Collective Burial Researched on Berezan in the Context of the Medieval History of the Island

In the Middle ages, Berezan Island had an important place on the legendary route «from the Varangians to the Greeks». Direct and indirect evidence about the island can be found in the Old Rus, Byzantine, Scandinavian and Arabic medieval sources. Excavations on Berezan recorded the remains of a settlement and burial ground in the North-Eastern part of the island. The site of the ancient burial ground was also found during the research of the «GSH» excavation in the period of 2007—2016, where the remains of 20 dead people that probably belong to the period in question were recorded. The most interesting is the collective burial 82, which was excavated here in 2016. The skeletons of 45 dead people were recorded in a rectangular ground pit laying predominantly supine with straight legs, arms extended along the body and placed in the trunk of the hands. All the skeletons were directed with their heads to the North-West. The single burials, opened during the excavation of the burial ground, have a similar trend in the inhumane and direction. This mode of inhumane, in general, is characteristic of the Christian committal and is widely known from the materials of ancient burial grounds of the 11th—13th centuries. Among the grave goods there are two iron arrowheads, an iron ring, a bronze cross and a white metal earring, also characteristic of Old Rus antiquities of Eastern Europe. Representatives of different gender and age groups are buried in the common pit. There is no doubt that the burial took place at the same time, and therefore, the death of the buried was simultaneous. A clear record of pre-mortem wounds on the bones of at least eight of the deceased may indicate violent death and the rest of the buried. The presence of infants among the buried skeletons precludes this group from belonging to any armed group. Most likely, they are similar to a group of ordinary settlers who, in connection with some armed aggression, were simultaneously killed and later buried in accordance with the basic principles of Christian ritual. If the people at the burial were residents of the settlement of Berezan Island then they probably formed the vast majority of its population. According to the authors in the studied burial, it is possible to see evidence of any punitive action directed against the settlers

Bronze · Excavation · Grave goods · Middle Ages · Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies · Eurasian Exchange Networks · Historical and Archaeological Studies