The Archaeologists’ Day - an unofficial professional holiday of those people who have devoted themselves to this science – is celebrated on August 15. As a rule, archeologists celebrate it at the workplace, in the expedition, because summer is the busiest season for representatives of this profession. The archeologists who are working in the Vologda region can already give some preliminary results of the archeological season 2013.
This information was provided by Sergey Zakharov, candidate of historical sciences, research officer of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, head of the Onezhsko-Sukhonskaya expedition, and Ilya Papin, teacher of the History Department in Vologda State Teachers’ Training University, director of the non-profit organization “Scientific and Research Centre “Antiquities”, chairman of the Vologda Archeological Society:
“The archeological season 2013 is notable for some important events. The Onezhsko-Sukhonskaya expedition of the Institute of Archeology of the RAS and the Scientific and Research Centre “Antiquities” (Vologda) continue researching the complex of monuments dating back to the epoch of the Russian statehood formation. The archeological digs are carried out thanks to the grant.
This year the excavations are being carried out at one of the burial grounds of the complex and the Krutik settlement itself. It was founded in the second half of the 9th century and is one of the most ancient medieval monuments in the Vologda region. We have studied the section with the graves of people who were cremated in the late 10th – first half of the 11th centuries. It corresponds to the last stages of the settlement existence.
We are completing the research of the production zone that started in 2008. Though this year we have studied just a small area of 20 square metres, we have gathered a considerable collection of medieval articles (about 850 items), including 16 fragments of dirhem (it is an ancient Arab silver coin). A lot of finds are connected with blacksmith’s work. There are also about 400 glass beads.
Besides, we have started to research the boggy area near the settlement where we discovered medieval materials under the layer of peat last season. Test digs have shown that the upper part of the sediments retaining wood was formed in the late Middle Ages. We have found several wooden articles, including a barrel hoop, a log with joggles that might be a part of the truss, and many various fragments of wood with traces of processing (hewing, cutting and so on). In the lower layers, there are only medieval finds, such as moulded ceramics, bones of animals, different slag. It will be possible to date these sediments only at the end of the digs and necessary researches.
Excavations of the 12th-century church in Smolensk carried out by the group of Vologda’s archeologists headed by V.V. Sedov, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, can be called the event of All-Russian importance. The ruins of the church were found in autumn 2012. They studied the lowest parts of the walls, floors, the foundation of the church erected most probably by the Chernigov’s stonemasons by the request of one of the Smolensk dukes in the third quarter of the 12th century. The invaluable experience gained by our archeologists in the course of work will be certainly useful when studying the architectural monuments in our region. The season 2013 is far from the end and we can expect new finds and discoveries”.
Information is provided by the website cultinfo.ru
