EXPLORATION OF THE BARROWS IN THE SOUTHERN PART OF THE SKOROBIR NECROPOLIS

Abstract

Skorobir is one of the largest necropolises of the Bilsk hillfort (8—4 centuries BC). Burials of various population groups were found within the necropolis. Despite the fact that the main features of the burial rite have been clarified, the questions of the time of origin, expansion, and principles of formation of the burial ground remain open. In 2023, two barrows from the Scythian period were excavated. The necropolis has been studied by various scholars for a long time. The researches of the last decade were aimed at studying mainly the southern part of the necropolis, where it was possible to discover elite burials of the 6th century BC. According to the results of the latest excavations and analysis of the materials of previous studies, the opinion is expressed that the burial mounds of the ruling elite of the 6 century BC were mostly located in the open areas of the dominant uplands of the Skorobir tract. It is here that there are two large mounds destroyed by saltpeters of the 17^th century, which were named Velykyi Skorobir and Malyi Skorobir.

Next to them is a large number of barrows. The earliest of them, in which burials of the 6 century BC were discovered, are located to the north of the group of barrows, in most of which burials of the 5—4 centuries BC were mainly found, but in each of these groups, separate barrows with burials of the second half of the 6th century BC were discovered. This trend is confirmed by the materials of two barrows excavated in 2023. It can be assumed that «Velikyi Skorobir» and «Malyi Skorobir» are barrows from the heyday of the Bilsk settlement, when the complex social structure of society was finally formed. Indirectly, this assumption is confirmed by the fact of the presence of five equal rows of barrows in front of the «Velykyi Skorobir», recorded by the excavations of 1906.

The burials discovered under the barrows 1/2023 and 2/2023 are dated to the second half — the late 6 century BC and the first half — the second quarter of the 5^th century BC. They are located next to earlier barrows of the first half of the 6^th century BC. Barrow 1/2023 — at a short distance from the one No. 2/2019 — of the second quarter — the middle of the 6 century BC and is the later of the group of early barrows (No. 1—4, 8/1965; 1, 2/2019) of this section of the necropolis. Barrow 2/2023 already belongs to another, later group of mounds (No. 5, 7, 9/1965), located further south, closer to the «Velykyi Skorobir» square. Further research will make it possible to correct previous conclusions and clarify the principle of formation of the Skorobir necropolis and other mound groups of the settlement.