The STaTe hermiTage muSeum annual reporT

archaeoloGIcal expeDItIons archaeoloGIcal expeDItIons
penJiKenT expediTion
Head of expedition: Pavel Lourie
Works started jointly with the History, Archaeology and
Ethnography Institute of the Tajikistan Academy of Sciences
continued on the Ancient Penjikent Reserve as well
as on the early mediaeval town of Khisorak in the upper
part of the Zeravshan Valley.
An instrumental topographic plan of Khisorak and its
environs was compiled and some ceramic material retrieved.
On the initiative of Professor Yu. Yakubov, parts
of the decor of the citadel shrine unearthed in 1997–1998
were unconserved, retrieved and restored. These include
two carved wooden blocks and three bricks from the altar
niche covered in carved stucco.
On the Ancient Penjikent site, works continued in the
south part of Unit XXVI, where buildings of a later period
adjacent to the east wall of the city, the brick pad on the
square between the east street and the wall and the buildings
located beneath the pad (one of them bore traces
of painting) were unearthed.
On Site XXVI-C, exploratory activities started in 2009 continued
on the household in the south-west segment of the
unearthed area. A vestibule, a corridor and a ramp frame
were unearthed as well as the section of the street adjacent
to the entrance; earlier floors were examined in two rooms
unearthed in 2009.
Works on the sixth-century Lower Palace situated by the
Kaynar Spring near the ancient city site had been frozen
in 1992, and the area immediately turned into a dumping
Wall painting with tulips and poppies from Layer 2 in Room 13:
Lower Palace, Kaynar Spring
Carved wooden blocks from the Khisorak Citadel
place; however, last winter the site was cleared for a vegetable
garden. As the water in the irrigation canals and the
roots of the trees planted there have a negative impact on
the subsurface site, urgent excavations were started. Three
layers of paintings were inspected in Room 13 (two with
tulips, one with a female dancer (?)) in the north sector
of the east wall; a large-size Room 16 was outlined.
The 2010 excavations have provided new data on the
monumental decor of Sogdian buildings and the life in
Penjikent in the 8th century; foundations were laid for systematic
archaeological research in ancient Khisorak.
norTh-weST expediTion
Head of expedition: Andrei Mazurkevich
Excavations on the banks of the Serteyka River, Smolensk
Region, as well as subaquatic excavations in the Pskov
Region on Sennitsa Lake and in the Serteyka River bed
were conducted. Joint exploratory works were performed
in collaboration with the Bavarian Heritage Preservation
Department, Bavarian Ludwig Maximilian University and
Nanter Х-Paris University. As a result, early Neolithic sites
of the late 7th – 6th millennium B.C. were unearthed and
explored; subaquatic excavations were performed on lacustrine
settlements of the 3rd millennium B.C. Remains
of a wooden platform, fragments of a wicker basket with
multiple remains of fish bones and shellfish, and a stone
battle axe were found and conserved. First-ever subaquatic
explorations were carried out on Serteya I, which represents
an entirely different type of campsite compared with
Serteya II; in all probability, the area on the bank of the
paleolake used to have fish stakes and/or places for shortterm
stay during fishing.
STaBian expediTion
Head of expedition: Alexander Butiagin
Excavations were conducted in collaboration with the Pompeii
Archaeological Superintendence through the support
of the Stabiae Restoration Fund (RAS) on the Araidne
Villa destroyed by the Vesuvius eruption in 79 B.C. The villa
is located on the Varano Plateau near Castellammare
di Stabia. This is the first-ever excavation project conducted
by a Russian research expedition in the area of
Vesuvius.
The works focused on the thermae buildings and partly
the peristyle with the surrounding corridors. Most of the
surviving walls were 2.5–3 m high; some carried frescoes.
About 2 sq. m of graffiti representing military ships, human
faces and phalluses as well as numerous Greek inscriptions
were found on the walls of the corridor. They had probably
been left by servants who used this corridor to access the
bathhouse and the kitchen. The most interesting findings
were made as a result of the excavations in the patio, where
the thermae visitors took rest. A mosaic with an ornament
of black and white stones was found on the floor. The walls
were decorated with columns and paintings in the 3rd
Pompeian style. A small room was found nearby which
may have accommodated an alcove. Its walls were lavishly
decorated with patterns against the yellow, white and
red background. One particularly important finding was
the in situ frescoes of the Cupid Released type, i.e. a small
Slavic-SarmaTian expediTion
Head of expedition: S. Voronyatov
Survey work and the search for a Roman site suitable for
further excavations continued. Two areas of the Bryansk
Region (Starodubsky and Pogarsky) along the left and
right banks of the Rassukha River were explored.
A 1 sq. m survey pit was started on the Shershevichi II Site
discovered in the previous field season, from which fragments
of moulded pottery and a prongless iron buckle
were retrieved. The unclear stratigraphy of the survey
pit walls confirmed the suggestion that the occupation
layer may have been damaged by ploughing during forest
planting.
The Sinin VIII Site on the right bank of the Rassukha River,
discovered in 2002 by our colleagues from Bryansk, yielded
some pottery material; the brink of the river was cleared
up; a topographic plan was compiled. A 12 sq. m survey
excavation was started next to the river brink. The occupation
layer comprised pieces of moulded ceramic vessels,
fragments of iron knives, clay spindle whorls, plummets
and coating with traces of branches. No significant buildings
were identified.
Wall with the painting Cupid Released.
Ariadne Villa
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