A NEW DATA TO THE STUDIES OF EARLY IRON AGE IN SOUTHERN VOLHYNIA (the Upper Horyn riven region)

This paper introduces the materials of excavations archaeological objects (ash-hills and kurgan) explored in Bazar tract within the Netishyn town of Khmelnytska oblast in 2017. This area is located on the covered with forest first terrace of the eastern bank of Horyn river. Seven possible mounds of an elevation of 0.4—1 m were visually observed at the territory of c. 1 ha. Excavations have shown that this group included seven ash-hills (objects 3—5, 7), kurgan (object 2) and two pseudo-mounds (objects 1 and 6). The construction of ash-hills was preceded by functioning of the multi-layered settlement. The layers represent Late Palaeolithic (Swiderian culture), Middle Bronze Age (Gorodotsko-Zdovbytska culture), Late Bronze Age (Trzciniec-Komarivka culture) and Early Iron Age (Mohylianska group). Ash-hills were constructed by Mohylianska group population using the soil from the cultural layer of the settlement. Therefore ash-hills include numerous settlement data, i. e. animal bones, flints, kitchen and table pottery, ceramic spindles etc. After a certain chronological gap the site territory was used as a cemetery by Mylohrad culture population, perhaps presuming earlier ash-hills for kurgans. Milohrad population constructed a kurgan, a mound over the main burial, which visually did not differ from ash-hills. Bones were extremely weakly preserved because of the effects of local soils. Funeral inventory includes two pots, iron knife and bronze finger ring. Two more fragmented pots in the mound of one of the ash-hills (object 7), probably, mark one more Mylohrad culture burial there.