A strange burial in an ornate cauldron, burials with horses and more show multiple cultures in ancient western Ukraine in Roman times, and hint at why it was so

In the spring of 2017, local archaeologists in western Ukraine discovered an ancient “barbarian” cemetery near the Polish border. As research and excavation of the site named Kariv I progressed, they began to realize this was no ordinary cemetery for the hoi polloi. This was apparently the final resting place for elites, and moreover, these elites hailed from several tribes occupying the region in Roman times: Germanic, Baltic, and proto-Slavic. 

When the burial site was first found, the archaeologists thought they might be dealing with graves associated with the Przeworsk culture (pronounced “Perevorsk”), a local Germanic culture that dominated Western Ukraine from about 2,300 to 1,600 years ago. But as the excavation progressed, they noticed signs of burial rites and grave goods not typical of the Przeworsk, suggesting they weren’t the only people who buried their dead in this cemetery. 

Now they believe the deceased belonged to a mix of barbaric cultures, which for the sake of convenience the archaeologists dubbed the “Kariv group”, after the name of this cemetery, Kariv I. 

The cemetery has been excavated and studied by a team of archaeologists from the Museum of History and Local History at Vynnyky and Ivan Franko University in Lviv, and the finds have been published by Yaroslav Onyshchuk, one of the leading scholars of the Roman era in Ukraine. 

Sad to relate, not much remains of the cemetery at Kariv I, because the overlying land had been ploughed by farmers prior to the discovery. The burial ground had been bigger but many of the ancient graves were thus destroyed, the archaeologists believe. They did manage to find and excavate 12 cremation-type burials, though these had also been partly damaged by the farmers’ heavy machinery, explains Volodymyr Sydorovich, a team member researching Kariv I. 

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The graves they could investigate turned out to contain individuals of different genders and ages, indicating that this was a permanent cemetery of a specific group of people who lived nearby. Among the deceased were six men, three women, and one child, the archaeologists deduced based on those bones that survived the burning process. (Ancient cremation was not as thorough as modern machinery can achieve.) 

Many questions remain open, Sydorovich says. For example, they still haven’t found the settlement where the people buried here dwelled. Also: “We assume that next to the burial ground of the ‘elite,’ there should have been a burial ground of the ordinary people,” he adds, but it hasn’t been found yet. 

This is not of course the only sign of non-Przeworsk tribes in ancient Ukraine. Traces of the “Kariv group” of people have been found in isolated burial sites and sporadic finds in Western Ukraine in the vicinity of Lviv. 

Unfortunately, many of these burials and items were frist found by grave robbers. Luckily, Kariv-I escaped their greedy hands, providing valuable information about these people and their migration and allowing us to marvel at the material culture they left behind. 

But who were these people, what did they leave for posterity, and what brought them to the territories of modern Western Ukraine? 

A German, Balt, and a Slav come to Ukraine

In most of the graves, the team found what seem to have been ritually burnt and damaged funeral gifts, such as bent weapons, wire rings, and fibulae (brooches). 

Burying deliberately ruined armaments and fripperies with their deceased owner was a well-known practice among the Przeworsk, a coalition of Germanic tribes living in modern-day Poland and Western Ukraine, and who highly influenced by Celtic traditions and material culture. (Some historians suggest the Vandals, who would later sack Rome, and the Przework might be one and the same.) 

Other burials featured horse bones and gear associated with horse-riding, such as bridles and harnesses, as well as various bronze objects. Burials with horses are more typical of the Western Baltic territories, hence the scholars suggests they indicate the presence of Western Baltic cultural traditions or people. 

However, some burials with horses also had bent and ritually damaged items and Roman important goods. Sort of a “mixed signals” kind of deal. 

And in yet other burials, the archaeologists discovered pottery characteristic of early Slavic local cultures. 

Of course, some of those items could have reached the region by trade. They do not necessarily indicate these people used to live here. And some burials did not feature any damaged, burned or bent grave goods at all. 

Yet perhaps the most exciting find was a grave smacking not of local types but of the “warlike” Suebian culture, of Germanic origin. 

The Germanic overlord with a sense of fashion

“The Suebi are by far the largest and the most warlike nation among the Germans. It is said that they have a hundred cantons, from each of which they draw one thousand armed men yearly for the purpose of war outside their borders” – Julius Caesar, Gallic War, Book IV. 

Note that the “Germanic people” weren’t a monoculture. These were a number of tribes that occupied the territories of central Europe and Scandinavia from antiquity to the Middle Ages; different tribes inhabited different areas. The Suebi people were one of those tribes, living in north eastern Germany and the Czech Republic, and now it appears that at least one also arrived in Western Ukraine. 

One of the most extraordinary finds in the grave tentatively identified as Suebi was a large cauldron made of alloyed copper, used as an urn. The handles are decorated with head-and-torso busts of a male, with what is known as a Suebian knot hairdo. It looks like a man bun on the side. Who knows, maybe the Suebi were the first hipsters. 

Inside this pot, the excavators found the cremated remains of an individual 25 to 35 years old, and a bronze belt buckle. 

Only three cauldrons of this type have been found so far, including this one. Based on historical documents, this hairdo was a hallmark of the Suebi. The first century C.E. Roman historian Tacitus elaborated on this fashion: 

“One mark of the race (Suebi) is to comb the hair back over the side of the head and tie it low in a knot behind: this distinguishes the Suebi from other Germans, and the free-born of the Suebi from the slave. In other tribes, whether from some relationship to the Suebi, or, as often happens, from imitation, the same thing may be found; but it is rare and confined to the period of youth. Among the Suebi, even till the hair is grey, the rough locks are twisted backward, and often knotted on the very crown: the chieftains wear theirs somewhat more ornamentally, to this extent interested in appearances, but innocently so.” — Tacitus, Germania, 38. 

As for the cauldron, artisans in the Roman provinces crafted pots like these. Onyshchuk explained that it was used as an urn, indicating it was not a trophy. It could theoretically have been a prestigious gift that the Roman administration gifted or produced for its clients and allies. 

Next to it was another unique bucket also fashioned of alloyed copper, with handle attachments in the form of women’s faces, sirens maybe. The archaeologists also found expensive glass bowls inside the grave, a Roman bronze bell, drinking horn fittings, an iron knife, and beautiful metal elements of a drinking horn chain decorated with colorful enamel. 

No bent or ritually damaged grave goods were inside this burial. Onyshchuk believes these items may indicate the status of a person buried here, who, he proposes, belonged to the Suebian tribal elite and was in contact with the Roman Empire. 

As always, blame the Romans

Based on chronologically indicative materials such as the brooches, amphorae, glass, and other imported goods found in situ, and undisturbed by robbers, the cemetery dates to the late second century C.E, Onyshchuk says. 

The bottom line is that the funeral rites exhibited in the cemetery and the material culture all pinpoint a specific period in time, but not a specific culture, and not only that of the Przeworsk who dominated western Ukraine at the time. Rather, the archaeologists believe they have found evidence that peoples from different cultures arrived, and some mixing ensued. 

The population that left the burial ground in Kariv, as well as the sites of the “Kariv group,” in our opinion, writes Onyshchuk, were a mix of people of Suebic, West Baltic, and possibly proto-Slavic origin joining the Przeworsk who already resided in these parts. 

What were they doing there? Possibly, fleeing the Romans following their defeat in the Marcomannic Wars. 

Marcomanic Wars: A European soap opera

The Marcomannic Wars were a series of clashes between the Roman Empire and a coalition of Barbarian tribes from various ethnic groups. The Wars lasted between 166 and 180 C.E. and took place along the length of the northeastern European Roman border (the Limes) on the River Danube, during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. 

A details from the column of Marcus Aurelius from 180 C.E. depicting his victory over the barbarian tribes. 

One of these tribes was the Germanic Marcomanni. But they weren’t the only ones. The Lugii, a coalition of various barbaric tribes that various Roman historians mention, also played a vital part. (The Przeworsks and the Lugii may well have been the same people.). 

Some scholars suggest that during the Marcomannic Wars, a Germanic tribe called the “Buri” of Suebian origin lived in Transcarpathian Ukraine and joined the Lugii tribal union, based on historical documents written by Roman authors and archaeological materials. 

Anyway, after the defeat of the barbarian coalition , some areas previously controlled by tribes like the Marcomanni were turned into a Roman military fortified garrison, and movement and pasture restrictions were placed on the locals. The Roman historian Cassius Dio writes that the Romans compelled the Buri to take an oath that they would never dwell or use for pasture a strip of land within eight kilometers next to Dacia (mainly the region of modern-day Romania). 

Far from the eye of Rome, but with benefits

These restrictions may have been good reason for some of these tribes to look for a new place to live, further deep into the European Barbaricum, far from Roman control and political influence. 

The lands of Eastern Carpathian and Western Ukraine might seem like a good place to look for a new home. 

Nonetheless, they maintained relations with the Romans. Just like today, you may not like someone, but you’ll still trade with them and maintain diplomatic relationships. Some high officials might have been loyal to Rome too. These might explain the influx of Roman goods among the material culture of the various Barbaric groups. 

“The events of the Marcomannic Wars, during or after which some members of the barbaric coalition tried to move to the lands of the European Barbaricum far from Roman political influence, perhaps, were the main reason for the appearance of the ‘Kariv group’,” Onyshchuk writes in his article. And this cemetery is a good example left for us by these people. 

“Based on the current research results, it is still difficult to say how long the new population inhabited this territory. But it couldn’t have continued for long because at the beginning of the third century C.E., other Germanic tribes arrived and displaced or assimilated the population of the “Kariv group,” Onyshchuk writes. And that’s where their story ends.