Scientists have revealed the secret of an ancient weapons collection found in Vitebsk

June 10, Vitebsk / Olga Bogacheva - BELTA /. Scientists have revealed the secrets of an ancient weapon collection found in Vitebsk in 2011, reported to BELTA correspondent Olga Levko, Head of the Center for the History of Pre-Industrial Society at the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor. Last year, during archaeological excavations on Kalinin Street in a pit (for the construction of a KGB building) with an area of 9.3 thousand sq.m and a depth of 8 m to 12 m in Vitebsk, a collection of ancient weapons was discovered. Among the found items were six samples of bladed cold weapons (sabers, shashkas, and one rapier) and six breastplates, intended for representatives of both military and civilian departments. In particular, badges with a red star, in circulation in the Red Army in the period 1918-1920, badges of Soviet Labor Armies of 1920-1921, badges of cavalry detachments and motorized units of the Red Army during the Civil War. The find lay compactly at a depth of 6-8 m in the corner of the remains of a wooden structure. "This collection is private: there was clearly a collector who gathered all this. Moreover, it has very narrow chronological limits: the production date of all weapons dates back to the period 1841-1884. The sabers, as well as officer and soldier shashkas, were produced at the Zlatoust Arms Factory, and the rapier of the German firm Solingen has two hallmarks. These are a king in a crown and a knight in a helmet, representing two firms that appeared around 1876, and therefore this item dates from after 1876, but fits within the general framework up to 1884," Olga Levko said. For a long time, it was a mystery to scientists how a German rapier could be part of Russian shashkas and sabers. It turned out to be very simple: in 1815, Tsar Alexander I invited 150 masters from the Solingen firm and other arms centers of European cities to boost the production of Russian weapons at the newly established factory in Zlatoust. The gunsmiths arrived in Russia with their families and there they taught local masters the art of weapon making, inlaying, and the production of serial and ceremonial weapons. "How this entire collection ended up in Vitebsk, we, of course, cannot know," Olga Levko noted, "but we can assume that the person who collected it might have had some connections with this Zlatoust factory, at least because none of the found sabers and shashkas, including the Solingen blade, had pommels, but they had hilts. That is, these were manufactured but not yet commissioned blades that were possibly taken out for collection or resale." The professor also said that in addition to these weapons, the collection included a pommel with a broken blade. There is a suggestion that its owner planned to attach it to one of the assembled blades. "We looked at where such pommels were used and found out that they were used on officer sabers produced from 1841. And on the broken blade of this pommel, there was the date 1872," added Olga Levko. The uniqueness of this narrowly focused collection is enhanced by the badges. "They are interesting because they relate to the turning point of two eras: the end of the Russian Empire (the last decade of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century) and the early years of Soviet power (up to 1922). For example, the Red Army badge ("Mars star") depicts a plow on a white background, not a hammer and sickle. It was approved for production by Trotsky for the Red Army in 1918, and by 1920 it was out of use. Then there is the badge of agricultural institutions of the Russian Empire: it was used during the Soviet years for only two years - from 1920 to 1922 in the Labor Armies, which replaced the Red Army units. Thus, such a narrow chronological field and focus of these badges and cold weapons indicate a turning, transitional period from the Russian Empire to the first stage of Soviet power and demonstrate different aspects of that time," said Olga Levko. After processing and study, the unique items were transferred to the funds of the Vitebsk Regional Museum of Local Lore. -0-