Search for a command to run...
Studies of the Voitsekhivka cemetery, located on the left bank of the Sluch River middle region in Eastern Volyn, started in 1924, continued in 1948–1949, and renewed by the Fastiv Archaeological Expedition in 2011–2013. Most of the excavated barrows are dated from the middle to the third quarters of the 2nd millennium BC, and refer to the classical horizons of the Komariv culture of the Trzciniec cultural circle. Three kurgan-like eminence were studied in 2013 at different places of the site, containing materials from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age. One mound was a ritual assemblage, possibly a cenotaph; the other two were natural hills into which the objects of the indicated periods were sunk. The research in 2013 significantly extended the chronological range of the site’s existence, and also allowed considering the question of using landscape features when performing ritual activities on the cemetery. The authors also analyse a set of metal items of the Late Bronze Age discovered in 2013 by the Fastiv Archaeological Expedition in the ploughed layer of the barrow group no. 6 of the Voitsekhivka cemetery. The collection includes 31 items, mostly fragmented. These are seven knives, five sickles, foursocketed axes, three knives-daggers, a fragment of a sword blade, four spearheads, a cheekpiece, a fragment of a pin-wand of a Hordiivka type, two bracelets, a fragment of a rod, two bronze ingots. Finds can be dated preliminary to the BrD–HaA period. It cannot be excluded that at least some of the finds were part of a plowed-up hoard/hoards buried at the cemetery’s territory. All metal finds of the Late Bronze Age can be divided into two groups of different sizes. The first group (“import”) includes single-edged knives, sickles, celts, double-edged daggers, a fragment of a sword blade, spearheads, and bracelets. All these products find many analogies in the archaeological cultures of the Carpathian-Danube basin. The second group of finds (“autochthonous”) is represented by items associated with local cultures of the Northern Black Sea region. These include a rod-shaped three-hole cheekpiece and a fragment of a Hordiivka-type pin-wand, as well as a metal rod (a bracelet blank?) and metal ingots.