Burials of Crimean khans found near Bakhchisaray

Tatar-Inform news agency reported yesterday that the archaeologists working in Crimean village Salaciq (Salachik), near Bakhchisaray, found eighteen coffins with the remains of first khans of Crimea. The coffins were found in the basement of the mausoleum of khan Haci Giray (Khaji Giray).

This is the first burial of the khans of 15-16 centuries that was found intact, not devastated by the robbers in the last 500 years. It was located near the Zincirli (Zinjirli) Medrese university, founded by khan Mengli Giray in 1502.

The scientists say that among those buried there are Haci Giray, the founder of the Crimean khanate, his son Sahib Giray, who founded the town of Bakhchisaray, his grandson Gazi Giray and others. The tomb was found by serendipity, during the restoration works in the mausoleum. The entry was blocked for the time being and the research will continue later.

Source: В Бахчисарае обнаружены ханские захоронения

Yet another birch bark from Novgorod

Some Russian news agencies reported on the recent find in Novgorod. During the construction works, two pieces of a birch bark letter were found. The archaeologists say that the letter was written in XV century. The experts have read the text.

The letter was written by someone Alexey, the steward at a manor near Novgorod. It seems that Alexey gave away some of the landlord's meadows to the peasants for mowing, but a local priest accused him of squandering the landlord's property. In this letter, Alexey asked the landlord to send him a confirmation of his right to dispose of the meadows.

"The priest threatens that should he catch someone on the lord's land, he will tie the grass around his head," writes Alexey. It's absolutely unclear what he means by "tying the grass", but the procedure is, probably, not at all pleasing. So, Alexey hurried the landlord up, asking him to send the confirmation of his rights by St. Peter's day (12 July).

Russian sources:
Новгородские археологи подтвердили, что "без бумажки ты букашка"
В Великом Новгороде раскопали еще одну берестяную грамоту

Underwater excavations in Novgorod.

The Novgorodian Divers Federation and The Novgorodian Society of Amateurs of Antiquity have been running archaeological excavations at the bottom of river Volkhov for some years already. They have found some thousands of various artefacts of XII-XVII centuries. In the end of February, the new annual expedition began and in the first days of March three articles about the new finds appeared one after the other in Russian media.

On 1 March, the archaeologists found a XV century town stamp. The stamp featured the image of a bird and the inscription "Орел" (Eagle). It belonged to the Council of the Lords, the ancient Novgorod administration. It was the thirteenth town stamp found in the city.

Then, a cannonball was found. It weighed about 6 pounds. It was the standard weight of Russian cannonballs in XVII century. Probably, it fell into the river during the siege of Novgorod by the Swedish army in 1611 or 1615.

And, finally, on 4 March it was reported that two metal arrowheads were found. It's not clear why, but arrowheads are an unusual find in Volkhov. These are the first arrowheads found at the bottom of the river during the 2005-2008 expeditions.

The goal of this year's expedition is to find the earliest remains of the so called "Great bridge" and to establish where it was located in XI-XII centuries. The bridge connected the districts of Novgorod situated on the opposite banks of Volkhov.

Mausoleum for the Scythian princess

A year ago I briefly mentioned the conflict between the archaeologists and the a group of the Altai natives who demanded that the mummy of the so called Ukok princess be returned from the Novosibirsk museum and re-buried. Now, the deputy minister of culture of the Republic of Altai Vladimir Filimonov has announced that by the end of 2008 a mausoleum will be built in the capital of the republic, Gorno-Altaisk, and the mummy will be transferred there from Novosibirsk. The mausoleum will have all the equipment necessary to keep the body in good conditions and available for the scientific research. Filimonov said that the mausoleum will cost 271,000,000 Russian rubles (more than $10,000,000). A sarcastic commenter noted at the web-site of a Novosibirsk newspaper: "271,000,000?! Tutankhamum would die of envy!"

The group of Altai pagans accused the archaeologists of causing earthquakes by not allowing the spirit of the "princess" to rest in peace. In 2004, Russian scientific web-site Inauka.ru published an article refuting the claims of the local population that they are the descendants of the mummy: The Curse Of The Altai Princess. The article ends with the conclusion:

The Altai Princess falls under the law "On objects pertinent to cultural heritage of the peoples of the Russian Federation". The law says that archeological finds shall be regarded as objects of cultural heritage of the federal importance. Article 25 reads: "The objects of cultural heritage that are deemed ... of the highest archeological value may be considered as objects of the world cultural heritage." The mummy is undoubtedly an object of the highest value.

As by Article 61 "Persons who caused damage to an object of cultural heritage shall recover the cost of restoration incurred thereby. The costs duly recovered shall not exempt such persons from being subject to criminal prosecution."

Those who will bury the mummy will end up in jail.

Thank gods and spirits, there are no laws analog to the American NAGPRA in Russia.

The story of the Ukok princess can be found in the very good article A Culture on the Hoof: Kurgan Woman of the Pazyryk by Mary Lynn E. Turner and in brief, but informative The frozen horseman of Siberia by Winnie Allingham.

Scythian city?

The divers of the 2007 International Expedition of the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic Institute to lake Issyk-Kul' (Kyrgyzstan) have found the traces of an earlier unknown civilization, dated approximately by 2,500 years ago. The heads of the expedition were Vladimir Ploskih (Kyrgyzstan) and Svetlana and Nikolay Lukashovs (Russia).

This civilization was comparable to the civilizations of the Northern Black Sea or the Mediterranean Egypt, said Nikolay Lukashov (link in Russian). The divers worked at the depth of 5 to 10 meters at the northern coast of the lake and found large walls, up to 500 meters long. The area encircled by the walls was some square kilometers. Near the walls, there were Scythian burial mounds with bronze axes, spear heads, knives, remainders of a bronze production and a golden rod — the ancient money.

Some finds are really intriguing. So, the bronze cauldron raised from the lake bottom is made of some separate parts welded together with the quality which is only possible to achieve using modern inert gas welding. The quality of the bronze mirrors and the ornamented harness is also astonishing.

Large ritual and living buildings were found nearby. In the next year, these buildings will be studied in details.

The uniqueness of Issyk-Kul' is that it is located at the crossroads of the human migrations, including Indo-Aryan tribes. Also, the water level in the lake is known to oscillate irregularly. Currently, the water level is relatively high and the lake may contain many more interesting archaeological sites, including the legendary fortress built by Timur, who kept noble prisoners and treasures in this fortress. Another secret of the lake is the monastery which is found in the Catalan Atlas (1375). The monastery is marked on the map with the words: "The place is named Isikol. Here is the monastery of the Armenian brothers where the remains of St.Matthew the Apostle are kept." Famous Russian geographer P. Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky found this inscription in the atlas and tried to find the ruins of the monastery, but failed. Probably, it is lying now below the surface of Issyk-Kul'.

Update @ 23:38 2007-12-27: Here's a link to the same article in English: Remains of ancient civilisation discovered on the bottom of a lake

Mammoth hunters' camp site found in Russia's Far East

Via Archaeblog

News agency Novosti reports

KHABAROVSK, November 12 (RIA Novosti) - Archaeologists have found a 15,000 year-old hunters' camp site from the Paleolithic era near Lake Evoron in Russia's Far East, a source in the Khabarovsk archaeology museum said on Monday.

"The site dates back to the end of the Ice Age, a period which is poorly studied" Andrei Malyavin, chief of the museum's archaeology department said. "That is why any new site from this period is a discovery in itself."

The site, found during a 2007 archaeological expedition to Lake Evoron, is the largest of four Stone Age sites, discovered near the Amur River so far, and was most likely established by mammoth hunters.

"We came to this conclusion after studying flint pikes, arrowheads and a stone scraper," Malyavin said, adding that a comprehensive archaeological excavation could take a couple of years.

In 2006, archaeologists discovered an Iron Age burial mound around 2,500 years old containing a unique fragment from an iron dagger, which had been preserved in the Amur Region's acidic soil.

Map of Lake Evoron at Google Maps

Ancient settlement found on Altay

A group of Altay archaeologists was doing obligatory field research before the construction of a road from Gorno-Altaysk to Urlu-Aspak when they suddenly found a fragment of an ancient settlement (here). The settlement was relatively large, but due to the time constraints only a small part of it that is to be buried under the road was explored. Multiple pieces of ceramic crocks in good condition and stone tools were found. But the most interesting things were strange channels dug in the earthen floor of the houses. Archaeologists still can't find a reliable explanation for them. One version is that the ditches were a part of the heating system: they channeled the warm air from the fireplace and warmed the floor.

No ideas on the dating of the settlement as far. The works will continue in the next season.

This year in Ryurikovo Gorodische, Novgorod

In 2007, archaeologists worked in 7 districts of Novgorod. In Rurikovo Gorodische (Rurik's, or Roerik's settlement, ancient Holmgard), they are working for thirty years already. More than 1,500 artifacts were found there this year. Among the finds are six knyaz's stamps, Arab coins, chisels and moulding forms, womens decorations, etc. Some of the artifacts confirm the presence of Proto-Slavs in this location in the first century BC.

Besides Russian scientists and students, students from France and Sweden participated in the expedition. In the next year, students from Finland are expected to come. It was decided that after the digs are over, an international archaeological and tourist centre will be created on the site of the settlement.

This year's digs in Samara region

This year, our archaeologists for the first time began digging in a village called Malaya Ryazan (approximately here). The digs began as a childrens expedition. Later, university students joined them. The settlement they explored is dated by the XIII century, the age of the Golden Horde. The inhabitants of this village left their lands in Rus and moved eastwards. Some data give reasons to think that the village was destroyed and all the people were slaughtered as a result of a feud between the Mongols.

Also, the digs were finished this year in a Bulgar settlement nearby. Among the most interesting finds are clay toys and an 8cm hollow iron sphere, whose purpose is unknown.

And, at last, near village Sidelkino (somewhere around here), large scale digs were finished. In the area of about 1000 m², a settlement of 3-4 centuries has been uncovered. In one of the buildings, a skeleton was found, with a skull deformation typical for the Sarmatians, inhabiting the Middle Volga in those times.

Petroglyphs in Chukotka

The expedition of the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences has finished this years' work on river Pegtymel in Chukotka. About 40 years ago, 103 petroglyphs were found there by geologist Samorukov. Since then, the drawings remain the only example of rock painting in north-eastern Siberia. The dating of the petroglyphs is still unclear. Expeditions often visit the area in the last years. Two years ago, about 170 new drawings were found and in this year some more were discovered. Some of them are damaged by severe weather conditions and now the questions of conservation are discussed.

X century burial in Kiev

Kyiv Post newspaper reports of a burial site discovered in Kiev during the construction works:

A burial ground dating back to the 10th century was found on the construction site of a new office center alongside the Dnipro River in Kyiv’s Podil district. City officials backed the construction company’s right to continue building at the location, while the developer has pledged Hr 300,000 ($60,000) to help investigate the site thought to be an early Christian cemetery near the Poshtova Ploshcha metro station. Archeologists uncovered 12 distinct burials in the last month. The cemetery “possesses significant Christian characteristics,” according to Mykhaylo Sahaydak, head of the Podil archeological expedition.

read more...

Ancient site of hunters discovered in Khorezm

Good news from Uzbekistan:

In Khorezm, the centenary of Sergey Tolstov, a discoverer of ancient Khorezm civilization, is marked this year, Jahon news agency reported quoting Business Partner newspaper.

In 1937, he was charged to head an archeological-ethnographic expedition to Khorezm. Sergey Tolstov spent three decades of his life, investigating the history of this ancient land.

His passion for studying Khorezm's architectural monuments made him to cross the Usturt Plateau, loose sand-hills and uninhabited deserts.

Sergey Tolstov is appraised for establishing an open-sky museum in the ancient city of Khiva - Ichan-kala, an architectural national reserve, where the tens of centuries-old cultural monuments and artifacts are protected by the state.

Over 300 of his scholarly works o­n archeology and history of ancient Khorezm were published in many parts of the world, including the US, Great Britain, and Germany. The majority of his manuscripts are now stored in the Republic of Karakalpakstan and the Tashauz Province of Turkmenistan.

Archeologists at the Khiva branch of the Samarkand Archeological Institute named after Jakhya Gulamov have made a sort of gift to Tolstov's 100th anniversary. During their excavation works in Kumbuz-tepa, near the town of Khazarasp, they had unearthed a Bronze Age site of hunters and cattle-breeders. Called Sharofat, the site is no less than 3,500 years old, according to experts.

The archeological-ethnographic complex expedition founded by Sergey Tolstov has been carrying out successful large-scale research into the history, archeology and ethnography of Central Asian peoples for over the span of seven decades now.

The fruitful activity led by the famous Khorezm expedition enabled local scientists to address the broad spectrum of the region's historical, ethnographic and archeological problems. Many scholarly works, monographs and brochures they have created as a result have made a great scientific contribution.

A total of 63 monuments of Zoroastrianism, an extinct religion of the remote past, have been preserved up to the present day across the globe, including Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Uzbekistan is a home to 38 of them, of which 17 monuments are located in the Khorezm oasis.

An archaeological park to be built in Crimea

The local authorities of Kerch, a city in the Eastern Crimea, are developing a plan to create an archaeological park. The park is to be located in Arshintsevo, a district of Kerch. This place is known as the ancient town Tyritake (Τυριτακε). The Greek colony was established in mid-VI century BCE. It was captured and destroyed by Huns in the IV century CE. The first arhaeological expedition started excavations in Tyritake in 1932. The park will include reconstructed walls and towers, houses and wineries, an early Christian basilique. It is planned that the park will open in five years. Currently, the restoration works in Tyritake are performed by Crimean department of the Ukrainian Institute of Orient and the charity foundation "Demetra".

From newspaper Kommersant.