Archaeologists in Crimea have found an early-medieval burial ground filled with gold and silver jewelry that once belonged to noble women.
The burial ground, known as the Almalyk-dere necropolis on the Mangup plateau, a few kilometers east of Sevastopol, was for the nobility that spread across southwestern Crimea from the late 4th to 6th century. It is the largest early medieval necropolis in the region.
The discovery was announced in a statement by Valery Naumenko, an archaeologist at V.I Vernadsky Crimean Federal University, which, along with the Institute of Archaeology of Crimea at the Russian Academy of Sciences, led the excavations.
“As usual, this burial ground brought surprises,” Naumenko said in the statement. “Despite the severe robbery of these complexes, there are things that are of independent scientific interest.”
Elite jewelry provides glimpse of early-medieval noble women
The jewelry unearthed goes back 1,600 years and includes brooches, gold earrings, belt set elements, and shoe buckles as well as gold leaf applique decorations that could have adorned the neckline of a dress.
Archaeologists are impressed with the level of preservation of the objects, noting that the earrings were actually made of gold plate with inserts of precious stones, such as garnet or carnelian.
According to the statement, one of the crypts also contained a decorated “pyxis,” a container made of an animal horn that was used to store powdered makeup, such as blush.
“Most likely, in both vaults where the items were found, rich women were buried,” Arthur Nabokov, a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology of Crimea at the Russian Academy of Sciences said. “One woman had gold jewelry; one woman had fibulae and gold appliques, the other had gold earrings, also quite unique. There are few earrings of this kind in Crimea. Most likely, these earrings were imported and fibulae was probably produced in Crimea, in Chersonesos or Bosporus.”
Excavations at the Mangup plateau ongoing for decades
Archaeologists began excavating the Mangup plateau in the Crimean Mountains in the 19th century, and excavations became more systematic a century later. The study of the area has been one of the longest-lasting archaeological projects in Crimea.
Naumenko said the team has been working in previously unexplored areas and has uncovered burial complexes belonging to different times.
The recent discovery of these elite artifacts appears to support archaeologists’ claims that the burial ground they found goes beyond the ordinary. “It is no coincidence that the literature is convinced that this necropolis was not suitable for the ordinary population: there are burial complexes left there during this period by an elite group of inhabitants of the Mangup region and the entire southwestern Crime,” Naumenko said.
