Researchers have reexamined a 2,500-year-old carved sheep bone discovered at an ancient Greek settlement on Berezan Island, off the coast of present-day Ukraine. They suggest the unusual ritual object may have been used in ancient religious rituals honoring Achilles, the legendary Greek hero of the Trojan War.
Archaeologists uncovered the bone in 1989 at Borysthenes, one of the earliest Greek settlements in the northern Black Sea region. Its purpose has remained unclear for decades. A new study by Sergei Solovyov of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Alexey Kasparov of the State Hermitage Museum offers a possible explanation. The researchers believe the object may have been used during private ceremonies to seek Achilles’ protection.
The discovery adds to growing archaeological evidence of ancient Greek activity along the Black Sea coast. In another finding, archaeologists recently uncovered an ancient Greek defense wall in Odesa, Ukraine, offering new insight into settlements in the region.
Ancient Greek bone features mysterious bird carvings
The object was made from the shoulder blade of a sheep aged between two and two-and-a-half years. Researchers believe someone cooked and ate the animal’s meat before modifying the remaining bone. The bone’s broad edge was cut into tooth-like points, while its raised ridge was shaped into a wavy pattern. Two birds carved into its outer surface are among its most unusual features. Both face left, with fine lines showing their folded wings and feathers.
Researchers believe the birds may represent either seagulls or crows. Seagulls would have been familiar to people living near the Black Sea. The bone’s wavy ridge may also represent the sea, strengthening a possible connection to Achilles. Ancient traditions describe sacred birds near sanctuaries dedicated to the Greek hero. Scholars have often identified these birds as gulls. However, the carvings could also depict hooded crows. Their beaks and feather patterns resemble those of the birds shown on the bone.
Crows held religious importance in ancient Greece, particularly through their association with Apollo, who was worshipped at Borysthenes. Archaeological evidence of ancient Greek religious practices at Delphi, home to Apollo’s famous sanctuary, has also revealed details about worship in the ancient world.
Carved bone may reveal ancient rituals honoring Achilles
Although Achilles is best known for his role in the Trojan War, described in Greek mythology, ancient Greek communities around the Black Sea also worshipped him as a protective figure associated with sailors and sea travel. Sanctuaries dedicated to Achilles stood along the northern and western Black Sea coasts. “We assume this is an object used for a private ritual, with which a person addressed Achilles for his protection,” Solovyov said.
Researchers suggest the carved birds and wave-like decoration may reflect the hero’s connection to the sea. The bone was found in an archaeological layer dating to the sixth century B.C., alongside pottery fragments and animal remains. These findings place it within an early period of Greek settlement around the Black Sea, when communities established trading centers and maintained maritime connections with the wider Greek world.
Discovery offers clues to private religious practices
If the interpretation is correct, the object could provide rare evidence of religious ceremonies conducted outside temples and major sanctuaries. Rather than using an expensive offering, an individual may have transformed an ordinary animal bone into an object intended to seek divine protection. Such private practices are difficult for archaeologists to trace because they often leave little physical evidence.
However, researchers caution that the proposed connection to Achilles remains uncertain. The bone carries no inscription naming the hero, and the birds have not been conclusively identified. The wavy decoration may symbolize the sea, but it could also have served a purely decorative purpose.
Despite these unanswered questions, the discovery offers a possible glimpse into the personal religious beliefs of Greek settlers nearly 2,500 years ago. The findings appear in the 2026 study A Unique Pictogram: The Riddle of Archaic Berezan, published in Arkheologicheskie Vesti.
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