gems, Ukraine, Odessa

The excavation of a Sarmatian burial in Ukraine has provided a new example of a butterfly-pendant necklace and led to a reconsideration of the dating of such objects. In 1982, near the village of Mikhajlovka in the Saratskij district of Ukraine’s Odessa region, the Bugo-Dniester rescue expedition from the Institute of Archaeology in Kiev, led by I.T. Chernyakov, excavated Tumulus No. 3 containing a Sarmatian burial in a wooden coffin. The deceased, a woman aged approximately eighteen to twenty-two years, was found lying on her back with her head oriented to the north-northwest. The burial was richly furnished, including a glass jug and cups, wooden vessels, a toilet box, and various gold and bronze ornaments. Among these items, a rectangular bronze mirror set in a wooden frame with plaster floral decoration has already drawn scholarly attention.