A 19th century drawing depicting the mound.

A drinking horn encrusted by silver found in the Black Grave. Collection of the State Historical Museum of Russia.

The Black Grave (Ukrainian: Chorna mohyla) (Russian: Chyornaya mogila) is the largest burial mound (kurgan) in Chernihiv, Ukraine. Comparable to the barrows of Gnyozdovo near Smolensk, the Black Grave has a height of 11 meters and a circumference of 125 meters. A drinking horn was a drinking vessel formerly common in some parts of the world. ... State Historical Museum, as seen from Red Square The State Historical Museum of Russia is a museum of Russian history located at one end of Red Square in Moscow. ... Kurgan is a Türkic word for tumulus, burial mound or barrow, heaped over a burial chamber, or a kurgan cenotaph. ... Chernihiv or Chernigov is an ancient city in northern Ukraine, the capital of Chernihiv Oblast (province). ... A view of Smolensk in 1912. ...

During excavations undertaken in 1872-73, Dmitry Samokvasov uncovered two cremated bodies of Norse warriors (probably father and son), surrounded by slaves, sacrificial animals, arms, armour, and decorations. Samokvasov dated the burial to the late 10th century, when Vladimir I was the ruler of Kievan Rus. It is likely that the buried warriors were two princes (knyazes) of Chernigov, although no local potentate is attested in the Slavonic chronicles before Vladimir's son, Mstislav of Chernigov. As a means of recording the passage of time, the 10th century was that century which lasted from 901 to 1000. ... Detail of the Millenium of Russia monument in Novgorod (1862) representing St Vladimir and his family. ... Kievan Rus′ (Ки́евская Ру́сь, Kievskaya Rus in Russian; Київська Русь, Kyivs’ka Rus’ in Ukrainian) was the early, mostly East Slavic¹ state dominated by the... Kniaz’ or knyaz is a word found in some Slavic languages. ... Mstislav of Chernigov, or Mstislav the Bold (Russian: Мстислав Владимирович Храбрый), was the earliest attested ruler of Chernigov (Chernihiv). ...

After the bodies were cremated, they were put upon a 7-meter-high mound, where a funeral feast (trizna) took place. Arranged near the bodies were two helmets and knee-length mail shorts (hauberks), probably extracted from the pyre, as well as a cauldron with ram bones, two sacerdotal knives, two golden Byzantine coins, an imported sabre, a miniature dark-red bronze idol of Thor, and two silver-bound auroch horns decorated with floral motifs, fabulous animals, and figures of a man and a woman shooting at a bird. When the barrow was completed, a stele was placed at the top. All these items are now displayed at the State Historical Museum in Moscow. hauberk, Museum of Bayeux. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Szabla. ... Thors battle against the giants, by MÃ¥rten Eskil Winge, 1872 Thor (Proto-Germanic: *Þunraz, Old Norse: Þórr, Old English: Þunor, Old Dutch and Old High German: Donar) is the red-haired and bearded god of thunder in Norse Mythology and more generally Germanic mythology. ... Binomial name Bos primigenius (invalid), proper name Bos taurus Bojanus, 1827 The aurochs (Bos taurus) is an extinct European mammal of the Bovidae family. ... Ancient Egyptian funerary stele Suenos Stone in Forres Scotland A stele (or stela) is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected for funerary or commemorative purposes, most usually decorated with the names and titles of the deceased or living—inscribed, carved in relief (bas... State Historical Museum, as seen from Red Square The State Historical Museum of Russia is a museum of Russian history located at one end of Red Square in Moscow. ... Location Position of Moscow in Europe Government Country District Subdivision Russia Central Federal District Federal City Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov Geographical characteristics Area  - City 1,081 km² Population  - City (2005)    - Density 10,415,400   8537. ...

At the present time the site of the burial mound along with other 34 buildings (mostly churches) are included in the Chernihiv State Historical and Architectural Reserve "Ancient Chernihiv". The Black Grave along with the rest of the reserve is the major tourist attraction in the Chernihiv Oblast (province) of Ukraine. Chernihiv Oblast (Чернігівська область, Chernihivs’ka oblast’ or Чернігівщина, Chernihivshchyna in Ukrainian) is an oblast (province) of northern Ukraine. ... Oblast (Czech: oblast, Slovak: oblasť, Russian and Ukrainian: , Belarusian: , Bulgarian: о́бласт) refers to a subnational entity in some countries. ...

References

• Dmitry Samokvasov. Могилы русской земли. Moscow, 1908.
• Boris Rybakov. Древности Чернигова. // Материалы и исследования по археологии СССР, №11, Moscow-Leningrad, 1949.
• T.A. Pushkina. Бронзовый идол из Черной могилы. // Вестник Московского университета. Серия 8. История, №3, 1984.

Boris Alexandrovich Rybakov (1908-2001) was an orthodox Soviet historian who personified the anti-Normanist vision of Russian history. ...

External links

• Archeoligical site - Black grave (Ukr.)
• Tourist information: Black Grave (Ukr.)
• Chernihiv State Historical and Architectural Reserve - Ancient Chernihiv (Ukr.)