Category Archives: UKRAINE

Women buried with thick twisted bronze neck rings and buckets on their feet found in Ukraine

Women buried with thick, twisted bronze neck rings and buckets on their feet found in Ukraine

Women buried with thick, twisted bronze neck rings and buckets on their feet found in Ukraine

Archaeologists discovered the remains of men buried with weapons such as axes, spearheads, and swords, and women buried with thick twisted bronze neck rings in an 11th-century cemetery near the village of Ostriv, south of Kiev, Ukraine.

Researchers Vsevolod Ivakin and Vyacheslav Baranov presented their study of the remains at the Archaeological Institute of America, which was held Jan. 4-7 in Chicago, according to Live Science.

In 2017, the Ukrainian Institute of Archaeology conducted an expedition that discovered the Ostriv graveyard. Between 2017 and 2022, excavations uncovered 107 inhumation burials from the late 10th and 11th centuries.

The graves’ uniqueness was quickly apparent. Unlike the unusual funerary practices of the Kyivan Rus during this period, the graves were facing south and west rather than north.

The deceased were laid in supine position (on their backs), with outstretched limbs. In most of the graves, there were remnants of wooden coffins. The remains of funerary food offerings (chicken bones and eggshells) were discovered in the graves and in wooden buckets at the feet of some of the deceased.

Some people were buried with extremely valuable items, including slate spindle whorls, jewelry such as bronze neck rings and bracelets, pennanular brooches, cast bronze belt rings, cowrie shell bead necklaces, and weapons such as battle axes, knives, and spearheads.

The skeleton of a woman was buried with elaborate neck rings as well as rings around her arms.

Though the comparison was not exact, the orientation and funerary furnishings bore a strong resemblance to the practices of tribes in the Western Baltic.

Most remarkably, none of the Ostriv graves were cremation burials; the Western Baltic peoples generally burned their dead. Furthermore, Baltic funeral customs do not generally involve buckets.

 Archaeologists hypothesize that these key differences may be attributed to restrictions placed on traditional funerary practices by the Christian dukes of Kyiv, primarily Volodymyr the Great (r. 980-1015) and Yaroslav the Wise (r. 1019-1054), and by the process of Christianization of the Baltic settlers of the region during the 11th century.

A stone altar found in the cemetery could have been used for Christian or pagan rituals, or a mixture of the two.

Research continued at the site until 2022 but the excavation has been paused due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Neolithic Ritual Cache Discovered in Ukrainian Cave

Neolithic Ritual Cache Discovered in Ukrainian Cave

Neolithic Ritual Cache Discovered in Ukrainian Cave
Mykhailo Sokhatskyi investigating Verteba Cave: Artifacts suggest it was a hiding place because who would want to live here.

Caves have provided shelter for humans and our predecessors for at least two million years. They served as dwellings, hiding places, possibly shrines, and for the last 50,000 years, as a canvas for our art. Now new discoveries in the uninviting Verteba Cave in Ukraine bring us a new glimpse into human history, at the dawn of agriculture in Eastern Europe.

The discoveries, dating to about 5,000 years ago, were made in March by archaeologists from the Borschivskyy Local History Museum in Ukraine, led by Sokhatskyi Mykhailo, a leading scholar of the Trypillian culture and director of the museum. They shed rare light on the enigmatic Cucuteni-Trypillian culture that dominated territories in Ukraine, Romania and Moldova for over 2,000 years.

The Cucuteni-Trypillian culture is known to have been highly developed for its time, the late Neolithic and Chalcolithic. Some of their settlements were extraordinarily large; they farmed and husbanded domestic animals and had pottery and metallurgical skills.

Little however is known about their ritual life due to the scarcity of Trypillian burials. But now some hints have been unearthed at Verteba Cave – including a hidden collection of female figurines.

Beautifully ornamented Trypillian pottery found in Verteba Cave

‘Pompeii on the Dniester’

Verteba Cave is about 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) long and features occasional small stalactites and stalagmites in maze-like tunnels. Its entrance is near the village of Bilche-Zolote, north of the Dniester River in western Ukraine. In fact, the cave has been undergoing archaeological investigation since its discovery in 1829 and gained the soubriquet of “Pompeii on the Dneister” not because of volcano-stricken bodies strewn about but because of the sheer abundance of material from antiquity.

Finds over the years included elaborately ornamented pottery vessels, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic clay figurines, tools made of flint, bone, and stone, copper knives, and various ornaments made of bones and shells. Many are on display inside the cave, which has effectively become an underground museum of Trypillian culture, complete with guided tours.

The team excavating inside the cave Cave Verteba

However, the earlier excavations were not systematic. Archaeological layers got mixed in the process, and valuable data was lost. (Archaeology is the art of destruction, some say, which is why modern archaeological research never excavates whole sites but rather only a slice of them, leaving the rest for future archaeologists equipped with advanced techniques and knowledge.)

Then excavations starting in 1996 found layers undisrupted by previous research, which could be studied using modern methods, guided by almost 200 years of acquired data on the cave.

Female figurines found in previous excavations at Verteba Cave

Stressful times and ‘talking bones’

The unique quality of the Verteba Cave for scholars of the Trypillians is the discovery of three layers of the culture, each separated by a sterile layer. The research concluded that between 6,000 to 4,600 years ago, various groups associated with this culture, differentiated mainly by pottery style, used the cave intermittently, altogether occupying the cave for about 800 years.

What brought these early farmers here, to this unpleasant maze of darkness?

Dank, pitch black, and altogether unwelcoming, but also small stalactites in Verteba Cave

Verteba is not hospitable in any way. It consists of narrow pitch-black labyrinths, and is very humid. Nobody with options would have wanted to live there or stay long. The requisite conclusion, scholars suggest, is that its primary function was as a refuge; but based on the amounts and density of the materials retrieved in the cave, when people did come, it was in large numbers.

Many scholars believe that the late Trypillian period was a turbulent time and indeed the occupation layers in the cave correlate with known migrations to the area by adjacent tribes. Many Trypillian settlements from that time were fortified and surrounded by moats, or were built on high terraces next to rivers.

Cave Verteba

Moreover, the biological evidence found over the years may be scanty but it’s telling. Analysis of 21 Trypillian skulls found between 2008 to 2012 revealed that 12 had head traumas that had to have occurred at death or close to it, because they showed no signs of healing.

Theoretically, at least some of the traumas could have resulted from accidents. Still, osteological research on the position of the injuries and comparison to known markers of violent trauma says violence is the more plausible cause in most cases.

Furthermore, examination of the inhabitants’ teeth and long bones suggested they led a stressful life, at least more so than their predecessors. Their remains indicate that the Verteba cave dwellers were shorter and experienced significantly more enamel defects than Ukraine’s earlier Mesolithic and Neolithic populations, which is indicative of malnutrition and/or disease early in life, during tooth formation.

Bone plate amulet from Verteba Cave

The Trypillian economy was based on agriculture and husbandry alongside hunting and foraging. The Neolithic revolution brought a new way of life, with new stresses. As populations grew and resources became limited, the evidence indicates that people suffered from malnutrition and illness associated with living in dense conditions.

Based on all this, the archaeologists think the cave served to hide in times of conflict likely arising from migration episodes, driven partly by the new way of life. Supporting this thesis, the cave mouth is inconspicuous, at the bottom of a sinkhole in the middle of a flat plateau, making it a perfect hiding spot. Nowadays, the cave has only one entrance but Sokhatskyi and the team discovered that it had several during the Neolithic period.

The entrance to Verteba Cave

The Trypillians weren’t the only ones to hide in the cave system. Around 3,000 years later, others would find refuge in it again – Jews hiding from the Nazis during World War II. An exhibition of items they left behind, like the Trypillians before them, is in process in the underground museum in this extraordinary cave, no place to spend one’s life but a wonderful place to hole up.

An interlude with boars

All that said, hiding wasn’t the only thing the Trypillians did inside Verteba, Sokhatsky surmises. It was also a place of worship and burial. Throughout history, people have sought sanctuary in holy sites, such as churches and temples, he adds.

Among the finds in March, the archaeologists found an enormous clay storage jar with white organic material on its bottom that has yet to undergo analysis. And they noticed a niche in a wall that had been missed, a small one into which only a hand could fit.

Finding the storage jar in Verteba Cave.

Inside it they revealed five female clay figurines, placed closely together, Sokhatskyi says.

“Female figurines are not rare in Trypillian contexts, and hoards of figurines are known, but these were sheltered by the tusks of a wild boar,” he says.

Adult and baby boars in Haifa

Searching the literature produced no parallels, he says.

In general, boar remains are rare within Trypillian complexes. Their tusks have been found within some Early and Middle Trypillian graves but this culture’s rituals seemed to have been focused more on domesticated animals like cattle, sheep, goats, and dogs. When wild animals were represented, they are usually bears or deer.

Verteba is “late Trypillian” and in that context, this find is unique, the archaeologist explains. In Verteba, the team also found jewelry and tools (for pottery production) made of boar teeth, and in 2016, they found a small clay boar figurine.

Boar tusk with perforations suggesting it had been used as a pendant or other item of adornment

For some reason, the boar may have played an important role for the people in the cave. One possibility is the persistence of old traditions, also suggested by the habit of the Trypillians returning to old pottery ornamentation traditions, Sokhatskyi suggests. Perhaps it is that very thing, preserving tradition, that enabled them to preserve their culture for all these years.

A cave complex with hieroglyphs and Varangian symbols discovered in center of Ukraine

A cave complex with hieroglyphs and Varangian symbols discovered in center of Ukraine

An ancient cave complex thought to date from Kievan Rus’ has been discovered in central Kyiv at Voznesensky Uzvoz.

Dmytro Perov, a conservationist at Kyiv’s Center for Urban Development, told Radio Kultura that the caves were discovered next to a demolished house that Kyiv housing authorities had deemed unsafe for habitation.

Actually, Dmytro Perov followed his grandmother’s clues.  Perov’s grandmother used to talk about a large stone house next to an old cave, but no one knew its location of it.

According to Perov, who had previously examined the area several times, only the front facia of the house remained, concealed by bushes.

The conservationist told reporters that he and his friends decided to go to the old house “on a small expedition to look for caves,” and they discovered an entrance.

The first archaeological explorations in the Voznesensky Caves were carried out by Perov and a group of researchers from the Institute of Archaeology last Saturday.

Timur Bobrovskyi, an archaeology professor at the Sofia Kyivska reserve, said he was “amazed that such a treasure was found in the center of Kyiv” after spending three hours exploring the cave.

A unique discovery in the center of Kyiv.

The team discovered pottery fragments from the Late Kyivan Rus’ era, an Eastern and Northern European state that existed from the late ninth to the middle of the thirteenth century, in the cave’s northern section.

Perov wrote on Facebook that the team scoured around 40 meters (131 feet) of caves, including the lower cave complex, which he claims is twice as long as the upper passage and has a series of “radial branches.”

The most significant discovery, according to Petrov, was “a set of Kyivan Rus hieroglyphs and Varangian symbols from the Early Rus period,” when the region was under the control of Varangian rulers.

While more investigation is required to confirm it, according to Dmytro Perov, they think that some of the carved symbols may date all the way back to the fifth or sixth centuries BC. He says that “animistic images of animals and graffiti” from the Varyaz period, including the rune Algiz (“chicken’s foot”), were also discovered on the walls. This was an ancient Varangian charm, a symbol of safety and longevity.

Several Hellenic Greek colonies were established on the northern coast of the Black Sea, on the Crimean Peninsula, and along the Sea of Azov between the 7th and 6th centuries BC.

The steppe hinterland was occupied by the Cimmerians, Scythians, and Sarmatians who traded with the Greek/Roman colonies after a period of control by the Roman empire during the first millennium BC.

Rurik, a Varangian or Viking prince, established the Kyivan state in the latter part of the ninth century.

Up until the 13th century, his descendants established and controlled a global trade route to the west. However, the Kyivan state was made up of East Slavic, Norse, and Finnic peoples, making it difficult to determine who left the carved symbols on the cave walls.

A cave complex with hieroglyphs and Varangian symbols was discovered in centre of Ukraine

A cave complex with hieroglyphs and Varangian symbols was discovered in the centre of Ukraine

An ancient cave complex thought to date from Kievan Rus’ has been discovered in central Kyiv at Voznesensky Uzvoz.

Dmytro Perov, a conservationist at Kyiv’s Center for Urban Development, told Radio Kultura that the caves were discovered next to a demolished house that Kyiv housing authorities had deemed unsafe for habitation.

Actually, Dmytro Perov followed his grandmother’s clues.  Perov’s grandmother used to talk about a large stone house next to an old cave, but no one knew its location. According to Perov, who had previously examined the area several times, only the front facia of the house remained, concealed by bushes.

The conservationist told reporters that he and his friends decided to go to the old house “on a small expedition to look for caves,” and they discovered an entrance. The first archaeological explorations in the Voznesensky Caves were carried out by Perov and a group of researchers from the Institute of Archaeology last Saturday.

Timur Bobrovskyi, an archaeology professor at the Sofia Kyivska reserve, said he was “amazed that such a treasure was found in the centre of Kyiv” after spending three hours exploring the cave.

A cave complex with hieroglyphs and Varangian symbols was discovered in the centre of Ukraine
A unique discovery in the centre of Kyiv.

The team discovered pottery fragments from the Late Kyivan Rus’ era, an Eastern and Northern European state that existed from the late ninth to the middle of the thirteenth century, in the cave’s northern section.

Perov wrote on Facebook that the team scoured around 40 meters (131 feet) of caves, including the lower cave complex, which he claims is twice as long as the upper passage and has a series of “radial branches.” The most significant discovery, according to Petrov, was “a set of Kyivan Rus hieroglyphs and Varangian symbols from the Early Rus period,” when the region was under the control of Varangian rulers.

While more investigation is required to confirm it, according to Dmytro Perov, they think that some of the carved symbols may date all the way back to the fifth or sixth centuries BC. He says that “animistic images of animals and graffiti” from the Varyaz period, including the rune Algiz (“chicken’s foot”), were also discovered on the walls. This was an ancient Varangian charm, a symbol of safety and longevity.

Several Hellenic Greek colonies were established on the northern coast of the Black Sea, on the Crimean Peninsula, and along the Sea of Azov between the 7th and 6th centuries BC.

The steppe hinterland was occupied by the Cimmerians, Scythians, and Sarmatians. They traded with the Greek/Roman colonies after a period of control by the Roman empire during the first millennium BC.

Rurik, a Varangian or Viking prince, established the Kyivan state in the latter part of the ninth century.

Up until the 13th century, his descendants established and controlled a global trade route to the west.

However, the Kyivan state comprised East Slavic, Norse, and Finnic peoples, making it difficult to determine who left the carved symbols on the cave walls.

Golden Sword Found in Young Scythian Warrior’s Grave in Ukraine

Golden Sword Found in Young Scythian Warrior’s Grave in Ukraine

An early grave of a Scythian warrior buried with a golden sword has been unearthed in the Mount Mamai cemetery near the village Velyka Znamyanka in Zaporizhia Oblast, central Ukraine.

Archaeologists exploring a small tumulus found a trench with animal bones and fragments of clay amphorae.

There are characteristic Scythian funerary offerings. They then unearthed two graves within the mound: a large central one and a smaller one on the periphery.

Excavation of the warrior’s grave where the sword was found.

The central burial had been thoroughly looted in antiquity and archaeologists were only able to recover one arrowhead and some bone fragments. The remains suggest the occupant of this grave was an elderly male.

The accompanying grave had also interfered with it, but it still contained the skeletal remains of a young man about 18-20 years old.

He was interred with a rare large grey clay amphorae, fittings from a horse’s bridle, an iron battle axe, bronze and bone arrows and the star of the funerary show: an akinakes (a Scythian dagger or short sword) with a gold plated scabbard, a grip with a leaf motif and a cross-guard with granulation details.

Ornaments and amphora were found at the site where the sword was found.

Not only had the young warrior been buried together with his weapons, but also with some ornaments; the archaeological team found beads made of glass paste, a red deer tooth necklace, a gold earring and a gold pendant with chalk inlay.

The Mount Mamai burial grounds, the largest barrow cemetery in the region and one of the largest in Europe, have been excavated for 32 years, a long-term salvage operation to recover as much archaeological material as possible before the site is destroyed by erosion from the construction of the Khakhovka Reservoir.

Already a quarter mile of the shore has fallen into the lake in just three decades, so archaeologists are fighting a battle against time.

Artefacts and remains dating as far back as the Neolithic era through the Middle Ages have been unearthed there. Of the 700 burials thus far excavated, around 400 are Scythian.

The leaf-ribbed grip, cross-guard of the Scythian short sword.

The discoveries made this season are so exceptional the 32nd dig has been dubbed the most successful yet. The very fine grave goods would be more than significant on their own, but the burial is even more notable because it dates to the 6th century B.C., making it the earliest Scythian burial found at Mount Mamai and extending the window of the cemetery’s usage during the Scythian period.

The other Scythian tombs that have been excavated there are at least two centuries older.

The objects have been cleaned and will be conserved at the Museum of Local History in Kamianets-Dniprovsky.

The Crimean Pyramids — Built Before Dinosaurs Roamed The Earth?

The Crimean Pyramids — Built Before Dinosaurs Roamed The Earth?

Ukrainian researchers have come across one of the most important discoveries in recent years as they accidentally discovered a set of megalithic constructions and pyramids in the peninsula of Crimea, well-known in ancient history for archaeological and historical treasures from different cultures and ancient civilizations ranging from the Greeks and Romans to the Genoese and Ottoman Turks.

Crimea is an autonomous republic of Ukraine, it is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea.

The series of formations was discovered for the first time in 1999 by Vitalij Gokh who worked for the Soviet military for over thirty years.

After his long career in the Soviet military, Gokh decided to become a researcher which led him to the discovery of the Pyramids. 

Gokh claimed that just like there were submerged towns in the region, there were buried pyramids and other megalithic structures in the Crimean peninsula.

Gokh was a former engineer thus he had very good knowledge with magnetic resonance instruments. Gokh even built a device to search for subterranean deposits of water since the area of Sevastopol had very poor water supplies.

According to Gokh’s website, the devices, invented by Vitaly A. Gokh (Method of geoholography and geo hydro diagnostics) enable the detection of elements of the Mendeleev Periodic Table; oil and gas deposits, mechanisms and devices of various kinds, material objects both in the Earth and in the areas of remote Space.

The devices use analogs or models in order to record structural fields or the snapshots of the planets, stars, constellations, and areas of Space, executed by means of satellites or telescopes.

Thanks to these instruments, Gokh was able to discover several limestone blocks which had regular dimensions, ca. 2.5 by 1.5 meters and Goks and his team “assumed” these were of artificial origin.

Interestingly, the instrument invented by Gokh also revealed that from the top of one of the structures, three beams of energy emanated, at frequencies 900×109 Hz, 700×109 Hz and 500×109 Hz.

Around the pyramid, a field of 10×109 Hz was found. Gokh and his team state that the surrounding layers of one of the structures reveal that the “underground pyramid” was originally above the surface in “open-air” but due to flooding, the whole area sank together with the structures.

According to ICTV and the Crimean News agency; Ukrainian scientist Vitalij Gokh discovered an underground unknown object, which proved to be a giant pyramid of 45 meters in height and a length of about 72 meters. Goh said that the pyramid was built during the time of the dinosaurs.

“Crimean pyramid” has a truncated top, like a Mayan pyramid, but its appearance is more like an Egyptian. It is hollow inside, and a mummy of an unknown creature is buried under the foundation.

So far the information regarding the veracity and existence of the pyramids has not been proven nor accepted by archaeologists.

In an interview with ICTV, researcher Vitaliy Gokh stated that he doesn’t know who built the megalithic structures in the Crimean peninsula, but the pyramids could prove to be the oldest structures on the planet to date.

So far around 7 pyramids have been registered forming a straight line which travelled from Sarych to Baia Kamyshovaia, and which runs northwest-southeast, one of these “pyramids” is located underwater in the vicinity of the city of Foros.

In total, Gokh believes that there are around 39 pyramidal structures and monolithic buildings in the entire Crimean peninsula.

Ukrainian Soldiers Discover Archaeological Treasures While Digging Defenses in Port City Odessa

Ukrainian Soldiers Discover Archaeological Treasures While Digging Defenses in Port City Odessa

Trench warfare is a way of life in Ukraine: In an unsettling echo of past wars, the hand-dug ditches provide defensive cover for troops as Russia’s invasion stretches on.

Ukrainian Soldiers Discover Archaeological Treasures While Digging Defenses in Port City Odessa
Soldiers transported the amphorae, which were in excellent condition, to a local museum for safekeeping.

Now, reports the Kyiv Independent, a Ukrainian defence unit discovered something unexpected while digging a trench in Odessa: ancient amphorae.

Soldiers with the Ukrainian 126th Territorial Defense found the tall, bottle-necked jars along with some ceramic shards earlier this month, taking to Facebook to document the find.

According to the defense troops, the amphorae have been dated to the fourth or fifth centuries C.E., a time when Odessa was a Roman settlement called Odessus.

The third-most populous city in Ukraine and an important shipping hub on the southwestern coast, Odessa is currently under Russian siege. The Times’ Tom Ball reports Russia has been targeting the city with missile strikes and a naval blockade to choke the port’s exports of Ukrainian grain and wheat.

The amphorae, which are in excellent condition, have been transferred to the Odessa Archaeological Museum.

“We are not Russians, we preserve our history,” journalist Yana Suporovska tells Heritage Daily.

Amphorae were first used in the Bronze Age more than 3,000 years ago and became the dominant means of storing and transporting goods in civilizations across the Mediterranean.

The urns had different shapes depending on what was they were designed to hold. Tall and slim ones were used for wine; broader ones transported dried fish and cereals; miniature ones stored perfume; and a special souvenir amphora would be filled with olives and given to the winners of the Panathenaic Games—the ancient ancestor of the modern Olympics.

Similar vessels were used by numerous ancient civilizations.

Used by the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Byzantines, amphorae were storage solutions that could double as works of art. Decorative Greek vessels, for example, depicted moments from Greek mythology, the triumphs of great athletes, and even erotic scenes.

Given their ubiquity in the ancient world, amphorae still turn up today. Researchers found 6,000 of them in a Roman shipwreck off the Greek island of Kefallinia in 2019. And Russian President Vladimir Putin thought he had discovered two of the ancient urns during a scuba-diving expedition in the Black Sea in 2011, according to the Guardian’s David Batty. Putin’s chief spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, later fessed up and admitted archaeologists had planted the jars for Putin to find.

Russian forces have not shown the same interest in preserving cultural heritage in Ukraine. Earlier this month, Artnet’s Taylor Dafoe reports, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of destroying nearly 200 cultural heritage sites in its ongoing invasion.

Unesco’s figures differ slightly; as of May 16, the agency had verified damage to 133 cultural sites, including museums, religious sites, libraries, monuments and more. Shortly after the invasion began, Unesco Director-General Audrey Azoulay said in a statement that cultural heritage “must be safeguarded as a testimony of the past, but also as a catalyst for peace and cohesion for the future, which the international community has a duty to protect and preserve.”

Among the destroyed sites, the Jerusalem Post reports were ancient Scythian tombs that were over 1,000 years old. Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Ministry accused Russian forces of specifically targeting the cultural site.

Though war helped uncover the trench amphorae, it presents a very real threat to Ukraine’s cultural treasures—even the ones that have yet to be discovered. In a sign of the times, Heritage Daily reports, the ongoing conflict has made it impossible for archaeologists to document the site where the amphorae were found.

Stalin-Era Mass Graves Discovered in Ukraine

Stalin-Era Mass Graves Discovered in Ukraine

The remains of up to 20,000 people have been found in Ukraine’s southern city of Odessa as excavations continue at a site believed to be a mass grave of victims of Stalin’s Terror, historians said Monday.

People work on the site of mass graves site unearthed near Odessa airport in Ukraine

According to various estimates, the bones of between 5,000 and 20,000 people lie in the ground, making it one of the largest mass graves unearthed in Ukraine so far.

They were discovered this month close to Odessa airport after exploratory works started as part of expansion plans.

“As of today, 29 graves have been discovered. The bodies lie in several layers,” local historian Oleksandr Babych told journalists at the site which until recently was a garbage dump.

The bones of between 5,000 and 20,000 people lie in the ground, making it one of the largest mass graves unearthed in Ukraine

“Already we can clearly see at least five layers”, he said.

Historians believe that these people were executed in the 1930s, the time is known as Stalin’s Great Terror.

Archaeologist Tetyana Samoylova, a chief consultant at the site, highlighted the “cynicism” with which the sentences were carried out.

“They dug out pits in the garbage and threw these people in or shot them dead as they were standing there,” Samoylova said.

“And then they covered them with the same garbage,” she added, standing next to the dozens of graves marked by red tape.

It took 400 trucks to remove the top layer of garbage, according to a search group.

“When we carry out the exhumation, we will decide what to do here. And, of course, we plan to make a memorial,” Odessa mayor Gennady Trukhanov said.

Stalin-Era Mass Graves Discovered in Ukraine
Historians believe the people were executed in the 1930s, the time known as Stalin’s Great Terror

Some mass graves had already been unearthed in this area in previous years.

The prisoners’ nationalities and the crimes for which they were sentenced to die to remain unknown.

According to estimates made by historians, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians were imprisoned or executed in Gulag camps during the Stalinist repressions.

One of the best-known execution sites is the forest near the village of Bykivnia on the outskirts of the capital Kiev, where tens of thousands of victims were buried in 1937-1941.

Millions of Ukrainians also died in the great famine of 1932-1933, which Kiev regards as a genocide orchestrated by Stalin.