Merheleva Ridge is site of an Eneolithic …
Years: 3069BCE - 2926BCE
Merheleva Ridge is site of an Eneolithic temple and burial complex consisting primarily of four large stone mounds or kurgans situated near Perevalsk, Luhansk oblast, Ukraine, about 30 km to the west-to-southwest of the city of Luhansk.
Built in about 4000 BCE and corresponding to the Dnieper-Donets or early Yamna culture, it is to remain in use throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age, until the Sarmatian culture of the fifth century BCE.
Discovered in 2004 and officially announced on September 7, 2006, it is believed much of the site was constructed about five millennia ago, at the time of the early Bronze Age.
The site is believed to be a complex of temples and sacrificial altars topping a hill with sides sculpted into steps.
Archaeologists have confirmed that evidence of graves has been found at the Luhansk site, which they believe to have been the result of human sacrifice, rather than due to its use as a burial ground.
Retainer sacrifices seem to have been common in early Indo-European religion.
Locations
Groups
Topics
- Piora Oscillation ending the Neolithic Subpluvial
- Early Bronze Age II (Near and Middle East)
- Subboreal Period
Subjects
- Symbols
- Architecture
- Environment
- Labor and Service
- Mayhem
- Faith
- Custom and Law
- Anthropology
- Archaeology
