Supported by SIBUR. Unique artifacts have been discovered there, and archaeologists are already reporting new fundamentally important results for Amur early medieval archeology.
It is reported that the dwellings studied by specialists make it possible to revise the traditions of house-building in the early Middle Ages. In semi-dugouts, original exits from dwellings were recorded in one of the walls in the form of a small tunnel, while it was previously believed that the exit was through a smoke hole in the roof.
“A large array of information was provided by artifacts found in the space between dwellings, on the periphery of the ancient settlement. These are fragments of a vessel with traces of repair by fastening the walls with metal brackets, and objects of art. For the first time on the Amur early medieval, Mikhailov monuments, small sculptural plastics were found, represented by animal figures - a bear and a pig - made of clay baked in a fire. Also, a significant series of bone products was obtained - arrowheads of various shapes, piercings, a kochedyk - a sharp bone stick for untying knots, a pendant from a bird's claw, which served as an ornament. An important find is a bronze patch on clawed-type clothes,” says the expedition leader, director of the Center for the Preservation of the Historical and Cultural Heritage of the Amur Region, Denis Volkov.
Separately, the scientists spoke about each of the unique finds on their Instagram page.
“We often found fragments of vessels, and even whole forms with parallel holes, and even it seemed like everyone agreed that these were holes for repairing a burst vessel. But there has always been an opinion that repairs were carried out with straps or ropes threaded through the holes. Ha! Mikhailovtsy did this with metal staples. This have not happened before! The most interesting thing is that we would never have found this fragment and would not have made this discovery if it were not for the excavations of a large area organized by SIBUR,” the Center said.
bear figurine
“Well, this find blew up our emotions and spurred the tired guys to work. This is a bear. Small clay bear, mini sculpture. Small plastic. I saw such things only in books and could not even believe that I would ever have such things in my excavation. I am happy and glad. Emotions are overflowing. Yes, I forgot to say, it was most likely worn around the neck on a string (there are holes there). If I am not mistaken, this is the first time such things have been found in Amur archeology, especially in an early medieval monument,” Denis Volkov wrote enthusiastically.
Pig figurine
The finds became possible thanks to the study of the monument with a large area within the boundaries of the entire ancient village.
This made it possible to find a series of artifacts and collect full information about a particular stage in the life of an ancient person.
Bone arrowhead
Archaeological excavations of the monument continue. They will be completed in the 2018 field season. Approximately until the end of September-mid-October, said Denis Volkov. According to him, after the excavations, the archaeological site will cease to exist, and the archaeological material found will be processed and transferred to the Amur Regional local history museum as required by law.
Bone arrowhead
The Center for the Preservation of the Historical and Cultural Heritage of the Amur Region attracted students from the historical department of the Belarusian State Pedagogical University.
The expedition has become one of the largest archaeological projects in the Amur Region. The area of work is 1,675 square meters.
The archeological monument "Chernigovka, Selishche-5", presumably of the 2nd-6th centuries AD, belongs to the Mikhailovskaya archaeological culture, common in the western Amur region. It was opened by employees of the Center for the Preservation of the Historical and Cultural Heritage of the Amur Region in 2016 during the archaeological exploration of the site for the possible construction of the Amur Gas Chemical Complex. The customer of the study was SIBUR with the participation of NIPIGAZ, which is the general designer for the project. This is reported in the company SIBUR.
Among the main finds is a cake with raisins aged 100 years, ancient man modern look, many skulls and gold, several drawings, two inscriptions, one sword and a cruiser.
The popular science journal Archeology (a publication of the Archaeological Institute of America) has published its annual list of the top finds of the year. "Science and Life" traditionally supplements this rating with the most important Russian discoveries.
I. Skulls of the Potbellied Hill.
Göbekli Tepe (“Pubby Hill”) is not only one of the most famous archaeological sites, but also one of the most mysterious. 10-12 thousand years ago, the inhabitants of Anatolia (modern Turkey) built ring structures there from large stones. In these structures they gathered for some religious or social needs.
Fragment of a skull from Göbekli Tepe. Photo: Julia Gresky/Archaeology.
Last year, researchers found that in ancient times, human skulls were hung in such structures. Fragments found during excavations are skulls three people. They were separated after death, cut in a special way, they were engraved, they were painted. There is (sorry for the involuntary pun) some kind of ritual unknown to us. But whose skulls deserved such attention - especially revered people or, conversely, enemies, is still unclear.
II. Lost cruiser.
At the bottom Pacific Ocean discovered the sunken American heavy cruiser Indianapolis from the Second World War. It is infamous due to several circumstances. The cruiser was the last major US Navy ship sunk during that war. His crash went down in the history of the American Navy as the most massive loss of personnel (883 people) as a result of one flood. In addition, it was Indianapolis that delivered to Tinian Island, where the Air Force base was located, critical parts of the first atomic bomb(she was later dropped on Hiroshima).
Heavy cruiser Indianapolis. Photo: U.S. Navy/Archaeology.
The ship was lost shortly after completing this controversial mission. It was sunk by a Japanese submarine. For the past decades, the exact location of the remains of the cruiser has been unknown, and all attempts to find it have been in vain. By comparing the location of the other ship, whose crew last saw the Indianapolis, with the route of the latter, historians have calculated the likely crash area. Surveys using an autonomous underwater vehicle confirmed their assumptions.
III. Antarctic cake.
A cake with raisins lay in a rusty jar at the end of the world (in Antarctica) for 106 years. They found him in a hut at Cape Adare. The house was built in 1899 and apparently abandoned in 1911. The cupcake was left by one of the members of the expedition of Robert Scott. Modern researchers say that outwardly the cake looks good and even smells good. Only if you smell the cake very close, it becomes clear that it is not worth eating. Probably, it is so well preserved because of the cold and dry air.
Cake from Antarctica. Photo:Antarctic Heritage Trust/ archaeology.
IV. Aztec golden wolf
In Mexico City, during excavations at the foot of the Aztec Templo Mayor ("great temple"), they discovered a large number of gold items and the skeleton of a young wolf sacrificed. Among the finds are ear and nose ornaments, as well as a breastplate. The latter is usually part of the equipment of a warrior, and in an open complex it decorated a wolf. The head of the beast looks to the west, which symbolizes its following the sun, to another world. The sacrifice was made during the reign of Ahuizotl (1486-1502), during the period of wars and the expansion of the Aztec empire. Found in 2017, the complex is the richest in 40 years of excavations of the temple.
Wolf and gold from Mexico City. Photo: Mirsa Islas/Templo Mayor Project/Archaeology.
V. The Dawn of Egyptian Writing
A large inscription, carved on a rock north of the ancient Egyptian city of El-Kab, sheds light on the formation of the writing of this civilization. Four characters appeared around 3250 BC, during the period of the so-called Zero Dynasty, when the Nile Valley was divided into several kingdoms, and writing was just emerging.
Predynastic inscription from Egypt. Photo: Alberto Urcia, Elkab Desert Survey Project / archaeology.
The researchers saw four symbols: the head of a bull on a pole, two storks and an ibis. In later inscriptions, such a sequence was associated with the solar cycle. She could also express the power of the pharaoh over the orderly cosmos. Known until 2017, the inscriptions from the period of the Zero Dynasty were exclusively of a business nature and were small in size (no more than 2.5 cm). The height of the newly discovered signs is about half a meter.
VI. "Cave" genetics
Early Homo remains, such as Neanderthals and Denisovans, have only been discovered at a limited number of sites in Europe and Asia. For a long time, this fact brought complete disappointment to archaeologists: there are much more sites without human bones than with them.
Denisova cave. Photo: Sergey Zelensky / Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences /archaeology.
In the past year, a group of researchers presented their colleagues with new hope: they were able to trace the genetic markers of the presence of ancient Homo in ordinary-looking cave deposits. A team of geneticists studied soil samples from seven sites from France, Belgium, Spain, Croatia and Russia. They managed to detect the DNA of Neanderthals at three sites up to 60 thousand years old, and in the Denisova Cave - the DNA of not only Neanderthals, but also Denisovans.
The age of samples from this monument is about 100 thousand years. In most cases, genetic traces come from layers where no human remains have been found before. Interestingly, the new technique even works with soil samples that were excavated decades ago. Thus, in order to obtain new samples, it is not at all necessary to conduct new excavations.
VII. Gold of the era of "unmercenaries"
In Lickfrith (North Staffordshire, England), four torcs were found - neck hryvnias. Jewelry dates back to the time from 400 to 250 years. BC, making them the oldest early Iron Age gold objects ever found in Britain. The find is interesting not by the very fact of its antiquity, but by the fact that it is not at all typical for its time.
Golden hryvnias from Likfrit. Photo: Joe Giddens / PA Archive / PA Images /archaeology.
For people bronze age gold jewelry was not something unusual, but with the development of iron, they (decorations, not people) for some reason disappear. Why this happened is not exactly known. Perhaps the fact is that trade ties with the places where the gold came from were interrupted. If earlier the inhabitants of Britain imported tin and copper, necessary for smelting bronze, then with the transition to ferrous metallurgy, the need for imports disappeared (the islands have their own iron).
When the trade in raw materials for bronze died out, other trade with the continent may have ceased. In addition, the social factor could also play a role: people began to pay more attention to the preservation of their communities, and not to their own status (why, it is not very clear).
Torques, most likely brought to Lickfree from the Continent, show the return of fashion for personal jewelry. Probably, the hryvnia ended up in Britain as gifts or goods. But it cannot be ruled out that the hostess brought them with her (wearing Torques from Likfrit, most likely a woman).
It should be noted that the objects were discovered by amateurs with metal detectors. Because of this, there are so many assumptions: the context of the find (in which structure they lay) remained unknown, and the date was established according to the style of the items. Science, as always in such cases, has lost a significant amount of information.
VIII. ancient roman aqueduct
Metro builders have opened part of the ancient Roman aqueduct. This is most likely the site of the Aqua Appia, the oldest aqueduct known to us. It was built in 312 BC. The remains of the structure were found near the Colosseum, at a depth of 17–18 meters, which is usually unattainable for archaeologists (primarily because of the danger of collapse of the sides of the excavation).
The aqueduct is made of blocks of gray tuff, it has been preserved to a height of about 2 meters. Length open area- about 30 meters. The structure most likely continues outside the construction site, but there is no way to explore it completely yet. The fact that limestone was not used in the construction of the aqueduct, according to experts, means that the structure "lived" for a short time.
It was previously believed that Avebury was built from the outer rings to the inner ones. Now it turns out that this is not the case. In the very center of the monument, according to the authors of the discovery, there was a house. When the dwelling was abandoned for some unknown reason, the place where it was was marked with a giant stone, and the shape and orientation of the house was marked with a square structure. And already around it there were rings, like circles on the water. From the moment the house was abandoned, up to 300 years could pass. And only after that people decided to turn it into a monument. Probably, it was a place of departure of some tribal cults.
Needless to say, only excavations can confirm or refute this beautiful theory.
X. Under the mask of a Neanderthal sapiens was hiding (?)
For the first time, the remains of ancient people were dug up in Jebel Irhud back in 1962. The jaw found then was considered Neanderthal, and then it was re-dated several times. The spread of dating was quite large: from 30 to 190 thousand years. Now the layers in which both the jaw and several new bones were found have been significantly older - up to 240-378 thousand years. Moreover, researchers believe that these are not Neanderthals at all, but real sapiens, that is, our ancestors.
Jaw from Jebel Irhud. Photo: Jean-Jacques Hublin / MPI EVA Leipzig /archaeology.
The authors of the discovery decided to name them, although, according to their Russian colleague, people from Jebel Irhud stand exactly in the middle between "modern us" and our ancestors and relatives. So they are more likely "proto-sapiens" than the most ancient representatives of our species.
The inhabitants of Jebel Irhud had flat and short faces, like modern people, but the teeth are larger and the skull is longer. That is, the facial section of the skull of the Irkhudians was much more progressive than the brain. “We see that appearance has always been more important than the mind,” S.V. wittily notes. Drobyshevsky (PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Moscow State University).
Now, when (and if) we have overcome the list of the main world finds according to the American edition, it's time to turn to the list of the most important discoveries of Russian archaeologists:
1. "Cave" camel
An image of a camel was cleared in the Kapova cave. It was part of a drawing known since the late 80s as "Horses and Signs", but has only now been cleared. The camel was painted with ocher and charcoal paint. The most probable date of the drawing is from 13 to 26 thousand years. Specialists from the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences believe that the harsh climate of that time could have contributed to the spread of camels in the South Urals.
Clearing the drawing in the Kapova Cave. Photo: press service of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Vladislav Zhitenev, head of the Moscow State University expedition, who has been working in the Kapova Cave for many years, thinks otherwise. According to him, in the Upper Paleolithic
The Japanese name for Japan Nihon (日本) is made up of two parts, ni (日) and hon (本), both of which are Sinic. The first word (日) in modern Chinese is pronounced rì and means, as in Japanese, "sun" (transmitted in writing by its ideogram). The second word (本) in modern Chinese is pronounced bӗn. Its original meaning is "root", and the ideogram that conveys it is the tree ideogram mù (木) with a dash added below to indicate the root. From the meaning "root" the meaning "origin" developed, and it was in this meaning that it entered the name of Japan Nihon (日本) - "origin of the sun" > "land of the rising sun" (modern Chinese rì bӗn). In ancient Chinese, the word bӗn (本) also had the meaning of "scroll, book". In modern Chinese it has been superseded in this sense by the word shū (書), but remains in it as a counter for books. The Chinese word bӗn (本) was borrowed into Japanese both in the meaning of "root, origin" and in the meaning of "scroll, book", and in the form hon (本) means book and in modern Japanese. The same Chinese word bӗn (本) in the meaning of "scroll, book" was also borrowed into the ancient Turkic language, where, after adding the Turkic suffix -ig to it, it acquired the form *küjnig. The Turks brought this word to Europe, where it from the language of the Danubian Turkic-speaking Bulgars in the form of a book got into the language of the Slavic-speaking Bulgarians and spread through Church Slavonic to other Slavic languages, including Russian.
Thus, Russian word book and the Japanese word hon "book" have a common root of Chinese origin, and the same root is included as the second component in the Japanese name for Japan Nihon.
I hope everything is clear?)))
I am a student of the history department, and we have such a practice - to travel to archaeological excavations. Many people think that this is romance: nature, fire, unique finds. Now I will try to open the curtain of secrets.
We went in 2015 to the village of Borisovka, Belgorod region. There is a Borisov settlement (Scythian, about 2.5 thousand years ago), approximately 200x300 in size.
Borisov settlement was found in 1948. Settlement of the 5th-4th centuries BC had three lines of fortification, which protected its inhabitants from the raids of nomadic Scythians.
The first day of practice is the hardest. It is necessary to put up tents, a kitchen, a "refrigerator", household tents:
It's a kitchen. According to rumors, one student either did not want to work out the practice, or did it badly, and her father cooked such a kitchen for us. There were three meals - at 7.30, at 14.30, at 19.00. The attendants (a guy and a girl) stay for the whole day in the camp. Diet - cereals, stew, pasta, tea, cookies, condensed milk. The most difficult thing is to melt it in the morning - it's damp outside and you want to sleep.
This is a household tent. It stores utensils and food. It is not visible in the photo, but behind it is a "refrigerator".
"Refrigerator" is a hole several meters deep where perishable products are stored. Speaking of temperatures - during the day under the sun it reached 35 degrees, in the rain it dropped to 20-25.
I don't know the correct name for this tent. It weighs about 400 kg, the frame is metal. We collected it for several hours out of inexperience. It was planned that there would be a headquarters there, but because of the heat, we used it to store tools, finds, brought our belongings into it when it rained.
Now about the excavations themselves. We started to work at 8.00, finished at 14.00 (we were digging in the forest, and the heat was not so terrible). Every hour - a break for 10 minutes to rest, and one for 20 minutes - "second breakfast" - a sandwich with mayonnaise and saury:
In the early days, we dug and immediately recognized all the subtleties. Excavations are carried out in accordance with the documentation, we were taught to use a level.
A 5x5 square is dug 20-25 cm deep (1 shovel bayonet). Then the layer is cleaned - an even, neat cut is made so that the "earth shone". Finds are being sought in a pile of earth:
Mostly ceramics and bones. The first days of delight indescribable, then sick of it. But! All finds are stacked and taken to the camp, where they are subsequently washed and sorted.
To make the earth "shine", cleaning is done barefoot. in the second photo, due to rains, the excavation flooded (:. Basically, two shovels are used - a bayonet (for digging) and a sharp shovel "bison (for cleaning).
Sometimes they stumbled upon hearths. They are dug out carefully with a small shovel under the supervision of a scientific hand. All layers are photographed and sketched, foci too. Finds from the hearth - in a separate package.
The depth of our excavation was 50-90 cm; to clay in our case.
We were at the excavations for three weeks. One day off a week, Saturday was shortened. about the bathroom - we were lucky, and our camp was located on the territory of the administration of the reserve - washbasins at 200 m, shower, toilet. The second luck - we got to the excavation by car through the village, on foot to the village - about 20 minutes. Fresh chicken was for lunch, if the duty officer was not lazy. And in general, stocks could easily be replenished.
"Subtleties":
1) At the end of the excavations, all the pits are covered with the same earth, as if we were not here
2) During the archaeological exploration, I found ceramics of the 18th century, and WWII cartridges. Where found - there and left. These items will have their own excavations.
At the end, the first-year students have an initiation. It is kept secret, but at the end of it, I looked like this:
I had to throw out all my clothes (yes, right down to my underpants), and in the nearby pool they washed for half an hour.
Whether it is worth going on an expedition is up to everyone to decide. If you are ready to be without communication, conveniences, to see the same faces all the time (we were 12 students in total) ... But, by the way, decide for yourself.
But I'm glad that I have such experience behind me)
Thanks to all!
