Meat filled food in the burials of Dnieper-Don Babyne culture.

Abstract

This article discusses the issues related to the presence of small and large ungulate cattle bones in the graves of the Dnieper-Don Babyne culture. Their presence in funeral inventory is treated as a tradition to accompany the transition of the deceased from the world of living to the world of dead by food supplies. This may be a meal for the deceased himself, or an offer to spirits of ancestors and the afterlife. At the level of archaeological records, the criterion for the presence of this rite is represented by the location of the bones of animals in close proximity to the body of the buried, that is, more specifically, particularly in the grave. I have identified the category of bones which can be attributed as partying food. First of all, these are small, weakly diagnosed bones located in the burial, in one case directly placed into wooden dishes. These are also - bones of the spine, legs, ribs and scapula. The study found that the total number of such burials is only about 5% of the total number of Babyne burials. Gender and age differentiation shows that meat food could accompany the burials of either adults or children regardless of gender. Most of the graves include rich funeral inventory, among which there are metal and stone artifacts, tools, attributes of power, jewelry, and Astragalus. In addition, for the construction of burials in 58% of cases additional architectural elements were erected in the form of additional landings or embankments. The number of main and inlet burials in the mound is approximately the same.

A small number of burials with meat farewell, most of which have rich inventory and additional efforts were made to erect, indicates that they could belong to people who had a high social status in the Babyne culture society. These may be the burials of masters, representatives of the authorities (leaders) or members of their families.