Staraya Ryаzan (1)

is more than 2 km long, and also a ditch. The rampart had complicated wooden constructions inside, and there were also wooden walls and towers over it.

The enormous space occupied by fortified settlement is associated with the latest stage of the city’s existence (the late 12th-13th cc.). We can trace the gradual growth of the site. First of all there was a very small fortified settlement occupying 0.4 ha founded in the first centuries AD by non-Slavic Finno-Ugrian tribes. This hillfort functioned till the 8th c. when this population left the territory. The early settlement was situated on the so-called Northern promontory (buttle). Unfortunately it has not been studied well enough, since its largest part is occupied by a modern cemetery. Later the settlement gradually grew, spreading in southerly direction.

In the early 11th c. a large Medieval Russian fortress was built — the so-called Northern hillfort occupying ca. 7.5 ha. In the second half of the 12th c. the territory of the city was enlarged manifold, when the magnificent ramparts of so-called Southern hillfort were built. The fortified territory covered then about 70 ha altogether. The city also had a non-fortified suburb at the foot of the high bank occupied by the fortified settlement — in the place where modern village is situated. Modern houses and gardens prevent investigation of this part of the city.

The Northern hillfort is a stratified site. Its cultural layers correspond to the periods of building activity associated with repeated construction of fortifications. The enormous Southern hillfort with its extremely rich finds is in fact non-stratified. There is a lot of material dated to the periods after the catastrophe of 1237, but the upper levels are destroyed by tillage. The cultural deposit of the Southern fortified settlement overlay the earlier cemetery of the inhabitants of the Northern hillfort dated to the 11th c. The cultural deposit of the non-fortified suburb is partly destroyed by the modern village. In this part of the Medieval city a common grave of the victims of the Mongol invasion was investigated in the 1970-s.

Usually in the process of a town’s growth its oldest part retains the role of its centre. But in Staraya Ryazan it is quite clear that when a huge Southern fortified settlement was built all the vital centres of the city were removed there. All three stone churches were built there, the wealthiest part of population, probably the princes also lived in this new part of the city. The character and the distribution of finds points to this fact.

Staraya Ryazan was the first Medieval Russian city investigated archaeologically. After the find in 1822 of a rich treasure of outstanding samples of jewellery (now in the Moscow State Armoury) some excavations in the findspot and around it were undertaken. It is characteristic that the illustrated book devoted to the finds from Staraya Ryazan was published already in the following year.

That was the first find of a hoard of jewellery from Staraya Ryazan. Now we have got already 17 such finds from the site (the last one being discovered in 2013). All of them are associated with the Mongol invasion. The treasures’ owners were either killed or taken prisoners and had never come back. A rich collection of similar hoards from many cities and towns taken by the Mongols (Vladimir, Suzdal, Kiev, Chernigov, Tver’, Moscow etc.). There are no finds of this type in Novgorod since the Mongols had not reached this city. The most numerous hoards in question were found in Kiev, the nominal capital of Medieval Russia. Staraya Ryazan is in the second place.

There were some further excavations in the 19th c., partly launched by some non-professional enthusiasts. Some excavations in the early 20th c. also took place. In 1926 Russian archaeologist V.A. Gorodtsov, one of the best professionals of the period, worked in Staraya Ryazan. His excavations discovered the traces of dwellings not studied there earlier.

During World War II an outstanding Russian archaeologist A.L. Mongait was preparing a dissertation on the antiquities of Staraya Ryazan summarizing existing information and analyzing museum collections. After the war he organized a large-scale excavations that lasted from 1945 to 1950. The results were published in his fundamental book on Staraya Ryazan.

Later A.L. Mongait turned to the study of some other sites in Ryazan region; in 1966 he launched a new series of excavations in Staraya Ryazan. The expedition headed by Mongait and his successors was organized by the Institute of Archaeology (Russian Academy of Sciences) and Ryazan museum of history and architecture. In 1996 Russian State university for humanities (Moscow) also took part in the organization of the investigations of the expedition. Main attention was paid to the investigations of major areas of the site’s territory. These excavations had changed greatly the ideas on its topography. After A.L. Mongait the expedition was headed by V.P. Darkevich, a well-known specialist in the field of studies of imported objects of

applied art in Medieval Russia. This series of excavations ended in 1979.

In 1992 limited excavations headed by V.P. Darkevich brought to light a new find of the hoard of jewelry. It captured the attention of the public. After that the new series of field investigations were started in 1994.

A question may be raised: is it necessary to study the same city after so many years of excavations? Actually, it seems it is not easy to say anything new about Staraya Ryazan. On the other hand, after such a long period of research we have investigated only 6 % of the territory of the site’s fortified part. This is certainly not representative even from a statistical point of view. We must take into account that a good deal of the city was outside the fortifications on the riverbank. In fact until recently this territory has not been studied by archaeologists.

Our investigations were supported by series of grants, among them the project “Cities and settlement structures of the Ryazan land (Medieval Russia: Centres and periphery)” financially supported in 2003-2005 within the framework of the program for fundamental investigations developed by the Department of Historical and Philological sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The program was entitled “History, languages and literatures of the Slavic peoples in the world socio-cultural context” (section 1: “The historic role of the Slavs in European historical processes in the Middle Ages and the New Times”). The work on the project included first of all field investigations carried out by two expeditions — the one organised by joint e orts of the Institute of Archaeology, RAS, Ryazan Museum of history and architecture, and Russian State University for Humanities (headed by A.V. Chernetsov, also the project manager), and the Rostislavl expedition of the Institute of Archaeology, RAS (headed by V.Yu. Koval).

Since 1994 practically each field season in Staraya Ryazan was supported by Russian Foundation for Humanities. In 2012 our works also received financial support of Federal program of Russian Ministry of Culture “Russian Culture (2012-2018)” (the direction “Preservation of Cultural heritage” (Preservation and investigation of archaeological objects of cultural heritage: archaeological studies); the project “Staraya Ryazan archaeological complex in the context of surrounding cultural and natural landscapes: interdisciplinary studies”.

This album is devoted to comprehensive publication of a brilliant collection of masterpieces of applied art from the hoard discovered in Staraya Ryazan in 2005. It is the first scientific description of this find after the restoration.

The treasure includes numerous silver woman decorations demonstrating virtuoso craftsmanship, in particular niello, granulation and filigree techniques. Three richly decorated medallions, various pendants and beads are to be mentioned. Some of them are marked by unique iconography and stylistics.

The publication includes detailed catalogue with numerous illustrations and also some special articles. One of them is devoted to the archaeological context of the find. Iconography, stylistics and the problems of reconstruction of ceremonial attire of noble ladies of Medieval period are also discussed. A list of hoards discovered in Staraya Ryazan (they are already 17 now) concludes the issue. The most recent hoard discovered in Staraya Ryazan in 2013 is characterized in more detailed way, so that the passage devoted to this finding represents a sort of preliminary publication. The objects have not been restored yet. Some illustrations of finds from the hoard of 2013 are presented in the plates of this album.

Translated by L. Avilova