Serghey Agulnikov, Sergiu Popovici, Stanislav erna, Denis Topal (Chiinu)

A scythian barrow near Purcari village (Republic of Moldova)

In 2011, an expedition of the Center of Archaeology of the Institute of Cultural Heritage (Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Moldova) excavated a barrow (no.7) near the village of Purcari (tefan Vod region). The burial mound was located 2,5 km south-west from the outskirts of the village and was a part of a group of small barrows investigated in 19781980 (Jarovoy 1990). The barrow was intensively ploughed, representing a small hemispherical mound with the height of 0,75 m and a diameter of ca. 36 m at the time of the excavations. Three graves have been investigated, one of them belonging to a Medieval nomad (no.2). The other two graves (no.1 and the main central burial no. 3) are of Scythian origin. The main burial (no. 3) was found in the central part of the mound. The burial pit had a rectangular shape (with a step), 3,61,2 m large (fig.1, A). The burial chamber, oriented on the east-west axis, was originally covered with wooden beams ca. 0,2 m in diameter. The walls of the burial pit were smoothed and covered with white clay. The burial contained the skeleton of a male, 3035 years old1, extended on the back, with the head to the west. In the SW part of burial chamber a red-clay amphora (fig. 1, 1) with 2 iron spearheads (53,5 and ca. 40 cm) and 2 javelins (46 and ca. 50 cm) were placed (fig. 1, 2). The attribution of the amphora is determined by a stamp in two lines, bearing the inscription P | (E ()), typical for the Heraclea Pontica ware. The stamps of Eurydamos belong to the so-called Early manufacturing group and are dated from 390s B.C. (Monakhov 1999) to the end of 5th 90s of 4th c. B.C.2 (Katz 2007). Near the right shoulder was located a small Attic black-glazed bowl a saltcellar with concave walls and recessed underside. The gloss is of quite good quality (fig. 1, 4). The saltcellars with concave walls can be divided in two series, one with recessed underside and one with flat underside. The latter is more common in the late archaic period, going down to ca. 450 B.C., whereas the shape with recessed underside mainly belongs to the 4th century (Sparkes, Talcott 1970: 136137, no. 936938). An iron sword (akinakes) decorated in Animal Style was placed across the hips (fig. 1, 6), with the hilt at the left hand. The point of the sword laid over a heap of bronze arrowheads and an iron knife with bone handle (fig. 1, 7, 12). The pommel extends on each side into two semiabstract bird heads (griffins?) set back-to-back. The double-edged sword did not preserve completely and came out in fragments, but the length could be determined as ca. 62 cm. Analogies for this akinakes are spread over a vast big territory from lower Danube to Southern Ural (including such Scythian Royal barrows as Solokha and Velika Belozerka) within a chronological framework of 450350 B.C. (Smirnov 1961; Meljukova 1964). A pair of anatomically shaped unornamented bronze greaves (cnemidae) were found on the legs (fig. 1, 9). Under the bronze sheet were identified remains of leather or felt which could serve as a base for attaching the greaves. One of the greaves was repaired. Such Greek greaves,
1

The identification of sex and age of the human remains was processed by Dr. of Biology A. Varzari (National Center of Reproductive Health and Medical Genetics).
2

We would like to express our gratitude to Vladimir Katz, who shared the most detailed and fresh information about stamped amphorae of Heraclea Pontica. In his personal message, V. Katz insisted on an early date of the stamp from Purcari due to the presence of a single name of manufacturer.

being much more lightweight and effective in comparison to the Scythian ones, emerged in the 5th century B.C. and are widespread in the Scythian warrior graves of late 5th early 4th c. B.C. (Chernenko 1968). On the chest of the deceased were identified several fragments of iron plates which could represent the remains of a flat body armor (and probably a flexed shield) made of leather covered with iron plates. Also, the burial yielded ca. 110 bronze arrowheads concentrated in different locations near the sword (fig. 1, 12), on the spearheads and javelins, on the remains of funeral feasts in south-eastern (fig. 1, 11) and north-western corners (fig. 1, 3) of the burial chamber. These arrowheads are typical for Scythian graves of late 5th 4th c. B.C. (Meljukova 1964). So, the preliminary chronological analysis of the grave goods shows that the construction of barrow no.7 near Purcari could be dated back to the late 5th c. B.C. early 4th c. B.C. However, due to the new chronological data for the Heraclea amphora stamps, the most convenient chronological framework is the late 5th c. B.C.

Fig. 1. Purcari, barrow 7, grave 3. A plan of the grave; B grave goods: 1 amphora with stamp; 2 iron spearheads and javelins; 3 bronze arrowheads from NW corner; 4 - black-glazed saltcellar; 5 bronze buckle and plaques from skull; 6 iron sword (akinakes); 7 iron knife with bone handle; 8 remains of the iron body armor; 9 bronze greave; 10 iron details of spear shaft; 11 iron knife with bronze arrowheads from SE corner; 12 bronze arrowheads near the sword; 13 bronze arrowheads and iron fragments from the fill of burial chamber.

Topal Denis. University High Anthropological School Zimbrului 10a str., MD-2024 Chiinu Republic of Moldova. Email: denis.topal@gmail.com erna Stanislav, M.A. University High Anthropological School Zimbrului 10a str., MD-2024 Chiinu Republic of Moldova. Email: ternastas@mail.ru