Archaeologists exploring the remains of a 6,000 year old temple in Ukraine have found evidence of complex sacrificial practices@the site The temple, thought to belong to the ancient Trypillian culture, was found near the modern-day city of Nebelivka and originally unearthed in 2009. Burnt bones of lambs were found lying on the remains of stone altars, suggesting sacrifices had taken place on the site. The building, which was two stories high, was part of a vast 288 acre prehistoric settlement which may have contained as many as 1,200 buildings. The temple itself measures 60 metres by 20 metres and was made of wood and clay. It included a gallery and a courtyard. The researchers, from the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, speculated that the floors and walls of the upstairs rooms appear to have been decorated with red paint in order to inspire a sense of sacrificial awe in its occupants. In these rooms, altars took pride of place. Clay figures of humans were found, scattered around the ceremonial areas, with pottery fragments and human hair decorations also found. An academic paper describing the finds at the temple was published by John Chapman, Mikhail Yu. Videiko, Bisserka Gaydarska, Natalia Burdo, Duncan Hale in the Journal of Neolithic Archaeology late last month. ----------------------------- Architectural differentiation on a Trypillia mega-site: preliminary report on the excavation of a mega-structure at Nebelivka, Ukraine John Chapman, Mikhail Yu. Videiko, Bisserka Gaydarska, Natalia Burdo, Duncan Hale Abstract: For over a century, excavations on Trypillia sites in Ukraine and Moldova, as well as on Cucuteni sites in Romania, have revealed few obvious signs of architectural differentiation among the huge numbers of domestic houses. Now, for the first time, a new generation of geophysical prospection methods used to investigate mega-sites has revealed uncommonly large Trypillia structures which merit the name ‘mega-structures’. The first three such mega-structures were identified in geophysical prospection in 2009 at the mega-site of Nebelivka, Kirovograd Domain, Ukraine. This article provides a preliminary report on the excavation of the largest mega-structure in the summer 2012 season. This building, covering an area of 600m2, must rank as one of the largest structures ever built in prehistoric Europe. D/L Paper = jna.uni-kiel.de/index.php/jna/article/download/110/111
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 02:14:56 +0000
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