Horned snake protected ancient items of the Trypillian culture

A former student of the History Department at Bohdan Khmelnytsky Cherkasy National University Vitalii Pasholok discovered a unique artifact near the village of Zhuravka, Shpola raion. It is a ritual stone pestle made in a shape of a head of a horned snake. Today the artifact is exhibited in the Museum of Regional Ethnography.

Last year Pasholok graduated from the university. He says that he wanted to find a job in his profession, but had no luck with that. That’s why now he works as an expert in social work. He found the stone pestle near his native village.

“We had archaeological practice in summer. We dug near the villages of Maslove and Nechaeve, Shpola raion. And I found this interesting item in a field near Zhuravka. Back then I still didn’t know what it was, therefore, I brought it to the practice supervisor to consult with him. During the practice I also excavated a stone ax,” said Pasholok.

According to him, the village of Zhuravka is generally rich in valuable historical findings. However, archaeological expeditions were held here last time in the 1970s.

“Along with the pestle I also found a spindle whorl dating from around 7th-6th century BC. It is a round clay item used to spin wool yarn. I also brought old coins of the 18th-19th centuries to the practice supervisor several times,” said Pasholok.

Larysa Syvolap, Chair of the Department of Archaeology of Cherkasy Oblast Museum of Regional Ethnography, explained The Day that the ritual pestle found by Pasholok is dated from the 4th-3rd millennium BC and it belongs to the Trypillian culture that existed for over a thousand years in what is now Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania. There are also versions that we are talking about the beginning of the Bronze Age. “We need to gather researchers and go to the place where the artifact was found. Perhaps, we will be able to find some cover material that will help to clarify dating,” explained Syvolap.

According to her, bukranii is a symbol of a horned animal. A head of a horned snake is exhibited in the museum. It is unique because it is a stone head of a snake. Before, archaeologists found only ceramic bukraniis. By the way, Trypillians were fond of snake ornaments. They used them for painting dishes. A snake personified wisdom and served as a guard for harvest.

“Snakes are commonly found in large numbers in damp areas and the moisture means good harvest. Perhaps, the following analogy – harvest, moisture, rain associates snakes as guards of harvest with successful farming. Zoomorphic features are marked in the sculpture in a very concise and symbolic way. That’s why when we tried to figure out what was depicted there it was difficult to interpret this concise symbolism. We did it the easiest way – asked children, who came to the museum, about what they saw in it. Many of them responded that it was a head of a horned snake,” said Syvolap, stressing that Trypillian zoomorphic images in stone are very rare.

As for the use of the ritual pestle, we can assume that Trypillians rubbed paint in it and then used it for painting dishes and decorate the exterior walls of buildings and so on. We can only assume whether Trypillians painted their bodies, because no graves have been found, only settlements are known to the researchers (there are more than 300 of those in Cherkasy region!). Researchers know for a fact about the successors of the Trypillians – tribes of the Yamna culture, that they painted open parts of their bodies with red ritual paint – ochre (this was an obligatory ritual at least for the dead). According to Syvolap, if Yamna people did it during their life, it seems, that it was used to protect their skin from insect bites. Some researchers believe that these tribes just liked the red color and they believed that it looked good on their bodies. Archaeologists find traces of this painting in graves of Yamna culture. However, there were no traces of ochre found on the Trypillian pestle, but it could happen as a result of its long stay in one layer of the field.

By the way, an exhibition dedicated to the 120th anniversary of the discovery of the Trypillian culture by archaeologist Vikentii Khvoika opened in early August at Cherkasy Museum of Regional Ethnography.