In spring 2017, the Historical-Regional Museum in Vinniki was informed about the discovery of several metal objects discovered by detectorists in the vicinity of the village Kariv, obl. Ľviv, Fpl. I, in western Ukraine. An immediately scheduled excavation should deliver information about the character and state of preserving of the site. It took place in summer 2017 under the direction of Jaroslav Oniščuk (Ivan Franko University Ľviv). At the very beginning of these investigations, two extremely interesting graves (1 and 2) were discovered, dating back to the late second century AD. Grave 1 contained fragments of a Roman amphora dating from the second third of the 1st century BC to the middle of the 2nd century AD, a terra sigillata vessel with applied decoration, a severely disintegrated horse skull and bridle of the Vimose type, five iron arrowheads, ritually bent iron scissors, a fragmentary shield shackle, two molten and broken bronze spurs and belt fittings.
Given his inventory grave 2 can be named “princely grave“. As a urn was used a bronze cauldron with three busts of Germanic men with the so-called Suebian knot, to which there are known only two parallels next to a loose find of a single bust. As a second metal vessel, the grave contained a bronze bucket, furthermore two glass goblets with oval cut facets, two glass bowls, and a fifth glass vessel so badly decomposed that it could not be retrieved. Also email-decorated drinking horn components made of copper alloy have to be mentioned. They and the finds of Roman provenance from grave 2 can be called spectacular. They indicate an outstanding position of the owner in his environment and also on a supraregional scale. The graves can be dated to the time of the Marcomannic Wars or shortly thereafter and are certainly related to these events in a causal connection.
