Skeletons With Bronze Rings Around Their Necks Uncovered At A 1,000-Year-Old Cemetery In Ukraine.
Archaeologists in Ukraine have unearthed a 1,000-year-old cemetery and a number of skeletons buried with rings around their necks and buckets at their feet.
The cemetery was discovered just south of Kyiv and dates back to the 11th century, a pivotal time in Ukraine when many people had begun converting to Christianity. In total, there were 107 graves found at the site, with most of the remains in wooden coffins.
Skeletons of both men and women were found in the cemetery, some of whom were buried with an ᴀssortment of objects, including weapons and jewelry. Several of the women were buried with elaborate rings around their necks. Study co-author Vyacheslav Baranov told Live Science that these bronze rings “were apparently a kind of social marker.”
The wooden buckets on the feet found in some of the male graves – which may have been part of funerary rituals – are reminiscent of 11th-century Prussian cremation and Pomeranian and Masovian inhumation cemeteries of military elites.
Excavations at the cemetery began in 2017 and continued through 2022.