MYKOLAIV, UKRAINE—According to a report by the Ukrainska Pravda, Ukrainian soldiers digging defensive fortifications stumbled upon an ancient Greek burial site in southern Ukraine. During excavation work, a machine operator from the 123rd Territorial Defense Brigade noticed a small amphora sticking out of a freshly dug trench, which he brought to the Mykolayiv Regional Museum of Local History. Museum experts determined that the vessel was of Ionian origin and was specially crafted for ritual purposes during funerary ceremonies. Further investigation at the site revealed an oinochoe—an ancient Greek jug with a single handle and three spouts—and human remains that experts believe were buried in a sixth- or fifth-century b.c. necropolis. “These are ritual objects made specifically for burials and brought from Greece,” said Oleksandr, a former archaeologist from Vasyl Sukhomlynskyi Mykolaiv National University who is now serving in the military. “The fact that the vessels are intact and undamaged suggests that the buried individuals held a high social status.” During the first millennium b.c., ancient Greeks established several colonies along the northern coast of the Black Sea near present-day Ukraine. For more on Ukrainian archaeology, go to "Ukraine's Lost Capital."
