АМАНКА

The entrance to the burial chamber was covered with a wooden wheel, which was placed vertically and served as a kind of barrier or door between the world of the living and the dead.
The first similar wheels appeared in the Eurasian territories only recently, about a thousand years ago, and they were considered valuable and sacred objects. That is why they were not placed in burials very often during that time, and only for very respected individuals who held a high social status in the society of that time. Its presence in the female catacomb indicates that, in those times, not only men could hold such a status.
Findings of remains of means of transportation in Bronze Age burials on the territory of Ukraine are known within the complexes of Pit-Grave and Catacomb cultures, and as for Poltava region, this is only the second similar discovery.
When the soil from the entrance chamber began to pour downward and into the burial chamber, it fractured the wheel at its lower part, causing it to break. It was composed of three, less likely, perhaps four planks. The diameter of the wheel was 62.5 cm, which almost precisely matches the known average measurements (62 cm). However, the very small thickness (only 1.5-2.3 cm) of this artifact complicates its practical use. This is precisely what led researchers to believe that this wheel was specifically crafted for burial ritual purposes, rather than for everyday tasks. Such a practice was quite often observed in the burial traditions of that time.

At the feet of the shamaness, an overturned clay pot was discovered. Observations convinced researchers that it was placed in this exact position at the grave, and it was not the result of collapses.
This is a convex-sided vessel with a row of notches on the rim and 14 nearly parallel horizontal lines on the body, created by impressions of twisted cord.
In ancient Slavic ethnographic traditions (roots and echoes of which can often be traced back to the Bronze Age), there are two interpretations of overturning a pot. In the first, more common case, the act of overturning any object in a grave or during a mourning procession was associated with a quicker and simpler transition of these items, along with the deceased, to the afterlife. For vessels, this was equivalent to "breaking" them in the grave.
Another purpose of overturning the clay pot was to expose or mark a sorcerer: the sorcerer themselves in the living world was considered a transformation of unclean power and existed in a kind of invisible overturned state. Some scholars trace the roots of such rituals back to earlier epochs, long before the appearance of Slavic peoples.

According to anthropological determination, the burial contained the skeleton of a woman aged 25-30 years, with a height of 154-158 cm. The study of the bones by anthropologists indicated significant physical activity during her lifetime (which is quite logical, as shamans were likely to spend many hours dancing and singing during their rituals). No signs of injuries, cuts, or fractures were found on the bones, both ante-mortem and post-mortem.
If the upper part of the skeleton still somewhat "held together" during the placement in the grave, the other large bones were already "arranged" in approximately anatomical form, while the smaller ones, like vertebrae and ribs, were evenly "scattered" in the central part of the body.
Most likely, the body of the deceased woman had been in a state of decomposition for a considerable period before burial, which resulted in the relatives of the deceased artificially arranging certain parts of the skeleton in a proper (from a ritual perspective) burial position when placing it in the grave.
Similar practices of dismemberment or secondary burial within the catacomb community are known in a few instances and can be attributed to both natural processes and the influence of the cultic-religious sphere. In this case, the latter version seems more plausible, as there are several direct analogies to the deliberate destruction of the remains of a "dangerous" individual, such as a shaman.
This practice of dismemberment is relatively rare among burial traditions of that time. It is believed to be associated with the ancient tribes' belief that the soul resides within the bones. Liberating the soul from bodily confinement is thought to be facilitated by freeing the bones.
A similar tradition persists to this day among several Buddhist monasteries in Tibet and in Iranian customs. Monks allow wild animals and birds to consume dead bodies in order to expedite the transformation into skeletons and facilitate the liberation of the soul. Ethnographic data suggests that some ancient tribes believed that the process of rebirth of living beings occurs specifically through the bones.
It is also known that the "calling" of Siberian shamans, their identification and selection by spirits, occurred in dreams, where they witnessed the process of their own dismemberment. It is possible that these two ideas are interconnected, representing different stages in the life of a shaman: during their "calling" and after death.

Near the head of the shamaness, a bone was found – the calcaneal bone of a small horned animal without traces of additional processing. Such objects in archaeology are known as "astragali" or "knucklebones".
This gaming and divinatory bone was used in ancient times both as a gaming piece and for fortune-telling. They were often painted with various sacred or mysterious images and symbols, even in Scythian times or during the era of Rus'. Several of these bones were thrown onto a flat surface, and depending on how they landed, the logic of which was known only to the shaman, various predictions or omens were determined.
Some researchers believe that the presence of astragali in catacomb burials was exclusively characteristic of male graves, and in this particular case, the finding of an astragalus bone here could be explained by the shamanic nature of the deceased's activities. Others, however, consider the presence of astragali near the deceased in general as a marker of "priests".
A similar situation was discovered in another burial, where astragali and a bronze awl were placed on a tray, and a cart was placed near the entrance pit. Researchers associate the combination of astragali with the awl as an attempt to combat evil spirits, and these items were seen as a kind of weaponry and means of "playing out" life in the afterlife.

The body of the buried woman and the bedding were partially sprinkled with ochre. Ochre was an important element of the burial ritual among ancient tribes and is a symbol of blood and resurrection. This pigment was symbolically used in funeral processions as well as for painting vessels or creating tattoos on the body.
Higher up, under the catacomb wall near the northeastern wall of the burial chamber, remains of a formed circular and intensively colored cluster of reddish-brown ochre spots with an amorphous character were traced.
Also, a worn or dyed thread was used with red ochre paint, on which beads from the buried woman's necklace were strung.

A miniature bronze awl with sharpened ends was placed at the bottom of the plate. Its length barely reached 2.3 cm, and its width was approximately 0.2 cm. Similar artifacts are quite common in settlements and burials of cultures from the Copper Age to the Bronze Age throughout the territory of Ukraine, but they are not usually of such small dimensions.
Such a small awl could have been used for medical procedures (for example, in performing dental functions); in terms of its configuration, it remotely resembles modern toothpicks. Considering the "dental specialization" of the shamaness, such an assumption could be plausible.
Even more convincing is the idea that it could be used for tattooing.
It's also possible that the tool had a multifunctional application. For instance, after firing (sterilization or disinfection, as we would say in a modern dental office), it could have been used as both an awl for piercing (for objects, skin, including wounds, which is also a medical practice) and for applying designs to parts of the body (tattoos), etc.
Thus, among the tribes of Oceania, after the shaman applied a design to a fellow tribesperson's body (which, in our case, could have been done with ochre), a cult servant, using a small bronze awl inserted into a hammer and a stick, would "tap" the tattoo design according to the prepared pattern.

Next to the left shoulder of the deceased, there was a vessel in the shape of a distinctive dish or "tray," which had "disintegrated" from the soil filling. This is not surprising, as it was made from osteoceramic material: a mixture of unburned kaolin clay with specks of sand and small fragments of crushed shell. Its shape was successfully reconstructed, featuring slightly flared high edges.
Such vessels were often adorned with sacred ornaments, and they were not frequently placed in similar burials. Postmortem masks were also made from the same material. These vessels were exclusively "ceremonial-burial," and they were not fired, as they were crafted specifically for the burial process.
In the middle of this dish, an awl and a flint were placed.

Another discovery from the dish was a pointed flint tool, found on a flat flake of brown-black flint, which showed signs of retouching in some areas, meaning "sharpening". It had sharp edges and could have served as a knife or a scraper for various functions. Considering our heroine's healing and medicinal skills, it might have also been an ancient "scalpel".

Between the remains of the drum and the deceased's right hand, a scattered necklace was found. It was placed in the burial, threaded on a string that was dyed with ochre. A total of 27 beads and 1 pendant made of bone and one more made of a human tooth were found.
Similar finds of scattered necklaces or bead strings are relatively known, although not often found in the burials of the pit, less often – catacomb, time. Their composition usually, along with pendants and beads made of bone, fangs, teeth and metal, included bone pins of various shapes.
The most intriguing aspect of this necklace is the human tooth, in which one of the roots was neatly broken off, while another was meticulously perforated to create a pendant for the shamanic necklace. This work required a very "jeweler-like" approach, as it had to be done precisely on the first and only attempt due to the unique nature of the item – a tooth with caries!
On the "bead" itself, two zones of impact from chronic superficial and moderate caries were identified. The extensive carious lesion of the discovered tooth was perhaps the most significant pathology among the entire sample of catacomb burials in Poltava region in recent decades.
This tooth belonged to a man aged 35-45; it was the right lower first permanent molar (tooth number 46 according to the WHO system), and a similar tooth was present in the shamaness. Its "owner", undoubtedly, suffered greatly from a rare caries condition for that time. We presume that our shamaness, through her charms or perhaps her knowledge, relieved the suffering of her fellow tribesman. She likely extracted the affected organ, and later, as a "medical trophy" and a kind of oddity, hung it around her neck, further emphasizing her shamanic talents.

To the right of the torso of the deceased, at the level where in Donetsk catacomb burials they typically placed items reflecting the deceased's status during their lifetime, the main shamanic attributes were placed: a drum and a beating stick.
The symbolism of the drum is intricate, and its magical functions are diverse. It is essential for conducting trance induction sessions, transporting the shaman to the "Middle World," enabling them to fly through space, and summoning and "captivating" spirits. Its humming helps with concentration and trance induction. Dances with rhythmic drumming, chanting, and the noise produced by numerous decorations on the shaman's costume constitute the oldest form of sacred music.
The drum from this burial was simple in form: a thin wooden frame covered with stretched skin. It is quite likely that a sacred image was painted on the skin, but unfortunately, this couldn't be discerned due to the perishable nature of the material. Adjacent to it, researchers discovered the remains of a wooden beating stick, which was used to strike the drum to produce rhythmic sounds.