MOSCOW , 6 Mar. The first results of the study of artefacts found in a medieval burial ground on the territory of Staraya Ladoga were presented by scientists from the Institute of International History and Mathematics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. According to them, the most valuable items for study were found in a paired burial of two newborns and the grave of a one and a half year old child.
Dozens of burials in the west of Staraya Ladoga are not mentioned in any written source. For the last 150–200 years, this territory has been used for agricultural purposes, according to the Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IIMK RAS).
February 6, 09:00
The found cemetery combines pagan and Christian graves. And if in all the burials of the Christian tradition there is no inventory, then in the older ones whole sets of items have been preserved. This reflects other ideas of the people of the early Middle Ages about the afterlife or afterlife, explained Marianna Pavlova, junior researcher at the Department of Slavic-Finnish Archeology at the Institute of Mathematics and Mathematics of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
«»The Christian late stage is represented by inhumations (the position of the body in the ground) in subrectangular grave pits, oriented with the head to the west. We attribute two children's burials in rounded depressions to the pagan stage,» the archaeologist added.
In the first one — one child one and a half to two years, and in the second — two newborns. Different sets of things are placed with each, but a molded pot, a comb, an iron bell, a washer from a rook rivet and a composite amulet made from a bear's fang and a horse's carpal bone are present in all three, Pavlova added.
According to the scientist, samples of the same amulets were found twice — in Novgorod and on the Earthen settlement of Staraya Ladoga. The amulet performed a protective function. As a rule, such products made from animal bones are found in the burials of children, women and the elderly, that is, those who most need protection from hostile forces. » media-type=»ar16x9″ data-crop-ratio=»0.5625″ data-crop-width=»600″ data-crop-height=»338″ data-source-sid=»not_rian_photo» class=»» />
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«I consider iron bells an interesting find. They are quite common in medieval burials, but almost always made not of iron, but of bronze. In neighboring territories, this tradition of making bells was not, however, almost the same samples were found in Gnezdovo (Smolensk), they date back to the X-XI centuries,» the expert drew attention.
Now only two pagan burials have fallen into the excavation area, but it cannot be ruled out that there are others nearby, since the size of the burial ground has not been finally determined and research has begun recently. For example, fragments of bones burned by fire were found, which may indicate a rite of cremation.
Nevertheless, most of the unearthed burials were made in the Christian tradition, which means that it can be assumed that there was an ancient temple nearby, Pavlova emphasized. explained the abbot of the Staraya Ladoga St. Nicholas Monastery, hegumen Filaret.
“If we look at the local ancient monasteries, they have cemeteries everywhere. For example, in the Vasilyevsky churchyard opposite Staraya Ladoga, the monastery originally stood in a Christian cemetery. In any case, Orthodox burials were made on the territory of monasteries, city or cemetery churches,” Filaret said.
According to the abbot's assumption, nearby could be the Semyonovskaya church mentioned in the annalistic sources, or one of the less known ones. The main church architecture of Ladoga developed in the 12th century, and there were much more churches erected than modern researchers managed to find, he added.
According to Marianna Pavlova, 29 burials have been explored to date, and five of those found are mothballed. Therefore, in the summer of 2023, IIMK RAS plans to organize a new archaeological expedition to Staraya Ladoga and expand the scope of the excavation. In the same year, the institute's specialists expect to clarify the dating of some burials based on the results of anthropological studies and radiocarbon analysis, the archaeologist added.