Catacombs of a Specific Type within the Verkhnii Saltiv Necropolis
Abstract
The main type of burial structure of the Alanian population of the Saltiv culture is a T-type catacomb. The expedition of the N. F. Sumtsov Kharkiv Historical Museum during 1984–2021 investigated 70 catacombs with a longitudinal arrangement of the chamber in relation to the dromos (type ІІ according to K. F. Smirnov) at three sites of the Verkhnii Saltiv necropolis: 37 catacombs at VSB-І, 16 catacombs at the Verkhnii Saltiv burial ground (VSB) III and 17 catacombs at VSB-IV (table 1). According to their dimensional indicators (length, width, depth of the dromos, dimensions of the chamber and others) catacombs of the type II at all areas of the necropolis (VSB-І, VSB-ІІІ, VSB-IV) did not differ significantly from the T-shaped catacombs of the Verkhnii Saltiv necropolis. They do not differ from T-like funerary structures and the number of people buried in them. Burial chambers of catacombs of the type II contain single, paired and collective burials (table 1). The burial inventory from catacombs of the type II finds the widest analogies in the antiquities of the Saltiv culture of the second half of the 8th and first half of the 10th centuries, and does not vary either numerically or typologically from the inventory of the T-type catacombs. According to the elements of the belt set found in the objects studied, it is clear that the population of Verkhnii Saltiv buried the deceased in catacombs with a longitudinal arrangement of the chamber in relation to the dromos for a long time from the second half of the 8th century (catacombs nos. 13, 15 VSB-III; 141, 146 VSB-IV) and until the end of the third quarter of the 9th century (catacombs nos. 71 VSB-І; 6, 20 VSB-IV). The complex found in catacombs of the type II indicates that people of different property status were buried in this type of funerary structures. Thus, both the poorest representatives of the ordinary population of Verkhnii Saltiv were buried in them (catacombs nos. 3 VSB-II; 45, 68, 141, 146 VSB-IV; 8, 9 VSB-II) and representatives of the military upper class (catacombs nos. 29 VSB-І; 6, 25 VSB-III).
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