At the moment Ukraine has up to 100,000 tumuli from different epochs — burial mounds of ordinary people and tribal nobility, of peoples and civilizations that have resided on both banks of the Dnipro. In Donetsk oblast alone there are nearly 5,000 Scythian burial mounds, and 8,000 have been found in Kholodny Yar in Cherkasy oblast (it is the largest uncovered Scythian settlement). However, there is no complete record of all Ukrainian burial mounds.
Frankly speaking, as soon as tumuli were raised, they became a target for marauders: the profession of grave robber is one of the oldest in history. During excavations archeologists frequently find old prospect holes, dug by treasure hunters. Some holes are dug with a gap of several centuries. Sometimes archeologists find the remains of thieves covered by earth. Serhii Olhovsky, Ph.D. in History, head of the department of museum maintenance, and who preserves the historical and cultural monuments at the Kyiv National University of Culture and Art, said that among the criminals in Siberia there was a profession, bugrovshchik, a tumuli looter. The Siberian collection of Peter I was bought from the bugrovshchiks.
Of course, tumuli continue to be looted nowadays, but present-time marauding is less profitable, and hence less attractive. Nonetheless, Dmytro Telehin, Ph.D. in History, considers that such looting has reached catastrophic scales. Nowadays there are many technologies available to seek treasures and loot burial places — a wide range of cartographic materials, metal detectors and even excavators. Some experts forecast that when the land market grows stable, not only will large landowners be able to exploit their plots, but they also will have black soil with priceless treasure under their thumb.
There are many scandalous stories, specifically about corruption connected with lands that are rich in important archeological findings, but the practice of investigating such incidents is scarce. There was a precedent when thanks to an artistic expertise the illegal seizure of a land plot was proven. So, in 2008 in Sumy oblast, the prosecutor’s office launched a criminal case concerning the head of the raion department of land resources, who illegally (without field exploration and implementation of boundaries for plots of historical-cultural importance) denationalized and divided into plots 9.6 hectares of land belonging to two village councils. A noteworthy fact is that four archeological monuments, burial mounds and settlements, were located there. But it was not simple to prove the real scale of the loss, as antiquity theft expertise is only developing in Ukraine. However, the specialist invited by the investigation successfully performed his mission and assessed the state’s loss, caused by those who were in charge of the privatization, as exceeding 1.3 million hryvnias. The pioneer was art expert at the Chernihiv militia department Volodymyr Rudenok (the only professional archeologist at the MVS Expert Agency) who noted that the investigatory group had a clearly set goal to prevent tumuli from looting. The light on the real value of the Sumy cultural “iceberg” was cast by thorough examination of the materials of archeological expeditions that outlined it historical value and proved — this land is more than just agricultural area.
Rudenok says, “Unfortunately the land departments and local authorities frequently don’t take into consideration the bans on any actions concerning land plots that are under the protection of the body preserving the cultural heritage.”
Scholars are pained by the poor protection of the monuments. In particular, the article by National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine scholar Petro Tolochko made a broad sensation. He even submitted his resignation from the Humanities Council of Ukraine’s president, because he considers that cultural heritage continues to be ruined because of the agricultural activity and neglect of archeological research on construction sites. Olhovsky insists that before creating the latifundium market one ought to provide regulations for obligatory archeological examinations of the lands before they are sold in order to determine precise boundaries for monument preservation. The scholar mentioned that in the 1980s during the Hipanis expedition (the antique name for the Pivdenny Buh) he had to go along the banks of the Dnipro-Buh estuary to discover monuments there. At the time 500 to 600 people would come each year to excavations in Olvia, now hardly 50 people come. Illegitimate archeologists have devastated many settlement sites, specifically in the Kinburn peninsula. Sadly, law enforcement officials have appealed for help to Olhovsky only once — when they needed to confirm the originality of items which, as it turned out later, belonged to Platonov’s unique collection of Scythian gold.
Associate professor at the department of museum maintenance, historical and cultural monument protection at the Kyiv National University of Culture and Art Hanna Andres says that Ukraine has no more than 300 laws and regulations in the branch of monument protection. Now laws on archeological legacy and museums are being drafted, as well as a number of regulations. So, there is legislation, yet the Criminal Code does not determine directly the liability for damaging objects of cultural heritage. For example, it is impossible to punish a person for vandalism in Ukraine – only for damaging property or hooliganism. The Law “On protection of cultural legacy” envisages administrative sanctions concerning violations of certain regulations, but again they are hardly ever applied.
Tumuli continue to be ruined, the artifacts that remain there, plows and harrows are being scattered. The gradual theft of land, a few meters each year, also exerts a destructive impact. But specialists believe the worst threat is the ungrateful forgetfulness of Ukrainians. Rudenok emphasizes that even “black archeologists” are not so immense a threat, compared with the ignorance of state officials, when the latter not only are unwilling to protect sites of ancient towns and tumuli, but deliberately commit crimes, allowing construction on ancient settlements, as well as devastating “pantheons” of various epochs and people.
Rudenok says that the expertise for stationary objects (like tumuli) was developed back in 2002, but not everything is so good with the movable parts of burial places (artifacts). There are many debates in this regard, with only one solution remaining — to assess everything, even an unremarkable crock, according to market prices. For example, once we find a Trypillia jug we can set its price at the level that a similar object had fetched at an auction.
