Gurbanesti kurgans
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| Gurbănești kurgans | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | |
| Country | Romania |
| Site | |
| Type | Burial mound |
| Culture | Red-ochre burials; Yamnaya culture |
| Excavated | 1937–1938 |
| Excavated by | Dinu V. Rosetti |
| Cannabis finds | |
| Found | Seeds |
| Charred hemp seeds in a small heap of clay, ash and charcoal by the face of the dead in one grave | |
The Gurbănești kurgans are a group of burial mounds near the village of Gurbănești on the plain east of Bucharest, in Romania, excavated by Dinu V. Rosetti in 1937 and 1938. In one grave a small heap of yellow clay, ash, charcoal and charred hemp seeds lay by the face of the dead.[1]
Site and excavation
The mounds stand on the plain near the small river Mostiștea, about 52 kilometres east of Bucharest. In March 1936 the Commission of Historic Monuments sent Rosetti to watch a treasure-seeker dig a mound near the commune of Preasna. The dig uncovered five graves, two of them in pits beneath the base of the mound with traces of wooden beams across their mouths. The bones bore traces of red ochre. Rosetti took these for the first red-ochre graves found with certainty on the Wallachian plain. In 1937 and 1938 he excavated three mounds near Gurbănești: mound 1; mound 2, the "Movila Presnei", about 3 kilometres south-west of mound 1; and the smaller mound 3, about 150 metres south of mound 2.[1]
From two of the mounds Rosetti concluded that the Gurbănești mounds had grown out of several smaller mounds side by side, each over a rectangular pit grave dug below the ground surface. The pit usually had a burial chamber covered with wooden beams and, a little higher, an antechamber with a cover of the same kind. The chambers were not filled with earth at first. Later burials were made in the spaces between the small mounds and covered over, until repeated burial merged them into one large mound. Some graves held traces of fabric or matting stretched over the pit like a canopy. The grave goods were few: flint blades in one grave and hair rings of silver or copper in others. The older graves held no pottery.[1]
The hemp seeds
Grave 12 of mound 2 was a pit 0.97 by 1.82 metres, 3.85 metres deep, holding a crouched skeleton lying on its right side with the head to the north-east. A small ring of twisted silver wire lay under the skull. In front of the face, at the height of the jaws, lay a small heap of yellow clay, ash, charcoal and charred hemp seeds. The head rested on a pillow of leaves. At one end of the pit were poorly preserved remains of plaiting or weaving. Post holes in the pit showed Rosetti that a gabled canopy had stood over the grave. A tuft of light chestnut fibres from the grave, which looked like silk, proved on analysis to be camel hair.[1]
A second grave, grave 9 of the same mound, held a small heap of ash and wood charcoal by the face, without seeds.[1] In his French summary Rosetti followed the mention of the hemp seeds with the query "four? pipe?" (oven? pipe?).[1]
John McPartland and William Hegman, who list the find in their review of the European evidence, note that the morphology of the seeds was neither described nor illustrated.[2]: Online Resource 2
Dating and culture
Rosetti assigned the graves to the culture of red-ochre burials in mounds. He placed the pit graves with covers of wooden beams in the older phase of these burials and gave the dating of Marija Gimbutas for the type, 2000 to 1700 BCE. Graves 3 and 4, in the upper level of mound 2, held vessels with corded decoration that he compared with the Gatnoie group, which Tatiana Passek dated to 1750 to 1500 BCE. He took them to mark the end of the culture at Gurbănești. A grave of the late fourth century BCE near the top of mound 2 held an electrum plaque in a style he related to Scythian art.[1]
McPartland and Hegman assign the find to the Yamnaya culture and give it no date.[2]: Online Resource 2 They note that a nearby grave held a ceramic cup with cord impressions.[2]: Online Resource 2
Interpretations
Rosetti counted the seeds among the ritual objects of the graves. Quoting A. A. Jessen on the wealth of grave goods of personal and ritual use, he added in his own note the example of "the hemp seeds for fumigation" from grave 12 of mound 2.[1]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Rosetti, Dinu V. (1959). "Movilele funerare de la Gurbăneşti (r. Lehliu, reg. Bucureşti) / Les tumulus funéraires de Gurbăneşti". Materiale şi cercetări arheologice (in română and français). 6: 791–816. doi:10.3406/mcarh.1959.1253.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 McPartland, John M.; Hegman, William (2018). "Cannabis utilization and diffusion patterns in prehistoric Europe: a critical analysis of archaeological evidence". Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. 27 (4): 627–634. doi:10.1007/s00334-017-0646-7.