SURVEY, DRILL AND EXCAVATE. Complex geoarchaeological prospection of Bronze Age mounds as a key for understanding undermound architecture. A case study from Myluvannia, Western Ukraine

Abstract

In the area of Western Ukraine, some aspects of mound (barrow) chronology might be resolved by using non- or minimally invasive archaeological prospection. As the cemeteries usually comprise two temporal units—the Late Neolithic Corded Ware Culture (third millennium BC) and Middle Bronze Age Komarów culture (second millennium BC)—by referring to particular funerary rites Komarów culture and their magnetic reflection, they can be distinguished by means of magnetometry survey supported with verification drilling. Recognition of the internal structure of the cemeteries is essential when confronted with their vast occurrence in Western Ukraine and also the morphological similarity of mounds. However, due to the great diversity in known grave architecture of the Komarów culture, it is essential to stress that the methodological approach presented here applies only to the specific construction type of burnt wooden and clay structures, which rarely appear in Corded Ware Culture funerary practices. In addition to excavation, the applied methods provided preliminary information on the cultural affiliation and time of the construction of two mounds in Myluvannia in the pre-excavation stage of research. In this light, it is therefore possible to assess the potential occurrence of Komarów culture mounds in other Western Ukrainian mound cemeteries.