Archaeologists discovered a unique settlement of the 9th-10th centuries in the Shumilino district
Research was conducted simultaneously at four sites. About 600 items from the 9th-10th centuries were found: about 50 dirhams, around 30 weights, jewelry scales, buttons, bracelets, belt plates, a Scandinavian-type pectoral cross, Eastern beads, etc., said Olga Levko, Head of the Center for Archeology and Ancient History of Belarus at the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, who led the expedition to the Shumilino district.
– In terms of significance and the period to which the complex belongs, this is one of the most important archaeological sites in all of Eastern Europe, including Gnezdovo in the Smolensk region of Russia and Shestovitsa in Ukraine near Chernihiv. Now we have Kordon! – rejoiced the historian. – We searched for traces of this time for a long time; some things were found at multi-layered sites from the 6th to the 13th centuries. But here – a whole complex strictly from the 9th-10th centuries, when the Varangians arrived from the north and settled here.
Their presence is evidenced by a mold for a boat-shaped bracelet – such items were made only in Scandinavia, as well as 14-faceted weights, one facet of which was about 3.5 mm on average. They were made by Northern Europeans and used for weighing precious metals. All this, along with the found bracelets and belt plates, molds for casting jewelry, crucibles in which metal was melted, indicates that jewelry production was carried out here, and it was most likely organized by the same Varangians. The fact that active trade was conducted here is confirmed by the large number of various weights found.
West Slavic type pottery was also found here, which most likely arrived here along the rivers with the Pomeranian Slavs from the Novgorod and Pskov regions. The Doctor of Historical Sciences noted that in Vitebsk, in
In the same layers of the 9th-10th centuries, there was pottery from southerners who moved up to us along the Dnieper. This means that the migration of peoples from different directions occurred simultaneously.
Three Roman silver coins of the 3rd-5th centuries were also found in the complex, which until now were only found in southern Belarus.
– When all the items are cleaned, processed, described, and re-photographed, they will be transferred to the local history museum in Vitebsk or to the museum of the Academy of Sciences, which provide the necessary conditions for storing such items. We would not want to break up the collection, – said Olga Levko.
Archaeologists plan further excavations in Kordon, considering it settlement No. 1, because it most fully reveals the period that is least studied in Belarus. Its study shows that the Vitebsk Dvina region, which was the most important zone in the formation of the route "from the Varangians to the Greeks," chronologically preceded the Russian Gnezdovo, studied annually since the 19th century.
Elena Alimova, photos by the author. "Vitebskiye Vesti".