Joint Ukrainian-American Scythian Kurgan Project
The initial excavations of the Alexandropol kurgan in 1852–1856 left many questions unanswered, such as its date, design, inner structure, the possibility of additional tombs, and the funerary feast.
To answer those questions, new excavations were carried out from 2004 to 2009 by the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and Florida State University.
This joint Ukrainian-American Scythian Kurgan Project established that the Alexandropol Kurgan was originally 23–24 m high and that its surface was completely clad in stone.
New excavations helped to determine the size and construction details of the central tomb.
They established that a vertical stone revetment wall was over 4 m high, with a diameter of about 80 m, and constructed of huge slabs that were brought from different deposits located up to 160 km by road.
They uncovered a ring ditch that measured 110 m in diameter, between 4 and 5.7 m wide, and up to 3.3 m deep.
Beyond the ditch and spreading over a wide area on the western side of the kurgan, they recovered traces of a near-kurgan funerary feast which had been performed after the burial of the Scythian king and queen inside the kurgan.
That was an astounding discovery. Owing to the unique conditions, these feasting remains had been covered by the dump left by the 1852–1856 excavations, thus the large platform where the rites had been performed was preserved in full.
In contrast, in the case of Scythian kurgans found in arable fields, such platforms have tended to be destroyed through ploughing.
For the first time in the history of Scythian archaeology, there was therefore the opportunity to study the near-kurgan funerary feast ritual of a royal Scythian burial.
Amphorae
The remains of a funerary feast covered an area of 120 by 15 m, equaling about 1800 square meters.
The most important discovery among numerous objects became the fragments of 457 ancient Greek amphorae with 52 stamps, representing ancient centers such as Heraclea Pontica, Ikos, Chersonesus, Thasos, Chian, Sinope, Mende, and seven others, all dating to 340–330 BC.
The sherds of amphorae formed a thin, even layer along the western crossing across the ditch.
There were also large quantities of animal bones left from the feast, consisting of 99 specimens of primarily domesticated animals: oxen, horses, sheep, goats, dogs, pigs, and a small number of game animals, namely rabbit and deer.
Meat
The excavated remains belonged to as many as 16 cows or bulls, 71 horses, seven sheep and goats, two domesticated pigs, and a deer.
Taking into consideration that in Scythian times domestic animals were smaller, and therefore lighter, than their modern counterparts, the scholars concluded that the overall weight of meat consumed at the Alexandropol funeral feast was close to 17 tons.
They also estimated that the number of individuals who were present at the funeral feast was between 4,000 and 6,000 people. They were men, women, and children.
Wine
By multiplying the number of the discovered 457 amphoras by the standard volumes of their types, the scholars estimated that the attendees of the feast consumed between 5,600 and 7,200 litres of imported Greek wine.
If one adds together similar finds from the excavations in 1856 and 2009, the total number of amphorae found in the Alexandropol kurgan comes to 479 vessels.
These data raise the question of transporting such an amount of wine to the remote steppe.
To the weight of 6,000 litres of wine, the weight of the amphorae themselves should be added.
With the average amphora weight of 10–11 kg, the overall weight of the wine and containers could have been around 11 tons.
Judging by the same maker’s mark on similar amphorae, it was a one-time bulk order, meaning that the whole load was ordered simultaneously.
Most likely, the wine was ordered and received initially in Pontic Olbia and then shipped up the Dnieper River to the border of the sacred land of Gerros.
This sacred land was described by Herodotus a century before the Alexandropol Kurgan was erected.
Human Remains
Among the funerary feast remains, archaeologists also found 11 burials of men killed during the event.
Since these burials contained arrowheads stuck even in the bones of some of the victims, there is a possibility they were killed in some sort of an ambush.
But, according to Herodotus, human sacrifices were common during the burial ceremony of the Royal Scythians.
Trizna as Archaeological Complex
After the feast had been completed, its whole area was covered with a ring mound, about a metre high, sealing the deposit completely.
Thus, the Alexandropol near-kurgan feast became a closed archaeological complex in itself.
The discovery of this massive, near-kurgan funerary feast complex has greatly enriched scholars’ understanding of Scythian funerary rites.
The book Royal Scythia, Greece, Kyiv Rus provides little-known information about other Scythian barrows and the artifacts discovered in them.
