#Exhibit of the Month

The metal vessel was likely used as a funerary urn. It was found together with another vessel, shaped like a shell and used as a lid for the urn, in a landslide along the road within the Yahorlyk Nature Reserve, Dubăsari District. The village of Yahorlyk is located at the mouth of the stream of the same name, a left tributary of the Dniester River.
The vessel belongs to the Hemmoo type (or Eggers 63) and is a rare find in the late ancient sites of the 2nd-3rd centuries AD. Researchers consider this type of vessel to be of Italic, Gallo-Italic, or Mediterranean origin, frequently used as a funerary urn or burial inventory by the Bastarnae. Upon discovery, the vessel was reportedly filled with "earth and burnt bones."

The vessel was found together with a brass sheet vessel that had undulated or fluted walls. It has a height of 14.9 cm (without the base ring). The diameter of the vessel's body is 19.5 cm, and the total height is 16.2 cm. The rim of the vessel flares outward with a diameter of 20.5 cm. The vessel is made from thin brass sheet, only 0.1 cm thick. The upper part of the vessel is modestly ornamented. The middle of the rim, on the exterior, has a shallow horizontal line incised. The transition from the rim to the body is marked by a wide groove, 0.3 cm in width. From this groove, the rim thickens to 0.25 cm. On the upper part of the rim, on two symmetrically placed sides, semicircular handles with stepped bases were cut out. The handles are 2.2 cm in height and 5.1 cm in width. Including the "steps" at the base, the handles are 6.1 cm wide. In the middle of each handle, a circular elongated hole was made for the attachment of a handle, measuring 1.2 x 1.5 cm.

The ornamentation on the upper part of the vessel's body consists of two bands, each formed by two parallel incised lines, spaced 0.2 to 0.4 cm apart. The interval between the two bands is 0.9 cm. The vessel's handle is semicircular, mobile, fairly thick, rectangular in cross-section (0.8 x 0.9 cm), and made from a rounded brass bar. The ends of the handle are thinned to 0.6 cm and widened to 0.9 cm over a length of 2.6 cm, resembling bird heads. On the median part of the bar, incised marks resembling Roman numerals IX and XI are present. The bottom of the vessel was made from a separate brass sheet, worked by pressing on a lathe. Evidence of this process is the indentation from the lathe's fixing rod, preserved in the central part of the vessel's bottom. Surrounding this indentation is an ornament consisting of two bands of concentric lines, with diameters of 1.8 cm and 5.9 cm, respectively. The lower part of the vessel is raised and rests on a ringed base, formed by shaping the vessel's walls and bending the piece that formed the actual bottom. This base has a diameter of 8.7 cm.

For the North-West Pontic and East-Carpathian regions, several scattered sites or points where fragments of metal vessels were discovered, used as funerary inventory or urns, should be mentioned. These include discoveries from the funerary complexes of flat necropolises dated to the first centuries AD, at Hansca-Lutăria II and Dănceni-Ialoveni. Here, excavations identified noble graves with fragments of bronze vessels with metal handles, similar to the vessel from Yahorlyk.

Virtual Tour

Publications

Journal „Tyragetia"

vol. X [XXV], nr. 1

ISSN 1857-0240
E-ISSN 2537-6330

Михаил Видейко

Investigations of Trypillia site

Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. X [XXV], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică

Keywords: Trypillia site, V. Khvoika, excavations, stage Trypillia BI-II, large settlements

Abstract: This article is dedicated to investigations of the site, which gave its name to the Trypillian Culture. For the first time it was excavated by V. Khvoika in autumn 1897, at the same time when he explored few sites around the village of Trypillia in 40 km south of Kiev. Despite the fact that since the excavation more than a hundred years has passed, the results have not been published, except a description in two pages that appeared in 1901. Later the place of excavations was forgotten, and only after 100 years it was discovered for a second time and identified using archival materials. A brief history of this "rediscovery" is presented in this article. We also propose the description of explored objects based on a modern view on the Trypillian Culture objects and interpretation of other finds from this site in the system of contemporary dating and periodization. This article mainly based on data from the Scientific Archive of the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and some materials from the National Museum of History of Ukraine. Trypillia now is the largest (possibly up to 100 hectares) site of this culture in the Middle Dnieper region and at the same time the earliest one of these sites, dated by BI-II stage (around 4400-4200 BC).

List of illustrations:
Fig. 1. Fragment of the Open Letter of 1909 to the excavations in the Kiev region, including Trypillia. Scientific Archive, Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev.
Fig. 2. Page from the field dairy by V. Khvoika (1897) with a view of the place of excavations near Trypillia. Scientific Archive, Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev.
Fig. 3. Excavations near Trypillia, drawing from a table made by V. Khvoika. Drawing is based on the sketch from the field dairy, 1897. Scientific Archive, Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv.
Fig. 4. Photo from a table made using field drawings. Inscription on the top: "Excavations near Trypillia, Kiev district". Scientific Archive, Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev.
Fig. 5. Maps with the place of excavations: 1 - scheme published by V. Khvoika in 1904; 2 - fragment of a map, possibly used for the scheme; 3 - fragment of a scheme. Place of excavations is marked by an arrow.
Fig. 6. Excavations near Trypillia, panorama by V. Khvoika (a) vs satellite image (b): 1 - place, from which V. Khvoika observed explored area near Trypillia; 2 - hill at the central part of Trypillia with church; 3 - windmills to the right; 4 - windmills on Divich Gora (to the left). Place of excavations marked by circle.
Fig. 7. Place of excavations near Trypillia in 2003: а - view to Trypillia, by number 4 Divich-Gora marked (on drawings to the left); b - plateau with site, view from Krasnaya river; с - view from Trypillia, 1 - place, from which V. Khvoika observed explored area near Trypillia; place of 2003 г. Excavations marked by arrow.
Fig. 8. Trypillia, 2003: 1 - test-pit, general view; 2 - cultural layer with remains of burnt house; 3 - fragment of pear- like vessel; 4 - fragments of painted pottery.
Fig. 9. Trypillia, excavations in 1897, drawings by V. Khvoika. Scientific Archive, Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev.
Fig. 10. Trypillia, excavations in 1897, drawings by V. Khvoika. Croup of vessels and human bones. Scientific Archive, Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev.
Fig. 11. Trypillia, excavations in 1897, drawings by V. Khvoika. Page from dairy, dated 3.10.1897. Group of vessels in test-pit. Scientific Archive, Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev.
Fig. 12. Trypillia, excavations in 1897, drawings by V. Khvoika, later used for preparations of the large illustration.
Scientific Archive, Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev.
Fig. 13. Finds from excavations near Trypillia: 1 - stone tools; 2 - copper axe. Drawings by V. Khvoika (1) and photo
(2) published in 1901.
Fig.14. Trypillia, helmet-like cap: 1 - old label with inscription, in which Trypillia mentioned as the place of finding; 2-4 - helmet-like cap, general views. National Museum of History of Ukraine, Kiev.
Fig. 15. Fragments of painted pottery, probably from Trypillia. Drawings from the large table prepared by V. Khvoika for publication. Scientific Archive, Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev.
Fig. 16. View on excavations near the Krasna River by Trypillia at the beginning of the 20th century: 1 - inscription from the top of passé-partout; 2 - photo of trench, places with vessels are marked; 3-4 - finds enlarged. Scientific Archive, Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev.