Nicht nur als Kopfschmuck getragen: ein außergewöhnlicher hallstattzeitlicher Fund aus Smržice-Trávníky u ostrova (Mittelmähren)

This study deals with the cultural and spatial analysis of finds discovered in the previous five years during surface prospecting in Smržice-Trávníky u ostrova (Prostějov district) on the area of a presumed settlement of the Platěnice group of the East Hallstatt culture. In the set of the analysed items, in addition to local ceramics of the Platěnice group and several metal objects of the Hallstatt type (rare type of a bronze boat-shaped fibula, a bronze pin with a hemispherical head and a ribbed neck, a bronze conical arrowhead of circular cross-section) dating to Ha C2 and Ha D1, there were also bronze arrowheads of the eastern type (with an inner socket), which demonstrate the connections between the Prostějov region and the Vekerzug culture during the Ha D period. An exceptional find of a ceramic fragment of a local (Platěnice group) vessel decorated with impressions of small nail-shaped earrings probably from Ha D1 indicates, on the contrary, the contacts of Central Moravia with the late phase of the Tarnobrzeg Lusatian culture of Southeast Poland. It is the Prostějov region, where we observe a significant concentration of objects of the eastern type during the Hallstatt period. Therefore, special attention in the study was paid to Hallstatt period finds of the eastern type with the focus on the provenience, chronological aspect and interpretation of their occurrence in Moravia as well as in the neighboring regions.

Preliminary results of an investigation of a single Barrow near the village of Serteya (Smolensk region)

A single burial mound is located on the right bank of the Serteyka River (north-western Russia). It was discovered by E.A. Schmidt in 1951 and is attributed to the Old Russian Period. New researches on the burial mound conducted in 2013 and 2014 have uncovered several diachronic constructions. The first stage was connected to a flint knapping site, which was located on a natural ele- vation. It can be attributed to the 6th millennium BC on the basis of the Early Neolithic pottery fragments found nearby. The next period is dated to the second half of the 3rd millennium BC, when a ritual platform was created. Moreover, on another mound, a ditch was created, which can be attributed to the Long Barrow Culture due to a ceramic fragment found there. Samples from burnt bones and charcoal indicate that the first and second stages of this construction could be dated to between the middle and the second half of the 3rd millennium BC – the late stage of the Zhizhitskaya Culture of pile-dwellers and the initial stage of the Uzmenskaya Culture. Animal bones were cremated along with bronze items, as evidenced by the patina visible on the surface of the bones. Such a rite has been recorded for the first time. Furthermore, a ritual fire-place was set on a flat platform, and additional fireplaces were situated on the slope of the burial mound. This complex, which can be interpreted as a site of worship from the Late Neolithic through the Early Bronze Age, existed for a long period of time. Nowadays, it is difficult to find analogies to such ritual complexes from the 3rd millennium BC from the territory of Poland and the Upper Dnepr region; only the kurgans and burial mounds of the Corded Ware Culture dating to the 3rd millennium BC are known. It might also be supposed that some of the sites with such a sepulchral rite, usually attributed to the Long Barrows Culture, could also be ritual sites – this, however, would require further research.

Notes on a fragment of a ceramic vessel with graffito from Gilău

The published ceramic fragment was discovered in the fort of ala Siliana in Gilău, during the researches from 1999–2000, when the rooms of a wooden building from the retentura sinistra were investigated. Here, previous research (1981) had indicated the existence of a stabulum. The text on the vessel was inscribed post cocturam, and it was rendered in a position almost perpendicular to the bottom.

La Diosa de Salchite. Estudio e interpretación iconográfica del fragmento cerámico procedente del santuario rupestre ibérico de La Nariz (Moratalla, Murcia) = The Goddess of Salchite. Study and Iconographic Interpretation of the Ceramic Fragment from the Iberian Rock Sanctuary of La Nariz (Moratalla, Murcia)

Presentamos una lectura iconográfica del fragmento cerámico conocido como «Diosa de Salchite». Procedente del santuario rupestre ibérico de La Nariz (Moratalla, Murcia) ha sido históricamente vinculado a la figura del lobo. Nuestra propuesta, tras excavar arqueológicamente el santuario y estudiar directamente el fragmento, nos aleja ligeramente de esta visión tradicional estableciendo una relación más directa de esta figura femenina con las representaciones mayoritarias en la pieza; las aves, así como la conífera o el fuego.AbstractWe present an iconographic reading of the ceramic fragment known as «Goddess of Salchite». From the Iberian cave shrine of La Nariz (Moratalla, Murcia) has historically been linked to the figure of the wolf. Our proposal after direct study of pottery and the archaeological excavation of the sanctuary, we slightly away from this traditional view. Establishing a relationship, more direct understanding of the female figure with the representations, majority in the piece; fowls and conifer or the fire.

EARLY SLAVIC DWELLING OF A FISHER IN THE TERRITORY OF KYIV PODIL: COMPREHENSIVE RESEARCH

In 2016, the Architectural and archaeological expedition of the IA NAS of Ukraine under the guidance of G. Yu. Iwakin conducted scientific and rescue excavations at the foot of the Yurkovitsa Hill on the Kyiv Podil. During this work, the dwelling of the Prague culture was discovered (fig. 1; 2). Only a part of semi-dugout dwelling was found within the dig. Its shape was probably close to square. It was oriented northwest — southeast. In the northern corner, a furnace of clay and stone on sandy bedding was found. Two broken hand-made pots and separate fragments of ceramics were in its filling. (fig. 3; 4). Impurities of burnt organic matter were clearly visible in the clay solution. According to microsection of the ceramic fragment, a red clay with a high content of ore minerals fragments was used for the manufacture of vessels. A furnace has similar mineral characteristics. Such clays are common on the for the right-bank part of the Kyiv region. The most likely dating of this type of vessels is from the end of the sixth to the beginning of the seventh century AD. A selective soil filtering from filling the object was conducted. As a result, paleobotanical and ichthyological materials were obtained. A wood is represented by pine-tree (Pinus sylvestris) and oak (Quercus sp.). These species were generally preferred in the Middle Dnipro region both as a working wood and as a fuel. (table 1). Paleoethnobotanical samples (table 2) are represented by one grain of yellow foxtail (Setaria glauca). Given the safety of other small biological residues, the absence of agricultural products is not accidental. Ichthyological materials (fig. 5; table 3) are represented by the remains of a common roach (Rutilus rutilus), wels catfish (Silurus glanis), northern pike (Esox lucius) and common perch (Perca fluviatilis). These species are known from previous ichthyological studies of the Slavic sites in this part of the Dnipro River basin. They are still typical representatives of the local ichthyofauna always actively used for fishing. According to the relief analysis (fig. 6), we can conclude that there were no plots attractive for farming near the place where the object of the Prague culture was discovered. Around predominantly uneven terrain lay, unsuitable for plowing. The largest part was the floodplain of the Dnieper, which was flooded. The absence of birch, as a typical representative of anthropochores, can serve as a «proof of the opposite», that in the immediate environment of the object there were no such sites. The absence of finds of grains of cultivated plants is also indirect evidence that a resident of this dwelling was not engaged in farming. The remains of fish belong to species common for this region both in archaeological materials of earlier and later times and in the modern ichthyofauna of the Dnipro. Four identified species; such as roach, wels catfish, pike and perch are typical fishing objects, so we can assume that the remains found in the dwelling belonged to fish caught nearby. Thus, based on a set of obvious and indirect evidence, we can reconstruct occupation of the ancient inhabitant of a semi-dugout dwelling as a fisher, who lived mainly due to fishing.