Skeletons found in 1,000-year-old grave with rings around neck and buckets on feet

Skeletons in the 1000-year-old grave were found with rings around their necks
(Vyacheslav Baranov)

In one image, a female skeleton can be seen laid out with rings around the neck and wrists. This could have been used to distinguish gender, researchers said.

At the time the cemetery was in use, people in Ukraine were converting to Christianity. This included Volodymyr the Great, who left behind his pagan roots and was baptized around 987.

Researchers Vsevolod Ivakin and Vyacheslav Baranov, who led the project, said: “Arms found at Ostriv are typical for Kyivan Rus’ and north-eastern Europe more broadly.

“Other elements, such as buckets from two Ostriv male graves, are also found at 11th-century Prussian cremation and Pomeranian and Masovian inhumation cemeteries of military elites.”

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