Funerary practices in the Early Iron Age site of Saharna-Dealul Mănăstirii

In the course of archaeological investigations in the open settlement of the Saharna-Dealul Mănăstirii there were found several archaeological complexes of burial nature. One of these complexes representing a pit with bones (Complex 32, Pit 24) was investigated in 2010. At the bottom of the pear-shaped pit there was found a human skeleton, laid on its right side, his head oriented to the west / southwest, the legs bent at the right angle to the center of the pit. At the bottom there were also found 12 pillar pits, 8 along the outer perimeter and 4 in the center, which presumably were the basis of a wooden cone-shaped dome frame, erected over the dead. Analysis of this complex allows us to suggest that the type of items discovered on the settlement reflects some funeral rites dating back to the 10th - 8th centuries BC and widespread both in the Lower Danube (Babadag culture, phase I-III), in most cases (fig. 8), and in the Upper Dniester Area (Neporotovo-Dubova).