Shevchenko Scientific Society hosts conference on archeology (04/24/05)

Shevchenko Scientific Society hosts conference on archeology

by Lubomyr S. Onyshkevych

NEW YORK - The Shevchenko Scientific Society in New York held a unique scholarly archeological conference titled "Ancient Ukraine: New Perspectives in Archeology" on Sunday, April 9. The conference consisted of six presentations by Ukrainian archeologists from Ukraine and from the United States supplemented by commentaries.

The so-called ancient period in Ukrainian history, the period from about 800 B.C. to about 400 A.D., was a time when the steppes of Ukraine were dominated by ancient nomadic peoples, the Scythians and Sarmatians; it was also a time of establishment and growth of many ancient Greek (and later Roman) cities-colonies on the Black Sea littoral.

The first presentation of the evening was on "The Pontic Steppe and the Trypillian Culture: Problems of Interpretation of Their Relationships," by Yuriy Rassamakin of the Institute of Archeology of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences (NANU). The lecture tackled the perennial problem of the interaction between the agricultural societies of the forest-steppe zone of Ukraine and the nomadic people of the Ukrainian steppes.

The agricultural Trypillian culture, and other similar peoples who inhabited a large portion of Ukraine from the Neolithic period through the Early Bronze Age (4750-2500 B.C.), confronted the incoming tribes of the Maikop culture - Central Asiatic nomads who reached Ukraine via the Caucasus mountains. There were hostilities between the two radically different cultures, but also trade and eventually a cultural exchange, which led to a partial synthesis of the two cultural life-styles. Dr. Rossamakin studied these processes by doing extensive excavations of the archeological remains of the steppe people.

The steppe cultures, specifically that of the Scythians, were further discussed in the talk "The Scythians of the Pontic Steppe" by Yuriy Boltryk, also from the Institute of Archeology (NANU). He concentrated on the period of Scythian movement into the territories of Ukraine (8th to 7th centuries B.C.). The nomadic horsemen, who came from the Caucasus, fought and subjugated the agricultural pre-Slavic inhabitants (of the so-called Zarubinetska culture) along the Dnipro and Sula Rivers, and also in the Kerch area of the Crimea.

Dr. Boltryk excavated a number of Scythian tumuli ("kurhany"), as well as the remains of the settlements and their fortifications. Some of the battlefields of the clashes between the two cultures were found, with numerous remains of weapons and burials. Dr. Boltryk showed many illustrative slides of his finds.

Olena Fialko, Institute of Archeology, NANU, described many aspects of the material culture of the Scythians. These people were mainly engaged in animal husbandry and were nomadic; they lived mostly in their beautifully embellished wagons. Dr. Fialko showed slides of their dress, their art objects, instruments, weapons, etc. The Scythians were rather war-like and had excellent military technology, which allowed them to prevail over not just the Greek colonies and the neighboring tribes, but also the invading Persians.

Dr. Fialko stressed that at least 25 percent of the burials of Scythian warriors were of women, who were fighting alongside their men; this, probably, was the origin of the Greek myths of the Amazons. She showed numerous slides of various Scythian finds, especially the wonderful gold jewelry and other objects for which the Scythians are justly world-famous.

"The Treasures of the Sarmatian Nobility" was the topic for Dr. Oleksandr Symonenko, Institute of Archeology, NANU. He stressed that the territory of Ukraine during the ancient period (especially from the end of the Bronze to the beginning of the Iron Age) was a bridge between cultures of Central Asia, Trans-Caucasia, the Balkans and Central Europe.

He described his excavations of the remains of the Sarmatians, who arrived in Ukraine (probably from the Altai Mountains) and displaced the Scythians, around the time of Christ. The Scythians and Sarmatians were related, but were distinct cultures. Dr. Symonenko described the excavated kurhany with burials of Sarmatian noblemen and women (Sarmatian women were also quite often warriors). Some slides of exquisite items of Sarmatian costumes, jewelry and weapons were shown. From these items, it was obvious that the Sarmatians were engaged in very wide trade: the items included things from Rome, Egypt, China, Central Asia, Greece, the Balkans, etc.

The Sarmatians occupied the steppe territories of present-day Ukraine until around 350 A.D., when they were, in turn, displaced by the next Asian conquerors - the Huns. Henceforth the Sarmatians, like various Germanic tribes, traveled all the way to the Iberian peninsula and Northern Africa. It was interesting to learn that the Ossetians, a Caucasian ethnic group, retained a lot of Sarmatian language and culture.

Valentyna Krapivina, Institute of Acheology, NANU spoke about "Pontic Olbia (Olvia): A Review of the Most Recent Finds and Analyses." Throughout the time of the Asiatic nomads' dominance of the Ukrainian steppes, there existed and flourished on the Ukrainian Black Sea coast a series of Greek city-states, the most important of which were: Tyras (at the Dnister estuary), Olbia (at the Dnipro estuary), Tauric Chersonesus (in Crimea, at Sevastopol) and Pontikapeion, part of the Bosporan Empire (in Crimea at Kerch).

Dr. Krapivina described the ruins and remains of the ancient city of Olbia, which existed from the 6th century B.C. until about the 4th century A.D. The city was Greek in its culture and religion (it worshipped Apollo Delphinios, along with other cults), but with time it absorbed some cultural traits from the surrounding populations. Dr. Krapivina showed numerous slides of the remaining ruins and artifacts at Olbia.

The final presentation was given by Dr. Lada Onyshkevych of the University of Pennsylvania. In her talk, titled "An Ancient Greek Bone Inscription about Apollo, Found on the Berezan island," she presented an epigraphic study of a graffito found among the ruins of a Greek colony in the Ukrainian Black Sea littoral. Specifically, she presented her analysis of a bone plaque (a flat polished bone fragment) found on the island of Berezan, not far from the ancient city of Olbia. The archaic form of the letters dates the inscription to the end of the 6th century - beginning of the 5th century B.C. (the Greek colony on Berezan preceded the city of Olbia).

A previous analysis of this inscription (by A. S. Rusiaeva and others) identified it as oracular, an answer to a query of an oracle. However, Dr. Onyshkevych proposed a much more convincing interpretation of the inscription by pointing out that it is much more likely to be a hymn, a prayer to Apollo, the major deity of the area, because the enigmatic references in the text are all pertinent qualities traditionally associated with Apollo, particularly to the Apollo of the dolphins and Apollo the healer, and because the text features standard elements of known Greek hymns.

The conference was opened by Dr. Larissa Onyshkevych, president of the society; she thanked Titus Hewryk, director of the society's Arts Section, for his input in organizing the program, and especially Dr. Renata Holod for bringing to New York this group of archeologists, with whom she is now writing a textbook of Ukrainian archeology.

The speakers were introduced by Dr. Holod and Oleksandr Leskov of the University of Pennsylvania. After the presentations, there were many questions from the audience, which filled the hall to capacity, and a lively open discussion over tea and coffee during the subsequent reception.

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