Mound 1/2021 of the Skorobir Necropolis in the District of Bilsk Gorodyshche

Abstract

The article introduces the burial complex investigated in 2021 by a joint expedition of the Historical and Cultural Reserve «Bilsk» and V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University in the Skorobir burial mound necropolis in the western district of the Bilsk settlement. Despite the fact that the burial mound was looted in ancient times, it was possible to trace the peculiarities of the creation of the burial structure and the main features of the burial rite.
 A burial site was discovered under the barrow mound, which was looted back in ancient times. Only a small part of this complex remained intact. The burial chamber was a simple rectangular pit with an area of 7.15 m2, oriented along the northeast-southwest line. A 2.75 m long dromos adjoined the pit from the southwest, which was recorded for the first time in the necropolises of the Bilsk fortified settlement for burials of the Early Scythian period. The floor of the grave was lined with longitudinal wooden boards, which were placed on transverse logs, fixed in grooves dug near the southern and northern walls of the grave. The grave was not covered with soil, it was covered with wooden logs, the remains of which were fixed. Molded pottery (bowls, ladles, and ladles) was left on the ceiling, which fell into the burial chamber after the ceiling was destroyed. Based on the categories of funeral inventory it can be said with certainty that a woman was buried in the grave with her head facing southwest. Beads made of glass and rock crystal, as well as gold rosette plaques, indicate the rather high social status of the deceased, who probably belonged to representatives of the local elite. The set of accompanying inventory allows us to date the burial in barrow 1/2021 to the first quarter of the 6th century BC.
 Mound 1/2021 demonstrates the close burial traditions of the local population of the Early Scythian period and has certain correspondences among the mounds of the Bilsk burial grounds, first of all, the burial complexes of the first half of the 6th century BC, which have been studied in recent years in the southern part part of the Skorobir necropolis, the largest of those located near the Bilsk fortified settlement. The traced general features of the burial rite are typical for the burial mounds of the Bilsk hillfort.