a golden figure depicting a horse; in addition to gold items, there were beads: carnelian, stone (one depicted a scarab), bone, glass and clay; in the lower grave of one of the mounds there was a quiver consisting of thin bone tablets and in it 20 bronze arrowheads, in another there was a cauldron with an iron handle, in the third there was a clay bowl in which there were 5 sling stones. In all the mounds, fragments of terracotta vessels were found at the bottom.
In another group: 2 mounds were previously damaged and plundered; the third - in the upper layers contained the skeleton of a rider and a horse with iron objects with them (knife, bit, arrows, stirrups), in the lower layers, both the third and fourth mounds contained burnt bones, clay vessels and bronze arrows *).
At the same time as the excavations of Mr. Samokvasova, T.V. Kibalchich carried out excavations in Kanevsky district; he dug up 3 mounds near the village. Villages 7 versts from Kanev and 4 mounds near the city of Kanev, on the Drevenshchina tract.
Regarding the first group, Mr. Kibalchich reported that all the mounds had previously been plundered. He found only a few skeletons lying with their heads to the north, and with them fragments of an iron helmet, chain mail and helmet, several iron spears and bronze arrowheads, several clay vessels and a gold ring.
In the group lying near Kanev, Mr. Kibalchich found skeletons in two mounds, lying with their heads to the west and with them 2 silver rings and fragments of iron; the excavations of the other two mounds in the city of Kibalchich could not be completed 2).
') I borrowed the details of the excavations from the oral history of D. Ya. Samokvasov. A more detailed and thorough report will be published soon. The items found are kept in the collection of Samokvasov, Warsaw.
') The news about this raskoika is borrowed from the oral story of Mr. Kibalchich; The items found are kept in his museum in Kyiv..
V. B. ANTONOVICH,
In the Uman district, in the vicinity of the T&lnogo borough, M. A. Nemirich excavated 8 very characteristic tombs. These tombs are distinguished by the fact that there are no mounds on them; They represent platforms lying completely on the same level with the field surrounding them, among which they stand out only because each tomb is surrounded by a circle of boulders of various shapes and sizes. The boulders are mostly buried in the black soil, so that only their tops are visible at soil level. The tombs arranged in this way, according to the remark of Mr. Nemirich, who is well acquainted with this area, stretch in a strip across the Uman district in the direction from the northeast to the southwest, along the reservoir of Gorny Tykich, more on the left bank of this river. The burial place is located inside each circle; in eight tombs opened by Mr. Nemirich, the skeletons always lay in the direction from west to east, with their heads often to the west (in two cases to the east), at a depth of 2 arshins from the surface. The skeletons were accompanied by numerous iron objects: so Mr. Nemirich collected 7 stirrups, 3 bits, 2 scissors, 2 flints, 2 knives, one ax and many fragments of iron from other objects that had already decomposed; In addition, the following were found in the graves: one gold ring, one earring, 3 sweat mirrors covered with arabesques on the reverse side and two copper vessels (standing near the skeletons). The mirrors, in metal, shape, size and ornaments decorating them, are completely identical to the same mirrors found in large numbers on the middle reaches of the Volga, especially in the ruins of ancient Bolgar and were not found at all in the mounds of the southwestern region. Of the two vessels found: one is made of red copper, has a rather voluminous cylinder, tapering towards the top in the form of a long narrow neck; on one side it is equipped with a long oval handle, on the other there is also a long narrow snout like a teapot. Another vessel, also made of red copper, represents a censer, which had the shape of an octagonal box; at its upper edge there are holes into which the chain was threaded. On the outer surface of four of the eight walls of the vessel there are convex images of the four evangelists. Count A. S. Uvarov,
ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDS OF GASKOPFI IN THE Kyiv GGB. 1876 G. 261
who examined this vessel, classifies it, in terms of style and method of depicting saints, as one of the works of Byzantine art of the 6th - 1st centuries. Apparently the Christian censer accidentally fell into the hands of the crown, who was still burying the dead according to pagan rites, and was used in this case as a funeral vessel when constructing a pagan grave 1).