In 2021, on the territory of the second mound group of the Kytaiv Cemetery on the outskirts of Kyiv the authors discovered the inhumation burial in a coffin placed in a wooden funeral chamber. Burials with wooden structures made directly in the grave pit have been widespread in Northern and Eastern Europe of the Viking Age and are well known in the literature as chamber burials. Some modern researchers distinguish among the early medieval burials the category of so-called «quasi-chambers» which are similar to original chamber tombs but differ from them in certain important structural and ritual elements. In our opinion, the burial complexes, combining wooden walls and «movable» coffin, as the one under discussion, should also be included into this category. They differ from original chambers by general semantics of the rite and usually are later chronologically. In the 1910s and 1970s, similar assemblages were excavated in the first barrow group of the cemetery. According to the grave goods the newly discovered burial can be considered ordinary, and the mound over the burial chamber is one of the smallest in the mound group. Thus, at least in the territory of the Kyiv area the chambers with coffins at the late 10th and early 11th centuries became a mass phenomenon, losing the elitist character inherent in original chamber tombs. Compared to the latter the design of burial structures is also showing clear signs of simplification. The obtained results prove the expediency of classification the chambers with coffins as one of the types of Old Rus quasi-chamber burials. Further theoretical developments in this direction and new excavations should complement the reconstructed vision of religious, social and political progress of the population of Old Rus at the stage of statehood formation.
The material and archaeological context of the research of Architectural and Archaeological Expedition of the IA NAS of Ukraine in 2016—2017 are considered in the paper. The group of sites dating to the 11th—13th centuries is located in the southern part of Kyiv named Feofania. This archaeological complex includes the hill-fort and three settlements. The officers of the Kyiv Archaeology Department Dr. O. Manigda and V. Kryzhanovsky made the surveying of the site. The exploration in 2016—2017 is connected with the construction of residential complex on the territory of settlement 2. Due to it the large area of the settlement — 2850 m2 — was discovered and explored. During the excavations 55 archaeological sites of Old Rus time were discovered. Among them are the residential and industrial buildings, outbuildings. The latter includes the object with a complex of adobe kilns (such structures have a very few analogies). The large number of archaeological material was collected among which are the items with the city nomenclature. Paleobotanical remains are distinguished in a separate numerous category of material. The traces of two fires have been occurred at the settlement. If the second fire is related to the collapse of the settlement during the Tatar-Mongol invasion (1240), the first one dates to the end of 11th — beginning of the 12th century, and the reason of it is unknown. Summing up the previous results, it is possible to refer the settlements No. 2 to the type of settlements privately owned by representatives of the feudal class. The group settlements and the hill-fort formed the block-post controlling the way to Kyiv from the south. In addition to Medieval antiquities the number of finds and objects of the Late Bronze — Early Iron Ages, as well as three burials of the late 18th—19th centuries, which apparently related to the cemetery of Saint Panteleimon Monastery, were discovered.
This article deals with the interpretation of new epigraphic find on the amphora fragment, from settlement Feofaniya (Kyiv, Ukraine) that was found during the excavations of the Architectural-Archaeological Expedition in 2016. Amphoras — is one of the most mass categories of imported products that came to the territory of Kyiv Rus’ from Byzantium and the Black Sea during the X—XIII centuries. They provide a sufficiently clear chronological indicator, as well as provide information on trade relations, social and property stratification of society. The fragment (14 Ч 16 cm) clearly shows the scribbled inscription «ТЄШЄ». On the basis of the analysis, it is likely that graffiti points to the name of the owner of the amphora (perhaps named Těx or Těšen), and not to its contents (it is however plausible that the latter was wine). This part of the amphora plays an important role in the study of external relations and confirms the high status of the inhabitants of this settlement.
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