MOSCOW, July 18 The tip of a belt with a tamga of the 1st-2nd centuries AD was recently excavated by Russian archaeologists from the Kulikovo Field museum-reserve. A rare archaeological find was discovered as part of a scientific study of a settlement near the village of Barybinki, where in 2022 a “black digger” was detained, who, during illegal excavations on the territory of Greater Tula, found a unique treasure of women’s jewelry from the era of the Middle Sarmatian culture.
“Only one half of the tip on the leather belt has been preserved. It was attached to the skin with a special rivet. On it we can clearly see the image: this is a tamga — a Sarmatian sign, very common in the first centuries of our era,” said the head of the expedition, Candidate of Historical Sciences Evgeniy Stolyarov , adding that similar tips were made precisely at this time.
At the same time, he emphasized that the tip on the belt belongs to the same time of existence as the treasure of women's jewelry.
Let us recall that in 2022, FSB officers in the Tula region detained a “black digger” and seized more than one and a half thousand items from him, including multi-turn spiral bracelets, rings, necklace parts, spiral tiaras and other jewelry. The treasure of women's jewelry of the 1st-2nd centuries AD, which is a unique complex from the era of the Middle Sarmatian culture, was transferred to the funds of the State Museum-Reserve «Kulikovo Field».
To find out the circumstances of the origin of the treasure, archaeologists organized excavations at the site where it was discovered. According to archaeologists, the treasure was hidden on the territory of the village, preserved in the forest of Shcheglovskaya Zaseka. The ancient settlement was located on an unnamed tributary of the Sinetulitsa River. As scientists have found out, the settlement was inhabited in different eras — very briefly in the first centuries of our era and in the Middle Ages (XIV-XV centuries).
The treasure was buried in an abandoned building. In the part of it that was examined during excavations, scientists discovered finds close to the treasure in time, but mostly from the medieval period. Evidence of the life of early settlers includes numerous fragments of rough molded pottery and a three-blade, stalked arrowhead. The culture of the Middle Ages is evidenced by a ring, a fragment of a bronze item and a melt of non-ferrous metal, rings, a bronze encolpion with the image of Nikita Besogon, fragments of pectoral crosses, knives, a pink salmon braid, an arrowhead and others.
As it became known, archaeologists of the Kulikovo Field museum-reserve intend to excavate the entire space buildings where the treasure was hidden. “Research on the settlement near the village of Barybinki was included in the program for studying the ethnocultural situation in the Early Iron Age in the Verkhneoksky region,” noted Evgeniy Stolyarov.
According to him, the results of the work will be published, and the treasure itself will be presented at an exhibition in the Archeology Space in the Museum Quarter of Tula at the end of 2024.