Ural Federal University Uncovers Historical Treasures in Shigirskiy Peatland Excavations
UrFU archaeologists (staff, students, and graduates of the Faculty of History) excavated the Shigirsky Istok 3 cultural heritage site (Kirovgradsky District, Sverdlovsk Region). During the expedition, the scientists discovered items that were found for the first time on the territory of the mountainous forests of the Trans-Urals: celt and chisel molds, a mace, an original pestle, etc. The expedition was organized with the support of the Russian Academy of Sciences (project No. 24-28-00470).
“The works were complicated by the fact that in the summer of 2023, the fertile soil, which was a cultural layer of the Mesolithic-Medieval period, was cut and removed almost to the ground on the territory of the monument. Many ancient artifacts were pressed into the ground by bulldozer tracks. The preserved finds included, among other things, evidence of ancient metal production, which gave hope for the discovery of ancient metallurgists’ production sites here. It was quite an obvious version, as the monument is located in the center of the Kalatinskaya group of copper ore deposits. When planning the work, we hoped that we would be able to find the remains of some objects that could provide valuable information,” says Olga Korochkova, Professor of the Department of Archaeology and Ethnology at UrFU.
The expectations of the specialists were justified: the tachometer recorded more than 2 thousand points of locations in the 156-square-meter excavation. The researchers managed to discover objects that were found for the first time on the territory of the mountainous forests of the Trans-Urals: celt and chisel molds, a mace, an original pestle, a sculpture of a bird’s head, a flint figurine (presumably a boar), a massive curved knife, and ornamented articles. Bronze artifacts are represented by a votive axe, fragments of a spearhead, a knife-dagger, a temporal pendant, and a long rod; ingots and drops of copper were also found. Now the processing stage of the obtained data has begun, and the students can continue their immersion in the laboratory’s peculiarities of extracting information from archaeological sources.
“The objects revealed as a result of excavations are evidence of symbolic activities that report very noticeable differences in the way of life of the population of different epochs. Excavated objects of this kind have not been previously known in the Middle Trans-Urals. We are talking about the burial of an individual’s ashes in a grave with a dromos (a corridor leading to the burial chamber of a tomb or burial mound). The remains of a ditch and a stone lining were recorded nearby. Such complex structures are known in the Cherkaskul culture necropolises located on the southern border of its area in the steppe Trans-Ural region. A long bronze rod was found in a small hole in the eastern part of the excavation. Another interesting object is a sacrificial altar of the Eneolithic Age: at the level of the ancient surface, there was a skull of a large animal (according to the most preliminary data – an elk), a massive curved stone knife, and a flint figurine made of ice quartz. On top was the collapse of a vessel with numerous holes drilled in its torso,” Ivan Spiridonov, the head of the expedition and an employee of the UrFU Fundamental Research Archaeological Laboratory, describes the contexts.
The collected artifacts and recorded situations significantly expand the ideas about the way of life of the ancient population of the region in the 4000-2000 BC, testify to the long communication corridors and connections of the population that lived on both sides of the Ural Ridge, experts add.
It should be remembered that the Kirovgradsky district is the center of a whole series of unique archaeological complexes, which convey the phenomena and rhythms of the pre-written epoch of the Middle Urals. It is here that the Shigirsky idol, the sanctuary of the first metallurgists Shaitanskoe Ozero 2, rare in the Urals burials of the Eneolithic-Early Iron Age, a collection of wooden and bone artifacts that have been preserved due to the preserving properties of peat were discovered.