A necropolis at Chelarevo was inhabited in the late 8th and early 9th centuries.

Chelarevo's Jewish artifacts remain mysterious decades after their discovery in 1972. Scholars are divided over whether they come from a Khazarian Jewish community, an Avar Jewish community (if any really existed), an Israelite Jewish community, or some combination thereof. Some of the skulls in the burials were racially Mongoloid, whereas the ancient Israelites were Caucasoid.

The Jewish graves included Roman brick fragments with engravings of menorahs, etrogs, and lulavs. Several apparently Hebrew inscriptions were also found on some of the fragments.

Distinctly non-Jewish graves were also at the site. These were the graves of horsemen and in one case they sacrificed a horse to be buried. The Turkic shamanists often sacrificed horses in rituals, but Jews never did. The horsemen's graves also included at least one leather belt, armor, and other objects.

Slavic burials at the site contained several objects and some of the bodies were cremated. Cremation was allowed under Slavic paganism but prohibited by Jewish law, so again we see a clear distinction between the Slavic and Jewish burials just as there is a distinction between the horsemen's burials and the Jewish burials. The evidence as a whole casts doubt on the theory that the segment of Chelarevo's population that were Mongoloid horsemen were practicioners of Judaism.

Some artifacts from Chelarevo are currently housed and displayed at the Museum of Vojvodina in Novi Sad, Serbia.

The following photos from the Museum of Vojvodina are published on this site with the permission of the photographer, Eugene Wiglin.