaker culture from the Polish territories ............................................................... 365

Barbara Sałacińska, Sławomir Sałaciński

From research on the shallow flint mining in Krzemionki Opatowskie in the Poland-wide context
in the Stone Age and the Early Bronze Age ................................................................................................................. 385

Part IV. Beginning of the Bronze Age ....................................................................................................................................... 399

Martin Furholt
Social worlds and collectives as alternative approaches to the concept of cultures: The example of the Late Neolithic
Corded Ware in Europe (2800-2000 BC) ..................................................................................................................... 401

Jan Turek
Sacred Mountains and Corded Ware cosmology ........................................................................................................................ 411

Justyna Baron, Bernadeta Kufel-Diakowska, Tomasz Płonka

For heroes only? The long lives of two flint daggers from western Poland ............................................................................. 423

Robert Staniuk
Accumulating distinctions: Early Bronze Age vertical and horizontal patterns of refuse disposal on both sides
of the Carpathians ........................................................................................................................................................... 433

Paweł Jarosz, Anita Szczepanek

Rzeszów Foothills in the second half of the 3rd millennium BC in light of paleodiet analyses ........................................... 447

Paweł Jarosz, Jerzy Libera

Stone battle-axes in graves of the Mierzanowice culture in the basins of the Vistula and Bug Rivers ................................ 457

Anna Lasota-Kuś, Marcin M. Przybyła, Piotr Włodarczak

Warriors with bracelets. Remarks on men’s burials from the Early Bronze Age .................................................................... 473

Jacek Górski, Przemysław Makarowicz

Absolute dating of the Mierzanowice culture cemetery in Świniary Stare in the Sandomierz Upland .............................. 491

Mateusz Jaeger
Gold Lockenring from the Middle Bronze Age multi-layered settlement at Kakucs-Turján (central Hungary) .............. 495

Aleksander Kośko, Viktor I. Klochko, Przemysław Makarowicz

The Crimea-Jutland route and fluted mace distribution (2500–800 BC). 21st-century attempts to update
the conception and suggestions for future research ................................................................................................... 505

Jacek Górski, Mikołaj Orzechowski

A new perspective on the Mierzanowice-Trzciniec transition phase in the light of finds from Tur Dolny,
Pińczów district ............................................................................................................................................................... 523
 From Farmers to Heroes? Archaeological Studies in Honor of Sławomir Kadrow
Editors: Maciej Dębiec, Jacek Górski, Johannes Müller, Marek Nowak, Andrzej Pelisiak, Thomas Saile, Piotr Włodarczak
Universitätsforschungen zur prähistorischen Archäologie 376, Bonn 2022, 175-185

New discoveries of the Swiss-Ukrainian expedition

in the western Azov Sea region

Nadezhda Kotova, Sergey Makhortykh, Sönke Szidat, Ebbe H. Nielsen, Simon Radchenko, Willy Tiner

Abstract

The article presents results of the joint Ukrainian-Swiss expedition on the territory of the “Kamyana Mohyla” National Historical and Archaeolo-
gical Reserve and in its surroundings during the 2017 field season. The reserve is located in the Western Azov Sea region, on the western border
of the Eurasian steppe belt. The comparatively small excavated area contained three burials and a ritual complex that appeared to belong to dif-
ferent time periods. A young man buried in a stone tomb with a constructive element that can be interpreted as an entrance gave the date of
2865-2575 calBC. This find is of particular interest because of the funeral construction almost exclusively characteristic of the Ukrainian steppe.
However, this is found among the Globular Amphorae culture sites in central Europe. The ritual complex, including an overturned Yamnaya cul-
ture vessel and the skull of a young bull, also belonged to the Early Bronze Age. Meanwhile another buried person, an elderly woman found near-
by, presents the Huns’ population and belongs to the Medieval Age, being dated to the 5th century AD. Her grave goods included a coarse vessel.
All these finds expand our understanding of burial practices in the Ukrainian steppe with unique and important information on the cultural land-
scape of the Kamyana Mohyla site in southern Ukraine.

Keywords: Western Azov Sea area, Каmyana Моhyla, Bronze Age, Huns, stone tomb, ritual objects

During the 2017 field season a team of the Institute of
Archeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
excavated the burial and ritual complexes on the territory
of the Kamyana Mohyla National Historical and Archaeo-
logical Reserve (Zaporizhya oblast). This place in the wes-
tern Azov Sea region is situated 2 km east of Myrne village,
and 200 m north of Kamyana Mohyla hill (Fig. 1). The
excavations were performed within the framework of the
joint Swiss-Ukrainian scientific project “Responses of ve-
getation and human society to climate change in Ukraine”
and were carried out with support from the Swiss Natio-
nal Science Foundation (IZ7320-128248).
Kamyana Mohyla monadnock consists of 14-million-
year-old sandstone blocks that were formed at the bottom
of Sarmatian Sea. Rising above the Molochnaya River valley,
it has always drawn the attention of humans. Numerous
petroglyphs were made within the caves and grottoes of
the hill. Sixty-eight rock art locations dated from the Upper
Paleolithic to the Modern Age have been found here.
The study area has been highly damaged by ploughing
and the root systems of green plantations. No visible traces
of burial mounds are noticeable on the earth’s surface
(Fig. 2). However, three burials and a ritual complex were
discovered during the excavations.
Materials
The stratigraphic soil sequence was traced as follows:
chernozem (19-24 cm thick), light gray loam (35-50 cm),

 Kotova et al. 2017; Gobet et al. 2017.  Radchenko et al. 2020.

176 New discoveries of the Swiss-Ukrainian expedition in the western Azov Sea region

Fig. 1. The location of Kamyana Mohyla hill. The site is marked with a red dot

Fig. 2. Kamyana Mohyla National Reserve and the sites in the hill surroundings.
1 – the settlement of Kamyana Mohyla 1; 2 – the settlement of Kamyana Mohyla 2; 3 – the burial place near the hill
Nadezhda Kotova, Sergey Makhortykh, Sönke Szidat, Ebbe H. Nielsen, Simon Radchenko, Willy Tiner
Table 1. Uncalibrated 14C ages and calendar ages based on the IntCal20 calibration curve (Reimer et al. 2020). All dates are referenced to this paper
Context Material
KM-2017 grave 2 Human bone
KM-2017 grave 2 Cattle rib
KM-2017 grave 3 Human bone
KM-2017 separate bone
Animal bone
found 75 cm from grave 3
KM-2017 cult object 2 Cattle skull
brown loam with crushed shells (40-60 cm), and the un-
derlying light loam.
Burial 1 was located at a depth of 38-40 cm from to-
day’s surface (Fig. 3: 1). The contours of the burial pit
were not traced due to the soil parameters. The flexed
skeleton belonged to a man of 18-22 years (hereinafter
the anthropological definitions are made by Dr. Lyudmila
Litvinova). He lay on the left side oriented to the north.
The hands were directed towards the face. The legs were
strongly bent at the knees; the heels were at the pelvis. No
grave goods were found in this complex. The radiocarbon
dating for human bones from burial 1 was unsuccessful
due to the low content of collagen.
Burial 2 consisted of a skeleton lying in a stone tomb
(Fig. 3: 2). The stones that covered the construction were
destroyed by ploughing. Covering remains comprise sm-
all fragments of sandstone in the upper part of light loam
near the northwestern section of the tomb. The tomb was
constructed on an ancient horizon of brown loam with
a crushed shell. It had a rectangular shape and a northeast-
southwest orientation. The tomb consists of three big
blocks and a number of small ones hewn from sandstone
from Kamyana Mohyla hill. The weight of the biggest
block was almost 700 kg, according to calculations per-
formed using Agisoft Metashape tools. The parameters of
the grave were measured from a 3D model produced with
SfM-photogrammetry (Fig. 4). The stones were buried
into the ancient surface at a depth of 3-8 cm, and they
were fixed with a number of small sandstone blocks that
were also slightly buried. The eastern wall of the tomb
was probably built of small sandstones mixed with silty
soil. The original entrance is located in the southwestern
part of the stone tomb, and it was marked with an addi-
tional stone placed perpendicularly to the southern wall
of the construction. From the outside, the entrance was
covered with a small amount of rubble mixed with clay.
This soil was probably brought from the multi-layer site
of Kamyana Mohyla 1. This is evidenced by a sherd of the
second period of the Azov-Dnieper culture, found in the
rubble at the central part of the entrance (Fig. 5: 4).
177
Lab code 14
C age (BP, 1 s) Calendar Age (CalBC / AD, 2 s)
BE-8040.2.1 4116 ± 23 2865-2575 BC
BE-8041.2.1 4142 ± 23 2875-2625 BC
BE-8042.2.1 1611 ± 21 415-535 AD
BE-8043.1.1 2779 ± 20 1000-840 BC
BE-8044.1.1 3976 ± 21 2570-2460 BC
The flexed skeleton of a young man (under 25 years
old) lay on the left side, with its head to the east with a de-
viation to the north (Fig. 3: 2). An unio shell was found at
the bottom of the tomb. A processed limestone fragment
was found among the stones from the destroyed grave top
(Fig. 5: 3). A number of animal bones have been found in
the upper part of the tomb: two cattle ribs, and a slate bone
and a third phalanx of a domestic horse. A metatarsal cattle
bone and a slate bone of a domestic horse were found
near the tomb (paleozoological identification made by
Dr. Oleg Zhuravlev). A number of radiocarbon dates
were obtained for the human and animal remains from bu-
rial 2. The age of the skeleton is determined at 4116 ± 23 BP
or 2865-2575 calВС (Table 1). The rib of a domesticated
bull is dated to 4142 ± 23 BP or 2875-2625 calBC (Table 1).
The mutual interval for the remains is 2865-2625 calBC.
This determines the age of the tomb construction, which
corresponds to the Early Bronze Age of the Ukrainian
steppe.
Burial 3 was found in the upper part of light loam at
a depth of 24-26 cm from the modern surface. The con-
tours of the burial pit were not traced. The buried was
curved on its left side with its head oriented to the north-
east (Fig. 3: 1). The right arm was bent at the elbow at
a 90-degree angle. The hand lay on the wrist of the left
arm, which was strongly bent at the elbow. The legs were
bent at the knees and sunk to the left. The knee of the
right leg was at the level of the pelvis, while the knee of
the left was slightly lower. The skeleton belonged to a 55
to 60-year-old woman. A 15.4-cm high pot with a sandy
admixture in the clay and a thin layer of gray engobe on
its outer surface was located near the skeleton’s head (Fig.
5: 5). It belongs to Early Middle Ages ceramics. The ra-
diocarbon date for a human bone from burial 3 provides
the date of 1611 ± 21 BP or 415-535 AD (see Table 1).
The ritual complex in the study area consisted of two
objects. They were located near burial 3. Unlike the Me-
dieval burial, Bronze Age complexes were found at a depth
of 63-70 cm. The first one included a Yamnaya culture pot
laid bottom up 6 m to the north of burial 2 (Fig. 5: 1, 2).
178 New discoveries of the Swiss-Ukrainian expedition in the western Azov Sea region

Fig. 3. Burial location excavated during the 2017 field season.

1 – plan of excavated territory: a – burial 2; b – burial 1; c – burial 3; d – bull skull and long bones; e – overturned vessel; 2 – an image of burial No. 2
Nadezhda Kotova, Sergey Makhortykh, Sönke Szidat, Ebbe H. Nielsen, Simon Radchenko, Willy Tiner 179

Fig. 4. A 3D model of a stone tomb from burial No. 2. 1–3: Orthoscopic images and measured parameters of a tomb.
1 – front view; 2 – right view; 3 – upper view; 4 – a QR-code leads to the decimated version of a stone tomb 3D model
180 New discoveries of the Swiss-Ukrainian expedition in the western Azov Sea region

Fig. 5. Archaeological materials: 1, 2 – pot from the ritual complex; 3 – fragment of the stone tool from burial 2; 4 – fragment of the Azov-Dnieper culture vessel
from the stone tomb of burial No. 2; 5 – pot from burial 3

The 14-cm high pot is characterized by a sand admixture,
flat bottom, low rim, and hatches on its surface. The po-
pulation of Yamnaya culture inhabited the Ukrainian
steppes in the first half of the 3rd millennium BC, with
a pastoral economy based on their mobility. The Yam-
naya culture here is considered to be introduced only by
the sites synchronic to the upper layer of the Mikhailovka
 Anthony 2007; Ivanova 2015.
settlement. The sites of Repin and Rogachik types are
considered to belong to the previous cultural-chronologi-
cal horizon. The second object included a number of ani-
mal bones found 140 cm to the west of the pot. Dr. Zhurav-
lev identified them as skull parts and bones of the limbs of
a small bovine. They were dated to 3976 ± 21 BP or 2570-
2460 calBC (Table 1).
Nadezhda Kotova, Sergey Makhortykh, Sönke Szidat, Ebbe H. Nielsen, Simon Radchenko, Willy Tiner
Methods
We aimed for a small series of 14C dates covering the
compact, closed burial complex near Kamyana Mohyla
hill. The samples were dated in the Laboratory for the
Analysis of Radiocarbon with AMS (LARA) at the Uni-
versity of Bern employing MICADAS equipment. Col-
lagen extraction was extended by an additional ultrafil-
tration step. The results were calibrated with Bats 4.30
using the calibration curve IntCal20. Archaeological
works were executed as microstratigraphic trowelling of
10 to 15-cm thick horizons. They were accompanied by
3D mapping of the finds. The bones for radiocarbon dating
were selected from stratigraphic units for the reference
site of Kamyana Mohyla burial complex.
The digitalization, modeling and measuring of the stone
tomb in burial 2 were performed through the non-invasive
workflow of Structure-for-Motion photogrammetry. Now-
adays it is widely accepted that this is the easiest and most
prominent way to overcome the destructive nature of ar-
chaeological research. Unlike the rest of the world, the
Ukrainian experience of cultural heritage photogram-
metric modelling is rather poor. However, there are a num-
ber of successful cases introducing metrical, technologi-
cal and visual advances of SfM photogrammetry.
An image bank of 139 photos was obtained during the
fieldwork with a Nikon D3300 camera with a focal length
of 31 mm. To provide a reference coordinate system, eight
markers were placed inside the tomb. Their XYZ coordi-
nates were measured with optical geodetic equipment
with an accuracy of approximately 1 cm. All images in the
dataset were aligned by Agisoft Metashape software with
maximum accuracy of 0.9 pixels (pixel size 0.004 mm)
(Fig. 4: 1).
The stones’ parameters were calculated through the
automatic calculator of Agisoft Metashape. The density of
Kamyana Mohyla sandstone is considered at 2.6 kg/m3.
This number is typical for solid sandstone with high
amounts of iron.
Discussion
The part of the Molochnaya River floodplain studied
in the 2017 field season is the location of a number of
 Szidat et al. 2014.
 Szidat et al. 2017.
 Wacker/Christl/Synal 2010; Reimer et al. 2020.
 Verhoeven 2011; Green/Bevan/Shapland 2014.
 Barceló et al. 2003; De Reu et al. 2014.
 Zhyhola/Skorohod 2019; Radchenko/Nykonenko 2019.
181
objects likely associated with rituals and burials of the
monumental site of Kamyana Mohyla. They were con-
structed from at least the Early Bronze Age to the Middle
Ages. The notion of Kamyana Mohyla as a multilayered
rock art complex impressively attests to its regular use for
ritual purposes. It is probable that access to the burial
complex was possible only during dry climate periods,
unlike in wet ones when it was flooded by the Moloch-
naya River. Most likely, the absence of a floodplain forest
was necessary for the existence of the site. The radiocar-
bon dates of Burial 2 (2865-2575 calBC), its funeral feast
(2875-2625 calBC) and the ritual complex with the Yam-
naya culture vessel (2570-2460 calBC) proves the signifi-
cance of this place for the Early Bronze Age population
(ca. 2900-2500 BC). The settlements near Kamyana Mo-
hyla hill are also included the Yamnaya culture layer10.
Vessels similar to the pot from the ritual complex are re-
constructed for the upper layers of the Generalka 2 and
Mikhailovka settlements11. The dating for Generalka 2
also returned similar results: about 3086-2295 calBC12.
Numerous analogies to the pot are also known in some
Yamnaya culture burials (Vysokoe, kurgan 20, burial 8;
Dubinovo, kurgan 1, burial 13; kurgan Soldatskaya Slava,
burial 9; Stara Katerinovka, kurgan 30, burial 413).
The ritual of the vessels’ overturning is reconstructed
for the burials of the Yamnaya and Catacombnaya cul-
tures in the Ukrainian steppe14. The finds from the ritual
complex near Kamyana Mohyla also correspond to this
reconstruction. Among all the ethnographic, mythologi-
cal and archaeological similarities, the materials of Late
Bronze Age of the Ural region are the closest to the ritual
complex of Kamyana Mohyla. Sacrificial complexes there
included both overturned vessels and animal skulls and
leg bones15. The vessels’ small size, absence of ornamenta-
tion and unstable bottoms indicate that they were barely
put to routine use. In our case, the lack of a grave gives us
room to assume a connection between the Kamyana Mo-
hyla complex with the ritual expulsion of disease, whereby,
as a result of magical actions, the disease was transferred
to a sacrificial animal. An inverted vessel made for this
ceremony could contain a negative entity, such as a disease,
which people hoped to destroy16. It is possible that the soil
inside the vessel from the Kamyana Mohyla complex was
formed as a result of food decomposition. This leads to
10 Danilenko 1986.
11 Lagodovska/Shaposhnikova/Makarevich 1960; Tuboltsev/Radchen-
ko 2018.
12 Radchenko/Tuboltsev 2019.
13 Samoilenko 1988; Ivanova/Petrenko/Vetchinnikova 2005.
14 Vyazmitina et al. 1960: 107, 127; Kovaleva 1989; Demchenko 2012.
15 Sotnikova 2015.
16 Demchenko 2012.
182 New discoveries of the Swiss-Ukrainian expedition in the western Azov Sea region
another rite: turning over a filled vessel “makes sense to
return to the earth what was taken from it, in order to
again obtain fertility and wealth from the earth”17. Such
a ceremony seems to be relevant to the prehistory of the
Ukrainian steppe and, especially, for the Yamnaya culture
inhabitants, who lived in conditions of maximum aridity
when the moisture in the steppe zone was much lower
than today18. The sacral and routine significance of the
bull for the population of this steppe region is reflected in
the rock paintings of the Kamyana Mohyla, full of charac-
teristic and expressive images of wild bulls and cattle19.
This also corresponds with the finds of cattle bones near
the burial complex.
The stone tomb is a unique structure, unusual for the
Ukrainian steppe population. It should be noted that the
first stone burial structures here appeared in the Early
Eneolithic at the beginning of the 5th millennium BC,
represented by various modifications of stone boxes.
Their typology is treated in a special paper20. It is obviously
crucial to separate stone boxes from stone tombs. The lat-
ter are few and differ from the boxes by the presence of an
entrance. This creates a theoretical opportunity for the
tomb’s re-use. Only two similar stone tombs are known in
the steppe of Ukraine. One is located nearby, on the op-
posite side of the Molochnaya River near the village of
Novopilipovka (kurgan 11, burial 14, group Akkermen 1)21.
The other was found under a kurgan near the village of
Baratovka in the Nikolaev region22. These two tombs are
considered to be evident of the Globular Amphorae cul-
ture influence on the Yamnaya population. Such influences
are also traced in ceramic imports and imitations as well
as imported stone items23. The infiltration of the Globular
Amphorae people into the Western Bug basin and the
formation of this culture’s eastern group took place
around 3000-2950 BC; their stable contacts with the Yam-
naya culture are recorded after 2700 BC24. The stone tomb
from the burial 2 is also similar to those of the Globular
Amphorae, having in common the shape of the burial
structure, the aboveground location of the tomb, the ab-
sence of ocher in the burial, and the posture and position
of the buried.
Burial 3 can be related to a group of ground burials of
the time of the Huns, found on the banks of rivers, in se-
17 Sveshnikova/Tsivyan 1979.
18 Spiridonova/Lavrushin 1997.
19 Radchenko/Nykonenko 2019.
20 Kotova et al. 2020.
21 Vyazmitina et al. 1960.
22 Rassamakin 2004.
23 Szmyt 2010; Iwanowa/Kośko/Włodarczak 2014.
24 Szmyt 2010.
cluded places, or at the bottoms of ravines25. The main
part of such nomadic burials had skeletons in a stretched-
out position with their heads oriented to the north. These
type of burials are known in the Molochnaya River basin,
including the surroundings of Kamyana Mohyla: Novo-
filipovka, kurgan 22, burial 2, and even in the grotto of
Kamyana Mohyla26. However, among the burials of the
times of the Huns, there are also single skeletons lying on
their backs and curved to the left or right, as well as bu-
rials with an eastern orientation27. Our knowledge of the
diversity of funeral rites at this time was enhanced thanks
to excavations in the Middle Don basin. A burial from the
surroundings of Kamyana Mohyla precisely parallels this
new dataset. The flexed skeletons with a latitudinal orien-
tation were recorded in a cemetery near Ksizovo village,
Lipetsk region (Russia)28. The burials of the Ksizovo 19
cemetery received radiocarbon dates close to the date of
burial 3 of Kamyana Mohyla (1600 ± 60 ВР; 1690 ± 100 ВР;
1640±110 ВР)29.
The pot from burial 3 finds analogies among the pot-
tery of the so-called “steppe tradition” of the Middle Don
region: from the site of Mukhino 2, the settlement and
cemetery of Ksizovo-1930. They share the elongated pro-
portions of the body with maximum diameter in the up-
per part, a wide bottom, and a low neck. A similar pot
also comes from the early nomadic burial near Likhachiv-
ka village, Bogodukhovsky district of Kharkov region,
dating to the second half of the 5th century to the early 6th
century AD31. It is necessary, however, to emphasize the
differences in the technology of the manufacture of these
pots. The Kamyana Mohyla vessel contains an admixture
of sand, while the listed analogies are characterized by
a clay mass with an admixture of vegetation and a porous
structure.
Conclusion
Our data clarify the time of the first contacts between
the steppe Yamnaya population and people of the Globu-
lar Amphorae culture. Radiocarbon dates indicate that
burial 2 was made about 2865-2625 calBC, earlier than
the ritual complex with the overturned vessel appeared
(2570-2460 calBC). The stratigraphic position of the other
two stone tombs in the steppe of Ukraine also indicates their
25 Zasetskaya 1994, 16.
26 Mikhailov 1977; 1993; Vyazmitina et al. 1960.
27 Zasetskaya 1994, 15, 19.
28 Oblomsky/Kozmirchuk 2015a; 2015b, 136.
29 Oblomsky/Kozmirchuk 2015c.
30 Oblomsky 2013, fig. 35: 3, 6; 36: 1.
31 Oblomsky 2002.
Nadezhda Kotova, Sergey Makhortykh, Sönke Szidat, Ebbe H. Nielsen, Simon Radchenko, Willy Tiner
construction at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC.
Burial 14 in kurgan 11 of Novopilipovka preceded the Ya-
mnaya burials. A tomb burial (No. 6) in the kurgan near
Baratovka was made later than burial 17 (which was dated
to the end of the 4th millennium BC based on figurines of
the Serezlievka type), but it still preceded the Yamnaya
burials32. Thus, all stone tombs close to authentic burial
structures of the Globular Amphorae culture appeared in
the Ukrainian steppe around 2850-2750 BC. Perhaps they
record the first penetration of the Globular Amphorae
people into the steppe zone. Representatives of this culture
or their direct descendants might have been buried in these
tombs. Further study of ancient DNA may clarify this issue.
Burial 3 from nearby Kamyana Mohyla hill expands
our knowledge on medieval nomadic burials of the we-
stern Azov Sea region. It clearly indicates the existence of
the flexed position of the buried with the orientation to
the east in the 5th century AD. Perhaps, the scarcity of this
burial inventory was a result of the age and gender of the
buried elderly woman. This does not presume decora-
tions for the burial clothes. The peculiarity of the position
and orientation of the skeleton can be explained by the
multiethnic composition of the Huns’ tribal union33. The
vessel from burial 3 and its analogies demonstrate a pecu-
liar type of steppe pot that existed in the 5th and 6th centu-
ries AD. This is a pot with a relatively high neck gently
bent outward, a rounded body with maximum expansion
in its upper part and a large bottom, the diameter of
which is equal to or slightly less than the diameter of the
rim.
All the data received expand our understanding of
burial practices in the Ukrainian steppe with unique and
important information on the cultural landscape of the
Kamyana Mohyla site in southern Ukraine. Further inve-
stigation is required, both for the already discovered ma-
terials and those to be excavated.
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Nadezhda Kotova, Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Geroiv Stalingrada 12, 04210, Kyiv, Ukraine.
E-mail: nadja.kotova@hotmail.com

Sergey Makhortykh, Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Geroiv Stalingrada 12, 04210, Kyiv, Ukraine.
E-mail: makhortykh@yahoo.com

Sönke Szidat, University of Bern, Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences & Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research,
Freiestrasse 3, 3012 Bern, Switzerland. E-mail: soenke.szidat@dcb.unibe.ch

Ebbe H. Nielsen, University of Bern, Prehistory Department, Institute of Archaeological Science, Mittelstrasse 43, 3012 Bern, Switzerland.
E-mail: ebbe.nielsen@lu.ch

Simon Radchenko, University of Turin, Department of Historical Sciences, via Verdi, 10, 10125, Torino, Italy. E-mail: simon.radchenko@gmail.com

Willy Tinner, Institute of Plant Sciences & Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, Altenbergrain 21, 3013 Bern, Switzerland.
E-mail: willy.tinner@ips.unibe.ch