Abstract
An analysis of the fi nds found outside the burial complexes, in the layer above these complexes, allows us to draw the following conclusions about the funeral rituals of the Prussians of the Viking Age and the Pre-Order period: (1) a signifi cant part of the fi nds at the studied burial ground provides evidence for funeral rites carried out by relatives or tribesmen of the deceased. It should be borne in mind that some of the fi nds outside the burials (primarily with traces of the impact of the funeral pyre) come from cremations destroyed by later complexes; (2) spearheads and heads of darts are the remnants of the designation of the burial place on the territory of the burial ground or the traces of memorial sacrifi ces (in memory of the warriors?). Household items, less often, jewelry, even less often, the participants of the memorial actions laid money on the filling surface of the burials of craftsmen and merchants that did not contain weapons; (3) places of memorial sacrifi ces (altars) of the inhabitants of the vicinity of Kl. Kaup was designed in the form of groups of oval and other shaped stones in the plan, which were erected over the burials. Items donated by the participants in the ceremonies are next to these stones. This indicates that the relatives of the deceased placed their victims at some distance from the group of stones.
Keywords
Early Middle Ages, Sambia, Prussians, necropolis of Kl. Kaup.
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