Vitalii Rud

This article discusses the absolute chronology of burials from the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC discovered under the mounds of three barrows in the Kordyshiv cemetery in western Ukraine. Its aim is to create a chronological model of the burials by modeling 27 AMS 14 C dates obtained from 21 individuals buried in single and collective graves. Dietary analysis of stable carbon (δ 13 C) and nitrogen (δ 15 N) isotope values are presented. The Bayesian modeling of the 14 C dates from the three Kordyshiv barrows revealed the extremely important role of these monuments as longterm objects used for ritual purposes. At the end of the 3rd millennium BC, the epi-Corded Ware Culture (epi-CWC) community erected a mound over the central burial in Barrow 2, then interred the graves of three additional deceased. After several hundred years Barrow 2 was reused by Komarów Culture (KC) communities from the Middle Bronze Age (MBA) who interred their deceased in the existing mound. The oldest monument with MBA burials was Barrow 3, in which the dead were buried in a two-stage sequence before and after the mid-2nd millennium BC. The youngest dated grave was Burial 1 in Barrow 1, comprising a collective burial that was interred between 1400 and 1200 BC. The additional analyses of carbon and nitrogen isotopes show significant differences in the diet of epi-CWC individuals buried in Barrow 2 from the individuals representing the KC.

The following article presents the archaeological revaluation of the Middle Bronze Age Komarów culture cemetery of Pidhoroddya in Western Ukraine in the Pre-Carpathian region. By examining scarce archival information from the pre-Second World War period, the Polish-Ukrainian research team brought to light evidence of a vast cemetery complex in Pidhoroddya, consisting of 39 barrows. The applied combination of archaeological survey, drilling, and magnetometry prospection revealed aspects of the spatial arrangement of the Komarów culture necropolis, as well as details of the funeral architecture, which allowed associating the burial mounds with the known canon of Komarów culture rites. This study presents the results of the archival research, followed by non-invasive survey, and their potential for revaluating the present state of knowledge regarding this barrow cemetery.

Kirleis, W., Dal Corso, M., Pashkevyech, G., Schlütz, F., Hofmann, R., Terna, A., Dreibrodt, S., Rud, V., Videiko, M. Y. and Müller, J. (2023) 'A complex subsistence regime revealed for Cucuteni-Trypillia sites in Chalcolithic eastern Europe based on new and old macrobotanical data' Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-023-00936-y

We present a comprehensive data-based characterization of the subsistence economy of Chalcolithic Cucuteni-Trypillia societies (CTS) on the Moldovian and Suceava plateaus and the Podolian and the Dnieper uplands. This study is based on a quantitative evaluation of archaeobotanical samples from 34 settlement sites, with a focus on Trypillia mega-sites and on stable isotopic analysis of ancient crop residues. The isotopic analysis allows us to identify specific cultivation strategies, which show a close relationship with animal husbandry for manure. We describe the economy of the Trypillia mega-sites as having been based on an elaborate agricultural system, in which the inhabitants knew how to grow crops that could withstand the ecological constraints of growth, especially along the forest steppe ecotone. We also argue that the agglomeration of greater population densities at these mega-sites contributed to landscape change from woodland and forest to open grassland and steppe. Following on from this, we suggest that cultivation practices of the CTS were important in the establishment of the present-day cultural steppe in this region.

This article discusses two cases of so-called double barrows from the Middle Bronze
Age Komar
ow culture cemetery in Bukivna, in the Upper Dniester Basin (Ukraine), in
order to demonstrate the potential of incorporating geophysical image analysis, excavations
and sedimentological studies towards identifying subterranean funerary
architecture. The magnetometer prospection of the Bukivna necropolis revealed the
presence of a specific dipolar anomaly within the extent of a double barrow. The
excavations uncovered burnt wooden-clay constructions related to mortuary houses.
The sedimentological samples collected from the features below the mound provided
data for the increased ferrous content. Another double barrow located in the
Pidhoroddia cemetery was prospected by means of magnetometry, which did not
reveal any similar anomaly within the magnetometry plan, thus providing evidence
for a possible lack of discussed mortuary structure.

In the area of Western Ukraine, some aspects of mound (barrow) chronology might be resolved by using non-or minimally invasive archaeological prospection. As the cemeteries usually comprise two temporal units-the Late Neolithic Corded Ware Culture (third millennium BC) and Middle Bronze Age Komar ow culture (second millennium BC)-by referring to particular funerary rites Komar ow culture and their magnetic reflection, they can be distinguished by means of magnetometry survey supported with verification drilling. Recognition of the internal structure of the cemeteries is essential when confronted with their vast occurrence in Western Ukraine and also the morphological similarity of mounds. However, due to the great diversity in known grave architecture of the Komar ow culture, it is essential to stress that the methodological approach presented here applies only to the specific construction type of burnt wooden and clay structures, which rarely appear in Corded Ware Culture funerary practices. In addition to excavation, the applied methods provided preliminary information on the cultural affiliation and time of the construction of two mounds in Myluvannia in the pre-excavation stage of research.

During extensive field work, different aspects of the large Tripolye settlement Stolniceni I in northwest Moldova were investigated by an international team. These investigations allow a reassessment of these population agglomerations from the first half of the 4th millennium BCE in Moldova and their comparison with more eastern Tripolye sites. The investigations carried out in 2017 included the completion of the archaeo-magnetic survey of the settlement and the targeted archaeological excavations of various types of contexts. Besides the investigation of a ditch enclosing the site and test trenches in different parts of the settlement, the excavations focused mainly on two areas in the north of the settlement: On the one hand, excavations were carried out in a pottery production complex, including the uncovering of a pottery kiln, several pits and a dwelling. On the other hand, one specific ‘ash-mound-like’ anomaly was investigated which are arranged in regular intervals at the per...

Since 2009, the international Upper Dniester Expedition has conducted field research (field-walking surveys, non-invasive and excavation) and analytical studies in the Eastern Transcarpathia. These investigations are part of a broader research programme – a study of ‘The Biocultural Borderland between the East and the West of Europe’. The projects concern a comprehensive reconnaissance of barrow cemeteries dated to the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC, located in the mixed forest-steppe and forest belt in the basin of the Upper Dniester River. For almost 1500 years, this type of funeral architecture shaped the ‘mortuary landscapes’ of the communities successively inhabiting that area. Hence, the barrow cemeteries are an important source for understanding the mechanisms and trajectories of cultural development in this part of Europe, and consequently the subject of intensive studies within several research projects.
This article describes the aims and results of two already completed and one ongoing project in the Upper Dniester Basin. Thanks to the use of modern research methods, both in the field of archaeology and archaeological sciences’, it has been possible to present a wide spectrum of regularities/principles concerning the ‘barrow landscapes’, the chronology of the creation of selected cemeteries, and the construction of regular, linear arrangements of barrows. Furthermore, the projects have and are providing large collections of archaeological
(ceramic, lithic, metals, etc.), anthropological, archaeobotanical and archaeofaunal material for future analyses.

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Hofmann, R., Müller, J., Shatilo, L., Videiko, M., Ohlrau, R., Rud, V.e.a., Governing Tripolye: Integrative architecture in Tripolye settlements, PLoS ONE 14(9): e0222243, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0222243

Recently, high-resolution magnetometry surveys have led to the discovery of a special category of buildings-so-called 'mega-structures'-situated in highly visible positions in the public space of Tripolye giant-settlements of the late 5 th and first half of the 4 th millennium BCE. In this paper we explore what these buildings actually are and how they can contribute to the understanding of the development of social space in Tripolye giant-settlements. For this investigation, we linked newly obtained excavation data from the giant-settlement Maida-netske, Ukraine, with a much larger sample of such buildings from magnetic plans obtained in the region between the Carpathian foothills and the Dnieper River. Accordingly, Tripolye mega-structures represent a particular kind of integrative building documented in many non-ranked ethnographic contexts. Based on our results we are interpreting that these buildings were used for various ritual and non-ritual activities, joint decision-making, and the storage and consumption of surplus. In Tripolye giant-settlements at least three different categories of mega-structures could be identified which most likely represent different levels of socio-political integration and decision-making. The emergence of this hierarchical system of high-level integrative buildings for the whole community and different low-level integrative architectures for certain segments of local communities was related to the rise of Tripolye mega-sites. The presence of different integrative levels most likely reflects the fusion of different previously independent communities in the giant-settlements. Later in the mega-site development, we observe how low-level integrative buildings increasingly lose their importance indicated by shrinking size and, finally, their disappearance. This observation might indicate that the power which was previously distributed across the community was transferred to a central institution. It is argued that the non-acceptance of this concentration of power and the decline of lower decision-making levels might be a crucial factor for the disintegration of Tripolye giant-settlements around 3600 BCE. PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.

The aim of this article is to view the spatial distribution of Upper Dniester Basin’s (Western Ukraine) barrows and to interpret their location principles. These monuments were often situated on the flattened summits of watershed ridges or hills. It appeared also that some of them were located on upper parts of gentle slopes of not more than 8° of inclination. Mounds appear within linear and group-linear arrangements and were rarely observed as clusters, while more specific adjustments to their location were dependant on local terrain morphology. Barrow alignments run along the elevated ridges, while clustered groups were situated in places where erosive indentations or denudation cavities prevented barrows from stretching in a linear pattern. It can be noted that during the spatial development of barrow alignments, more attention was paid to the intervisibility between the mounds, than to their visibility from other places in the landscape. The potential of observing at least one of the following groups of tumuli from every embankment indicates the direction of movement within the framework of the barrow landscape, perhaps augmented in the past by the presence of paths or “roads”. Examples of analogous or similar, in a certain sense even universal, practices in shaping barrow landscapes were documented also from various parts of Eurasia. Therefore, it is argued these traits were shared by all “barrow societies” and their origins can be traced to the steppe zone. Specific and repeatable patterns of barrow arrangements are a manifestation of certain knowledge and skills, transmitted over generations and immortalized in the landscape that symbolized the incorporation of territory by “barrow societies”. Characteristic mound alignments became a cultural code or institution, as it were – an instrument of familiarising previously unknown landscapes, facilitating movement and simultaneously expressing continuity of kin-lineages.

The aim of this article is to view the spatial distribution of Upper Dniester Basin’s (Western Ukraine) barrows and to interpret their location principles. These monuments were often situated on the flattened summits of watershed ridges or hills. It appeared also that some of
them were located on upper parts of gentle slopes of not more than 8° of inclination. Mounds appear within linear and group-linear arrangements and were rarely observed as clusters, while more specific adjustments to their location were dependant on local terrain morphology. Barrow alignments run along the elevated ridges, while clustered groups were situated in places where erosive indentations or denudation cavities prevented barrows from stretching in a linear pattern. It can be noted that during the spatial development of barrow alignments, more attention was paid to the intervisibility between the mounds, than to
their visibility from other places in the landscape. The potential of observing at least one of the following groups of tumuli from every embankment indicates the direction of movement within the framework of the barrow landscape, perhaps augmented in the past by the presence of paths or “roads”. Examples of analogous or similar, in a certain sense even universal, practices in shaping barrow landscapes were documented also from various parts of Eurasia. Therefore, it is argued these traits were shared by all “barrow societies” and their origins can be traced to the steppe zone. Specific and repeatable patterns of barrow
arrangements are a manifestation of certain knowledge and skills, transmitted over generations and immortalized in the landscape that symbolized the incorporation of territory by “barrow societies”. Characteristic mound alignments became a cultural code or institution, as it were – an instrument of familiarising previously unknown
landscapes, facilitating movement and simultaneously expressing continuity of kin-lineages.

So far research effort regarding Cucuteni—Trypillia mega-sites was to a large extent focussed on the region in the east of the Southern Buh. In contrast, the Southern Buh-Dnister interfluve stands for long time in the shadow of its eastern neighbour. To improve this situation and to gain a better understanding of the macro-regional variability within the Cucuteni—Trypillia cultural complex, in spring 2018 the exploration of the large CTCC site Bilyi Kamin was started by an international team of researchers from Kiel University (Germany) and Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Science of Ukraine (Kyiv, Ukraine) which
is the largest settlement in this region.
Magnetometry in total size of 40.6 ha have been performed using the MAGNETO® MX V3 Survey System of the company SENSYS Sensorik & Systemtechnologie GmbH Bad Saarow (Germany). During our survey large areas in the south, north and near the centre of the site were measured. Based on these data the total extension of the site can be estimated to approximately 97 ha.
Different categories of magnetic anomalies can be identified in Bilyi Kamin: 297 rectangular anomalies, which are the ruins of intensively burnt clay houses;
141 rectangular anomalies of houses, burnt with less intensity or eroded; four rectangular anomalies of unique buildings, so-called «megastructures»; 351 anomaly of different-shape objects, most of which can be interpreted as pits; 12 stretched objects, presumably road to the south of the site; linear anomaly of the ditch or natural
gully to the north-west from north part of outer circle.
The site is built in two circles of houses. The ring corridor between the circles is free from buildings. Some buildings are located outside the circles as well. They are grouped as short lines radial and parallel in respect to the circles. The space inside the circles is built partially. In the north and north-west parts of the site the buildings are grouped mostly in long radial lines. In the south part of the site the number of buildings inside the circles is smaller. This might indicate a heterogeneous character of the population or changes in the development plan.
The anomalies of pits from Bilyi Kamin are usually located near the buildings, at side or ending walls. Some groups of pits are not connected to the buildings. It is also possible that some of anomalies of pits, having largest nT values can represent other kind of objects — as for example pottery kilns.
In Bilyi Kamin three elongated mega-structures with lengths between 36 and 64 m and widths between 8 and 11.5 m are placed on the 420 × (>150) m measuring square (so-called «plaza»). The partly staggered arrangement of these constructions might suggest that they were not built simultaneously but represent a sequence of  successively used buildings. Within the concentric ring corridor directly beside of the central plaza, additionally a fourth mega-structure is visible. For the planning of the settlement layout, the placement of a rectangular square on top of the promontory with three large buildings played potentially an important role. These mega-structures and the associated plaza most likely formed the architectural arena of central integrative institutions for decision-making, integrative ritual action, and surplus-consumption at the level of the entire settlement

The article considers the characteristics of truncated-pyramidal and discal type clay objects that were found in pit 1 at the Trostianchyk site (Vinnytsia oblast, Ukraine) of BII Trypillia stage. The context, location and chronology of these artifacts are characterized. On the basis of ethnographic evidence, the interpretation of the clay
objects as movable constructive elements of a pottery kiln is given. We assume that such kilns are the archaic link in the evolution of ceramic firing devices. They preceded the multi-channel kilns that have been known in Cucuteni-Trypillia Cultural Complex since the end of V millennium BC.

In Bilyi Kamin, Ukraine, a Trypillia megasite of the Chechelnyk group was systematically investigated by high-resolution magne-tometry, targeted excavations and radiometric dating. These new data make it possible to discuss afresh the significance of the large settlements west of the River Southern Buh and their relation to the already much longer intensively investigated megasites of the Southern Buh-Dnipro interfluve. The research confirmed that the settlement Bilyi Kamin had an extraordinary size of almost 100 ha and undoubtedly was of a carefully planned character. In order to realise a settlement of this size in the hilly landscape, enormous height differences within the settlement were accepted. Apparently , the intention to place three monumental integrative buildings on a promontory, widely visible from afar, played a decisive role. The study includes a detailed examination of the architecture and
find materials of a dwelling. Compared to settlements of the Southern Buh-Dnipro interfluve, these investigations reveal, among other
things, differences in waste disposal and similarities in architectural features. In the wider context, the newly obtained dating results
from Bilyi Kamin seem to indicate that the peak of population concentration in Trypillia giant settlements in the region west of the
River Southern Buh was already passed around 3800/3750 BCE. By
contrast, this agglomeration process continued in the Southern
Buh-Dnipro interfluve until about 3650 BCE. As possible reasons for
these different trajectories differences in social organisation are taken into account.

Recently, high-resolution magnetometry surveys have led to the discovery of a special category of buildings-so-called 'mega-structures'-situated in highly visible positions in the public space of Tripolye giant-settlements of the late 5 th and first half of the 4 th millennium BCE. In this paper we explore what these buildings actually are and how they can contribute to the understanding of the development of social space in Tripolye giant-settlements. For this investigation, we linked newly obtained excavation data from the giant-settlement Maida-netske, Ukraine, with a much larger sample of such buildings from magnetic plans obtained in the region between the Carpathian foothills and the Dnieper River. Accordingly, Tripolye mega-structures represent a particular kind of integrative building documented in many non-ranked ethnographic contexts. Based on our results we are interpreting that these buildings were used for various ritual and non-ritual activities, joint decision-making, and the storage and consumption of surplus. In Tripolye giant-settlements at least three different categories of mega-structures could be identified which most likely represent different levels of socio-political integration and decision-making. The emergence of this hierarchical system of high-level integrative buildings for the whole community and different low-level integrative architectures for certain segments of local communities was related to the rise of Tripolye mega-sites. The presence of different integrative levels most likely reflects the fusion of different previously independent communities in the giant-settlements. Later in the mega-site development, we observe how low-level integrative buildings increasingly lose their importance indicated by shrinking size and, finally, their disappearance. This observation might indicate that the power which was previously distributed across the community was transferred to a central institution. It is argued that the non-acceptance of this concentration of power and the decline of lower decision-making levels might be a crucial factor for the disintegration of Tripolye giant-settlements around 3600 BCE.

The article publishes the find of a pottery burning complex investigated on the Cucuteni-Tripolye large settlement of Stolniceni I. The complex was composed of a dual-chambered updraught pottery kiln and a corresponding pit. The combustion chamber consisted of two parallel channels which were covered by clay slabs placed under the vessel to be burnt. One of such slabs was found in situ in the southern channel of the combustion chamber. After the kiln was no more in operation, it was filled and covered with fragmentary archaeological material including production waste from another kiln, which is possibly located nearby. The 14C analysis allowed us to date the kiln back to the beginning of the fourth millennium BC. After presenting the find from Stolniceni, we make an account of the available data on distribution and construction of dual-chambered kilns on Tripolye B2/C1 and C2 stages. Also, we discuss the problems of estimation of consumption and production of pottery on large sites and some of the perspectives for further research.

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МЕТОДИ ПРИРОДНИЧИХ НАУК В АРХЕОЛОГІЇ
Вступне слово (Ю.В. Болтрик, С.А. Горбаненко, І.Д. Потєхіна) (240—246)
Корінний В.І., Рудь В.С., Косаківський В.А. Петрографічні визначення знарядь праці з трипільських поселень Буго-Дністровського межиріччя (246—247)
Горбаненко С.А. Палеоетноботанічні визначення (248—252)
Сергєєва М.С. Палеодендрологічні та антракологічні дослідження (253—255)
Горобець Л.В. Дослідження решток птахів (256—257)
Яніш Є.Ю. Археозоологічні дослідження (258—261)
Потєхіна І.Д. Дослідження геному, дієти та резервуарного ефекту на матеріалах епох епіпалеоліту ― енеоліту Середнього і Нижнього Подніпров’я (261—262)
Потєхіна І.Д. Антропологічна експертиза нових матеріалів із поховальних пам’яток епох неоліту, енеоліту та ранньої бронзи (262—263)
Козак О.Д. Палеопатологічні дослідження антропологічних матеріалів з поховань доби бронзи — середньовіччя у 2014—2015 рр. (264—265)
Слободян Т.І. Антропологічний аналіз кремацій (дослідження 2014—2015 рр.) (265)
Рудич Т.О. Антропологічна експертиза (266—267)
Литвинова Л.В. Антропологічний матеріал із ґрунтового могильника Торговиця (268—269)
Вікторова П.Є. Палеопатологічні дослідження антропологічних матеріалів з поховань доби Київської Русі — середньовіччя у 2014—2015 рр. (269—270)
Мінейко О.В. Палеопатологічні та антропологічні дослідження матеріалів з поховань княжої — ранньомодерної доби, а також масових поховань ХХ ст. у Західній Україні (270—272)

The article presents the preliminary results of research by a Polish-Ukrainian team who in 2018-2023 worked on the project of comprehensive exploration of barrows situated in the forest-steppe between the Southern Bug and Dniester in modern Ukraine. There, two major stages of erecting and using barrows were distinguished for the 3rd and 1st millennia BC. Two barrows discussed herein, explored as part of the project, were erected in the second stage. Barrow 3 in Ivanivtsi-Antonivka can be dated to the second half of the 10th – first half of the 8th century BC, whereas Barrow 6 in Sloboda Noskovetska to the late 8th – early 7th century BC. The older one was erected and then used by communities related to the early period of the Chornolis culture. The younger one is at present one of the main pre-Scythian complexes of eastern Podillia. The multi-component set of artefacts deposited under its mound represents a mixture of the Chornolis culture, Basarabi-Şoldăneşti influences and impact of early steppe nomads (Cimmerians?). It illustrates well a complex cultural mosaic found in the forest-steppe between the Southern Bug and Dniester rivers.