The STaTe hermiTage muSeum annual reporT

archaeoloGIcal expeDItIons archaeoloGIcal expeDItIons
image of Cupid and two images of winged women, one of
them also in an excellent state of preservation. Next to
it, a scratched Greek inscription was discovered. A niche
unearthed in the corner of the patio preserved traces of
a wooden bench and lavish decorative paintings with images
of branches, painting tools and musical instruments.
The uncovered frescoes were stabilized on the walls by the
expedition restoration staff.
Multiple fresco fragments from the walls and the ceiling
were found in the occupation layer and among the debris,
also carrying numerous images (head of the Gorgon,
shields, sphinxes and plant ornaments). Not many objects
were found as the property from the villas had been partly
evacuated during the earthquake. Still, apart from pottery
fragments, metal parts of the doors and a bronze coin of
the Republican period were retrieved. The most unexpected
objects were the first two fragments of branded roof
tiles ever found as a result of excavation on the villa.
cenTral aSian expediTion
Head of expedition: Nikolai Nikolayev
Works continued on the Xiongnu gravesite of Orgoyton,
Buryatia Republic, most of them on the north area
of the site. The exploration focused on the “princely”
mound, the largest on the gravesite, comparable in size
with Mound 24 on the Xiongnu gravesite of Noin-Ula,
Mongolia. The stone surface structure is 14.5 m wide; the
length, including the dromos, was 28.6 m. A layer of turf
was removed from the whole of the mound in the past
season; the south side of the fence was cleared up and
a stone stela was found on the east end. The pottery fragments
found in and outside the fence around the mound
suggest that the mound, like most Xiongnu princely burials,
may have been robbed.
The Khakassian unit of the Central Asian Expedition
worked on the Itkol 2 Gravesite on the south bank of the
same-name lake in the Shirinsky District, Khakassia Republic;
two mounds were explored.
Mound 24 included a round fence, 7 m in diameter, made
up of vertically arranged sandstone slabs, with a grave in
the centre. The grave contained an intact burial of a forty-
to fifty-year-old woman, with two clay vessels laid at her
feet. The burial also contained two massive bronze cladding
of a wooden vessel decorated with punctures and
incisions along the edge. The mound originated during
the Afanasyev Culture and may date from the first third
of the 3rd millennium B.C.
Mound 14 initially consisted of a stone ring, 9 m in diameter,
made up of slabs laid flat on the ground. Later, during
the Okunev Period, the mound was reconstructed,
with a square fence (10 × 10 m) composed of vertically
Fragment of stucco with a fantastic statue.
Ariadne Villa
arranged slabs built around the ring. Ten burials dating
back to this period were found, five of them had been
robbed. The burials comprised pottery samples, small
copper plaques and eight carved bone objects, four of
which were stylized images of animal and bird heads, the
other four were miniature images of the Okunev stelae.
The reconstruction of the mound may have occurred
during the early period of the Okunev Culture (last quarter
of the 3rd millennium B.C.).
cenTral caucaSian expediTion
Head of expedition: Yevgenia Vasiliyeva
Works continued on the Kichmalka-2 Gravesite in the area
of Kichmalka Village, Kabardino-Balkaria. A total of six
burials were explored, including two Koban Culture graves
dating from the 7th century B.C., two Sarmatian burials
of the 2nd to 3rd century and two Alan catacombs of the
late 5th – early 6th century.
The Koban burials include rectangular stone chests made
up of vertically arranged stone slabs with similar stone
slabs on top. The graves were individual and were found to
comprise iron knives, astragals, two pendants (one bone,
one bronze), small paste beads, larger glass and stone
beads and clay spindle whorls. The Sarmatian burials
were of two types, some in ground pits partly closed with
stone slabs, others in catacombs. The two Alan catacombs
were studied; the more interesting catacomb contained
a couple and featured rich funerary inventory, including
a large number of glass, amber and stone beads, bronze
fibulae, inlaid plaques, a pin, a spoon, a mirror, a buckle,
a ring and tweezers. The niche in the catacomb chamber
wall contained an iron sword with an amber bead with colour
inlays serving as a belt retainer; an iron dagger with
a leather sheath decorated with a gilded silver plate bearing
a scale-shaped decorative pattern; a bronze locket with
eagle heads and colour inlays. Next to them, a horse bridle
was found including an iron bit with psalia (probably
wooden) covered in tin foil as well as bronze harness strap
unions with eagle heads, bronze fittings, medallions and
buckles. Most of the objects were decorated with colour
inlays. At the feet of the skeleton was a riveted bronze cauldron
with an iron handle; under the cauldron, remains
of a leather saddle with a wooden saddlebow, decorated
with gilded silver plates were found. The catacomb also
contained some pottery and two tin mugs.
SouTh crimean expediTion
Head of expedition: Svetlana Adaskina
The South Crimean Archaeological Expedition of the
State Hermitage and the Crimean Office of the Archaeology
Institute (Ukrainian Academy of Sciences) continued
exploratory works on the Cembalo Fortress in Balaclava
(14th – 15th century). The 2010 field season followed up
the activities performed in 2008–2009; works were pursued
along the fortress’s east defence line, between the Barnabo
Grillo Tower and the Portal Tower.
The newly uncovered site (measuring about 150 sq. m)
is located inside the east curtain, beneath the road leading
towards the Barnabo Grillo Tower. The buildings on this
slope were arranged in terraces.
In the new field season, the built-up residential area was
further extended to the west and north. Multiple burials
without inventory were discovered to the south and north
of the temple unearthed in the previous field season.
One of the most remarkable finds was a leaf of a twelfth- or
thirteenth-century Kievan-type bronze cross (encolpion).
On the whole, some interesting stratified material was obtained
which provides valuable information on housing
construction principles and the infrastructural development
of the mediaeval Cembalo Fortress.
SouTh-eaST crimean expediTion
Head of expedition: Vasily Gukin
Archaeological excavations were first performed in the
port of the mediaeval city of Sugdeya.
Pit VIII was started of Terrace 4 (counting from the sea
level), 35 m north-west of the so-called Marine Fortification,
explored by M. Frondzhulo in 1965–1970. Archaeological
works conducted during the reporting field season
have enabled to unearth four stone surface structures,
two sufas, seven tandyrs, a stone hearth and a fireplace.
The uncovered strictures dated from different periods and
showed traces of numerous reconstructions.
Stratigraphic survey suggests the presence of two houses
with sufas, or heating devices. The sufas included interacting
heating systems, i.e. tandyrs and kanas. The houses are
built over earlier permanent structures.
The ceramic material included glazed and unglazed pottery
dating back to different periods, from Hellenic to late
mediaeval. A variety of metal, ceramic, bone, glass and
stone articles was also retrieved.
The numismatic material consists of 54 coins of different
periods and cultures from the layers and buildings
found on the site. The coins show that the excavated layers
probably dated back to the 10th – late 15th century at the
earliest.
SouTh SiBerian expediTion
Head of expedition: Konstantin Chugunov
Exploratory works continued on two elite burials.
Excavations were performed on Mound 1 forming part
of the Bugry Gravesite (Rubtsovsky District, Altai Region).
The works focused on the surface structures, namely, the
4 m tall mound (75 m in diameter) and the moat around
the mound, measuring 115 m in diameter. Excavations
were conducted by means of a bulldozer, due to which
three more sections were stabilized and graves in the central
and peripheral areas of the site were unearthed and
cleared up.
In the Piy-Khemsky District, Tyva Republic, explorations
continued on the Chinge-Tey I funerary complex. The
mound was 75 m in diameter and 2 m high; the surrounding
moat measured 110 m in diameter. Works were performed
on the north-west sectors of the surface structure
and part of the moat. The sludge layer in the moat was
found to contain isolated bones of horses, bears and small
ruminants as well as some human bones. Another interesting
retrieval was three horn plates with a circular ornament
and a fragment of a clay object. An opus quadratum
wall surrounding the mound, located 5 m away from the
cromlech, was found under the layers of sludgy ground.
One of the blocks in the wall was a fragment of a stela
with carved images of deer. Two intact graves of warriors
were uncovered in the corridor between the wall and the
cromlech; the burials contained rich inventories including
bronze and iron weapons, belt fittings, a gold earring
and a gold headdress decoration as well as glass, turquoise,
amber and gold beads. Given the burial explored in 2009,
it can be suggested that these additional graves were arranged
at regular intervals at the foot of the wall surrounding
the mound. Upon completion of the works, the stabilized
facade masonry was conserved with bags containing
ground and turf to preserve the architecture of the site for
subsequent museumification.
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