Row over ancient tombs gets to the heart of Ukraine’s modern identity -TIMES
(Read the full article on thetimes.co.uk)
The 5,000-year-old skeleton of a man with the fingers of a pianist has sparked a nationwide controversy in Ukraine over heritage, antisemitism and national identity, the Times said.
The body was the last of 27 sets of human remains discovered this summer by Ukrainian archaeologists in a dig south of the city of Dnipro. They had been exhuming an ancient burial mound threatened by the encroachment of a housing development.
“He is a mystery,” explained Professor Dmytro Teslenko, 49, head archaeologist for the region, of the ancient man whose discovery has prompted a modern-day furore that began when activists denounced the dig as an assault on Ukrainian heritage.
Work on the burial mound at the village of Novooleksandrivka began in April, after archaeologists were sent in by local authorities to excavate the site and secure its contents for research when a neighbouring field was cleared for building, the newspaper reported.
Work soon attracted media attention, leading to criticism from nationalist groups, some of which accused the scientists of the unnecessary plunder of Ukraine’s heritage, according to the newspaper.
Jul 21, 2021