Archeologists discover Kyivan Rus’ burial ground beneath Parliamentary Library

When experts from the Institute of Archeology of Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences were carrying out routine annual excavations at 1a Naberezhno- Khreshchatytska Street, located in the Podil district of Kyiv, they discovered an early 12th-century burial ground. There is a huge modern structure being built a few meters from the excavation site, and the Parliamentary Library is on the other side.

“We began excavations in early June and came across the first burial site a few weeks ago. Then we found another one. We have already found 10 such sites,” says Vsevolod Ivakiv, junior research associate at the Institute of Archeology and the supervisor of the excavations. “An examination showed that these are ancient Christian burials of ordinary Podil inhabitants buried in wooden coffins: it is common knowledge that this area was populated by craftsmen. What surprised us was the untraditional burial layout: bodies were usually placed with their heads pointing to the west, but here they lie facing east and south. Maybe people were mistaken about the sun’s position. We will look into this further. At the moment I can only say that the excavations have just begun. There is a lot of work to do, and we may come across something even more interesting every hour or even every minute.”

Reinforced concrete piles are sticking out of the pit in which the archeologists and historians are working: locals say this is what is left of the parliamentary library. In other words, when this library was being built decades ago, nobody paid any attention to the burial places that could not have gone unnoticed. The Day was told at the Institute of Archeology that builders often deliberately ignore archeological finds to avoid unnecessary bother: they come across something interesting but continue the construction at a site that may be of great interest to historians. This happens in other cities besides Kyiv.

The burial site in Podil is unique. According to Ivakiv, in Kyivan Rus’ such burial grounds were usually located on the outskirts of towns and other settlements. This one is now the “outermost” graveyard, which can only mean that this was Podil’s most outlying point in the 12th century, and the burial ground may be the boundary of an ancient Rus’ settlement. This is a very important discovery for historians because there are still a lot of blank spots on the map of ancient Kyiv.

Archeologists cannot confirm that there was a church near these graves: they still have not found any remnants. It won’t be easy to find them because there used to be a library built on top of the burial site and the hypothetical church, and nobody will ever know what the builders destroyed at the time. But the experts who are working at the site claim that in the Kyivan Rus’ era these kinds of graveyards were situated only near churches.

Yurii Tsymbal, a history student from the University of Lublin in Poland, showed us the places that he thinks are the foundation of an ancient place of worship. He is sure that if a church is found, scholars will be able to draw up a true historical map of Podil, which would be a real boon for historians.

“Everything is important for history, every ‘trifle’ that we find,” Tsymbal says. “We often find interesting things in Podil, especially near the ‘upper city,’ Andriivsky Uzviz and Zhytnii Marketplace, where there used to be a road and houses belonging to wealthy nobles. All this is now the subject of detailed archeological and anthropological research. Anthropologists will eventually decide whether our finds will be handed over to a museum or dealt with another way.”

The archeologists note that they work in three to four pits in Podil every year. But no one in the last few years has uncovered such a huge burial ground. Ivakiv says they are planning to continue excavating. They are working enthusiastically, using only spades and special brushes. Their only complaint is the rain that is slowing down their work and the noise coming from the construction site. They are chary of talking about the importance of the excavations because any minute they may make anoth er discovery.