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The land of Vinnitsa Region is extremely rich in relics of the past and conceals a lot of undiscovered treasures. Among more than one thousand archaeological monuments that are known now in this area the lion's share belongs to the barrows. The barrows are ancient burial structures that first appeared at the late Neolithic period (the end of the III millennium B.C.) and were in use by the medieval time (13-th century).
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The archaeological expedition in the 80"s initiated by the Vinnitsa Museum of Local Lore and headed by B.I. Lobay made a number of sensational discoveries which drastically changed our view over the history of this land.
In October 1984 during the excavations in the area of construction of an irrigation system near the Village of Porogy, Yampol District, the expedition discovered two rich burial sites of the Sarmatian nobility, a male grave and a female one, belonging to the I century A.D.
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The Sarmatians were belligerent nomadic tribes which populated a great part of the steppe territory from Western Kazakhstan to the Danube since the III century B.C. till the IV century A.D. Having inhabited this vast territory, the Sarmatian tribes played an important role in the political life of the ancient world. Starting from the middle of the I century A.D. they continuously invaded the territory of the Roman Empire.
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One of the burials belongs to a Sarmatian chief. The burial was made m the barrow that even at that time was very old and had dated 3000 years back. In the embankment they dug out a passage, dromos, and arranged a crypt. Inside this vault they placed an oak sarcophagus with the deceased, some food - two amphorae with wine and a silver tankard. The entrance to the vault was then filled with stones.
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By the left shoulder of the buried there was a golden torque - the symbol of royal power. It is made from three twisted wires and has a circular shape ending in two stylised horse heads which rests against a delicate lock-ring.
The apparel of the deceased was trimmed with golden tube-laces. On his left arm there was a massive golden bracelet, and on his right arm a golden plate called gastagna that protected his wrist from a bow-string strike.
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Among the unique pieces of the Sarmatian art there were golden sets of royal belts - a ceremonial belt and a sword-belt. The buckle of the ceremonial belt shows a battle between two griffins - mythical winged creatures with the head of a dragon and the body of a lion. But two buckles of the sword belt are the most impressive. They bear an image of a man riding on the back of a mountainous lion which occurred long ago in the Iranian Highlands whence the Sarmatians themselves take their origin. The rider holds the tails and the hind legs of the griffins which are tearing some creature to pieces. The buckles are made in the gold-and-turquoise style and by the method of manufacture resemble those that were found in the Tilla-Tepe Necropolis in Afghanistan.
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Into the tomb of the warrior they placed a complete set of weaponry including a short sword in a scabbard trimmed with golden plates, a combat Phracian knife of the schramasaxs type, a bow with bone plates, a set of arrows, and a short javelin (or a short lance used for throwing).
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A few meters away from the burial of the chief a female tomb was found. At the head of a rich Sarmatian there was a ball-shaped jug, and a round silver looking glass to the left. Near the temples of the woman's head there were two golden pendants with inserts of colour glass. Her dress that didn't come to our time was trimmed with golden tubes and rosettes along the collar and with golden petals on the cuffs. Her wide trousers or boots were decorated with multicoloured glass beads. Her neck was decorated with golden necklace, the fingers on both hands with silver rings, with an antaglia of a bearded man in one of them. At the feet of the buried woman there was a ritual ceramic incense cup.
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Judging on the collection of things (fibulas, amphorae, a jug) these burials can be referred to the second half of the I century A.D. This date is defined more accurately by the tamga-like features that are characteristic of the Sarmatians: on the plates of both of the belts, on the tip of the torque, on the sword scabbard and on the silver tankard from the male burial site. In some cases (on the belts and on the tankard) they are identical to the coins of the "king" Inesmeus which were minted in Olbia in the late 70-es - early 80-es A.D.
This discovery entailed a number of other findings and discoveries. A few years later some other Sarmatian burials were discovered in Vinnitsa Region.
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In 1986 B.I. Lobay succeeded in making a unique discovery - during the rescue activities connected with another irrigation system near the village of Gordyivka, Trostyanets District, a burial ground (sepulchre) belonging to the bronze - early iron epoch was revealed. It occupied an area of approximately 2 by 5 km and consisted of 45 hills but only 40 of them turned out to be barrows. At first the experts from the Vinnitsa Museum of Local Lore headed by B.I. Lobay started mvestigation of this burial ground. However, for the reason of the extreme importance of this relic of the past, in the next year the excavations were continued with participation of the scholars from the expedition of the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine under the supervision ofS S.Berezanska. The monument was being investigated during four summer seasons from 1986 through 1989.
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What impresses most of all about the Gordyivka barrows is the wealth of the burial implements Despite the fact that all of them had been robbed long ago in ancient times the scholars found a great deal of jewellery from gold, elec-trum, bronze, amber; bronze knives; bronze and bone elements of horse harness, and pottery. All these things are unique for the versatility of their shapes, the elaborated ornament and for the level of technology. The highly artistic ornament testifies to the extraordinary artistic taste and skill of the ancient jewellers.
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The decorations constitute the major part of findings. They include pins, bracelets and anklets, temporal rings and beads. The amber beads are of special importance. In the burials more than one thousand separate pieces of jewellery were discovered such as amber beads and pendants different in shape and dimensions. They constitute one of the biggest archaeological collections of things made from this precious material in Europe.
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The archaeological culture of the burials investigated in the Gordyivka barrows has no analogy in Ukraine and probably can be referred to a new still unknown eastern group of the so-called barrow culture which comprises most of Gordyivka analogies. This culture is dated 2 thousand years B.C. and is widespread all over the territory of Eastern Europe. All relics found near Porogy and Gordyivka are now stored in the depository of the Vinnitsa Regional Museum of Local Lore and have been displayed a number of times at the exhibitions in Vinnitsa, Kiev and abroad in Poland, Germany, Yugoslavia, Finland and twice in Italy.
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