MEDIAEVAL BURIAL-GROUND IN VOLKOVYSK (HRODNA DISTRICT, BELARUS) - FIRST RESULTS

Excavations carried out in 2005 in Volkovysk, in the Hrodna district led to discovery of middle-ages burial-ground. It is situated on the anonymous hill near the hill fort Szwedzka Góra and suburbium called Zamczysko. The main aim of conducted excavations was to verify the chronology of dug up burials and their rescue before further devastation. During researches, 13 grave caves were discovered. The skeletons were oriented on axis W-E, in straight position. All graves were not very well-equipped and merely three of them contained rings. These rings have very wide chronological frames from the 11th to the 15th century. Under the cementary, half- round object was found which contained among another things arrowhead and ceramics which can be dated from the 8th to the 13th century. According to initial gained materials, the burial- ground in Volkovysk can be dated to the period between the 13th and the 14th c. and maybe also in the beginning of the 15th century.