Ukrainian soldiers discovered several ancient Greek artifacts during fortification works in southern Ukraine, in what is believed to be a burial site, Ukrainska Pravda reports.
Servicemen from Ukraine’s 123rd Territorial Defense Brigade, while working on military fortifications, found a small amphora (an ancient Greek jar or jug with two handles and a tall neck) and an oinochoe (ancient Greek jug with a single handle and three spouts), which was used for pouring wine during symposia -a traditional male gathering featuring feasting and entertainment.
According to Ukrainska Pravda, during excavation works, an excavator operator named Mycola found the small amphora. He reported the find to his fellow serviceman Yevhen, who is said to have a keen interest in history. Together they handed over the artifact to the Staroflotski Barracks Museum. Museum experts later confirmed that the amphora is of Ionian origin. It was crafted for ritual purposes and used in burial ceremonies.
Along with the discovery of the oinochoe, further investigation revealed that the site was an ancient burial ground dating back to the 5th-6th centuries BC.
“These are ritual objects made specifically for burials and brought from Greece,” Oleksandr, a former archaeologist and lecturer at Vasyl Sukhomlynskyi Mykolaiv National University, now serving in the Ukrainian military. “The fact that the vessels are intact and undamaged suggests that the buried individuals held a high social status.”
Alongside the two ancient artifacts, skeletal remains were also found, and were handed over to researchers in order to get a deep insight on the life of the inhabitants of the region thousands of years ago.
More ancient Greek artifacts discovered since the Ukraine-Russia war began
This is not the first time Ukrainian soldiers discover ancient Greek artifacts since the war with Russia began in 2022.
In May 2022, ancient Greek amphoras were among artifacts discovered in Odessa, Ukraine by soldiers while “digging defenses” to protect the city from Russian attacks.
Soldiers from the Ukrainian 126th Territorial Defense brigade who found the artifacts wrote on Facebook that they were “handed over to the staff of the Odessa Archaeological Museum,” who promised to add them to the museum’s collection.
Archaeologists cannot document the site where the troops are based because of the ongoing Russian invasion.
The artifacts date back to the 4th or 5th century BC, according to Yana Suporovska, a creator and journalist, while the Heritage Daily reported that they are associated with the Neolithic period as well as the Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Empires.
The history of the Greeks’ presence on the northern shore of the Black Sea of what are now Ukraine and Russia, goes back millennia, even before the Classical Greek era.
The Myceneans, one of history’s first seafaring cultures, had become quite familiar with the Black Sea littoral through their search for raw materials and, most importantly, for the fish so vital then (and now) to the Greeks’ diet.
In the Classical Greek era, the Ukrainian coast was full of Greek colonies, some of which, such as Olbia, became wealthy centers of culture and trade.
This Hellenic/Hellenistic presence continued through the long Roman era, and as Rome gave way to Christian East Rome (Byzantium), the presence remained and transmitted Greco-Roman culture and Orthodox Christianity into Kievan Rus, the parent culture of both Ukraine and Russia.
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