The article is
devoted to the analysis of burial 2 from the Chernyakhiv culture cemetery
Komariv-1 (Kelmentsy district, Chernivtsi region). The northern burial,
destroyed in ancient time, belonged to a woman. The text provides a description
of the archaeological complex, the reconstruction of the original appearance
and the gradual reconstruction of the destruction process.
Based on the
known data about the costume of the bearers of the Chernyakhiv culture, the
peculiarities of the funeral rite, the peculiarities of the placement of the
grave goods, it was possible to reconstruct the original appearance of the
completely destroyed burial.
Thanks to
anthropological determinations of the position of individual human bones in the
burial, it was possible to determine the sequence of destruction of the
skeleton and grave goods.
After entering
the grave pit, the skull was separated. The skull was then placed face down in
the center of the grave. After that, the chest was destroyed. The bones of the
legs were inserted in a certain sequence (crossed bones, inverted bones,
mirror-embedded bones). The last stage of the destruction of the burial was the
destruction of the skeleton of the sheep (food-offering) and turning over and
breaking the utensils in the burial. After the burial was destroyed, the burial
pit remained open. According to the information received, the burial was
destroyed after the decomposition of the soft tissues of the body, but before
the decomposition of the leather elements of the suit.
According to
the results of the study, the following conclusions were made:
• Even a completely destroyed burial can be
reconstructed to its original appearance.
• Different areas of the skeleton were subjected to
different manipulations. The thorax is destroyed, the skull and bones of the
legs are re-inserted in a certain (non-anatomical) order.
• Part of the inventory (at least one silver fibula) was
removed from the burial, but the main purpose was not looting but the
destruction of the burial.
• Burial occurred between the decomposition of the soft
tissues of the body and the leather elements of the suit.
