A New Late Hallstatt Complex of Metal Ware from Panivtsi, Western Podolia / UA

Preliminary Report

Abstract

A New Late Hallstatt Complex of Metal Ware from Panivtsi, Western Podolia / UA. Preliminary Report
A new complex of metal objects was discovered at the end of 2014 during cultivation work near Panivtsi in the Ternopil oblast in Ukraine. The authors could document that the bottom of a large upside down bronze bucket was first unearthed; the situla covered two bronze cauldrons, which had been placed one on top of the other. The vessels had been placed in a shallow pit approximately 1 m in diameter, at a depth of 0.45–0.50 m below the surface. The latest bronze situlas of the Panivtsi type occur only until the first half of the 8^th century BCE. The deposit of the West Podolian group presented here demonstrates the coexistence of metal imports from the eastern Alpine region and Upper Italy with metal products of strictly local manufacture (cauldrons, etc.) in closed complexes. How could such »early« vessels and, certainly, »late« cauldrons coexist in one complex? Until recently, it was accepted that the use of similar vessels (of the »Scythian« type) within modern Ukraine began only in the 5^th century BCE. However, after the discovery in Shvaikivtsi, where a similarly shaped cauldron from the third quarter of the 8^th century BCE was found, and now in Panivtsi as well, the dating of the initial use of this type of cast vessels in the area investigated moves back at least one and a half centuries. After the discovery of the two deformed cauldrons in Panivtsi, the function of the vessels has become clearer. Apparently, the role of the cauldron in the ritual actions could have been twofold: either it could have been manipulated to ensure military fortune and divine help; or the burial of the vessels could have been connected with the death of an eminent dignitary or dynast of the time. In summary, the earliest finds of bronze cast cauldrons within modern Ukraine were made in Western Podolia (Shvaikivtsi, Panivtsi). By the example of the complexes of cauldrons we see that the connections between the Middle Dniester region (including West Podolia) and cultures of the Adriatic coast, the East-Alpine area and Upper Italy, which were established in the beginning of the Ha B3 period, did not cease in the following period and still existed in the 7^th century BCE.