Dear friends!

We are pleased to introduce a new release of “Memories of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra” photo project to you, and continue our story about the archeological research of Lavra’s Near Caves conducted in 1977-1979.

In the previous releases, we told you about the findings, in particular, ancient tombs, uncovered under the floor of the cave corridors after the removal of cast iron slabs. All discovered burials were found in the in-depth sandstone areas under the stone paving of the 19th century. Burial places under the floor were marked with the large wrought iron nails stuck in the gaps between the bricks. No other traces that would indicate the presence of burials were found on the cast-iron slabs and walls of the caves.

The first burial was discovered on November 22, 1977. In total, their number was seventeen. Those separate burials found during the archeological research were placed into the oak tombs, logs or just soil pits. Although, most part of the dead (nine personalities) were buried in the logs, big portion of which were of large diameter and made of pine or oak. The upper part of such log was chipped in the form of a board, and it served as a lid for the tomb. The lower part was hollowed out (if the log was made of soft wood) or burned (if it was the oak log) to place the body of the deceased there. The logs differed in size (depending on the height of the deceased) and shape. Some of them had a simple shape and resembled an ordinary trough. Others were anthropomorphic, that is, they were given a simplified shape of the human body. A small increase, resembling the pillow for the head of the deceased, was made in the middle of the trough. The cover of such logs was cut out along its longitudinal sides so that it became similar to a gable roof. The corners of some of those logs were marked by the rectangular grooves, while the tomb lids had the corresponding holes. This could indicate that the deceased died far behind the walls of the monastery, and the funeral procession had to travel a long way to the burial place (for example, Paterik states that the Hegumen of Pechersk, Rev. Barlaam, died near Volodymyr-Volynskyi). In addition to logs and tombs, the researchers found several damper plates, which were used to cover the burial locules in ancient times. Besides, they found wooden plaques with the names of the buried to commemorate them in prayer. One of the plates was marked with name “Gregory” that researchers managed to read. Valuable findings have significantly expanded the knowledge about the burial rite in Kyiv-Pechersk Monastery.

Anthropologists from the Institute of Archeology of the USSR Academy of Sciences (E. Danylova, V. Dyachenko, Y. Ushakov, O. Fedotov) were invited to make the research of the burials. The results of that research were partially reflected in the exposition of “History of Lavra Caves” exhibition. In particular, E. Danylova made a graphic reconstruction of the image of Nestor the Chronicler. Bone materials of his right hand with large calluses on it confirmed that he had been writing texts for a long time.

In our next release of “Memories of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra” photo project we are going to complete the series of publications devoted to the archaeological research of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra Near Caves in 1977-1979. You will learn about the cave paintings, their restoration and ancient graffiti inscriptions discovered on the cave walls.

Captions to the illustrations:

1. One of the burial logs found under the floor

2. Burial logs. In the foreground – leather covered log from locule №44

3-5. Speleoarchaeologists leave the caves carrying a leather covered log

6. Opening the log for the inspection

7. Taking samples for the microbiological analysis

8. T. Mozharovskaya and Y. Tolkachov examine the remains of burials

9. Placing the burial logs into their initial places after the research. A leather covered log in locule №44. Nearby - museum attendant N. Pryshchepenko