It happens that sometimes, in search of information that interests me, I can spend several hours wandering around the Internet and not find what I was looking for. And it happens, it’s upsetting, but it also happens that absolutely by accident you come across a book, a scientific report or simply a unique publication where, every page, there is simply amazing and extremely interesting information. This happened when, while scrolling through my VK feed, I saw a link to several books on the archeology of the USSR. One of them immediately after reading the table of contents attracted my curiosity. “Russian treasures of the 9th-13th centuries” by candidate of historical sciences Galina Fedorovna Korzukhina. An outstanding Soviet archaeologist, specialist in the field of material culture and ancient crafts. The book was published with the support of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1954. The book is really interesting, but, like any serious scientific work, it was written primarily for reading by people who have knowledge in the field being studied. Therefore, after reading it, I decided to write my review of this scientific work and explain why exactly I, as a lover of instrumental search, could be interested in the information from the book I read.
Why this book might be interesting for lovers of instrument search?
Despite the fact that the book was written back in 1954, and even based on works collected mainly before the revolution, this scientific work today has a lot of interesting and highly specialized information. First of all, this is a description of the places and under what circumstances the 175 treasures described in the book were found. And these are precisely the treasures of the pre-Mongol period. Unfortunately, as the author of the book herself notes, not all of the described treasures have information about the exact location and conditions of discovery, but even the information that exists is good scientific statistical material.
As it should be, the book begins with a description of the works of predecessors and the fact that their scientific works laid the foundation that the author used in writing her work. And here is what I would like to highlight? This is the information that almost all the treasures described in the book were irretrievably lost at the time of writing. This happened during the turmoil of the civil war. Then not only treasures from private collections disappeared, but also items stored in museums. And here I simply cannot ignore my own opinion. If anyone thinks that valuable archaeological objects from the museums of our country could have disappeared without a trace only during the Civil War or the Second World War, then I assure you that you are mistaken. Just recently I had the opportunity to read an interesting scientific historical work on the culture of the peoples of the medieval Poochye. So, the authors of the scientific work casually complained that they had to compose a generalized work based on drawings and reports of archaeological expeditions of the 60s and 70s of the 20th century. Historians, in the process of collecting the necessary material, turned to museums where archaeologists, after excavations, handed over the finds they found. And these are copper and bronze jewelry in large numbers and in complete sets. So, from all the museums where historians sent requests to photograph exhibits, the answers came that… That the requested items were either not listed in the collections, or were irretrievably lost as a result of destruction due to improper storage in the collections. Yes, dear readers, it turns out that copper and bronze jewelry that has lain in the ground for a thousand years can self-destruct in the conditions of museum storage facilities.
But let’s return to Russian clothing treasures. In general, a statistical review of the accounting of the treasures themselves was compiled based on documentary evidence from the time of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. But this example is rather an exception, since almost all the material on the basis of which the book was created are reports of the Accounting Archival Commissions of the Russian Empire for the period of the second half of the 19th century. For example, in 1880, near the village of Kanishchevo (Kapishchevo) 10 miles from Ryazan (now an urban area), while digging a hole for a basement on the farm of merchant Loginov, a treasure weighing more than two pounds was found. The treasure contained Kufic dirhams, silver twigs and several silver jewelry. The treasure was sold out, some of the coins and two twigs were bought by a local collector of antiquities.
What I was interested in learning while reading the book?
This is the story of how archaeologists of the late 19th century carried out archaeological exploration. No, they did not go into the fields and examine the arable land for traces of the cultural layer. Already interesting? So, archaeologists then visited all rural and county fairs with great enthusiasm and desire. The reports of scientists note numerous cases and examples of how, at these same fairs, they met peasant women simply hung with ancient princely jewelry. Naturally, when asked where they got this, the answer was that it was an inheritance from my grandmother. For example, a member of the archaeological commission, Cherepnin, noted that at a fair (place not specified) he met a peasant family, a mother and several daughters, and all of them were simply strewn with silver jewelry from approximately the 10th-11th centuries. What is the further fate of these decorations is unknown, but I can assume that they could, with a high degree of probability, be bought from the peasants by a rich collector.
In general, the activities of archaeologists in the second half of the 19th century were quite logical and practical. In other historical works about the archeology of that period that I have come across, it is openly and quite generally reported that the coins or jewelry found were sold to such and such a collector. Or archaeologists informed collectors and numismatists that such and such a peasant or tradesman owned some interesting antiquity. And the collectors themselves came and agreed on the price and terms of purchase. And in this situation, the buyers and collectors themselves were interested in having the report or history of the acquisition, as well as the very history of the discovery of the coin or antiquity, recorded and transferred to the Archival Commission. Why do you think? But because then, as today, the main problem with collecting was fakes. Yes, there was no Aliexpress back then, but even in those days everything was great with counterfeits of antique and rare items. Therefore, one of the main evidence of the authenticity of a coin or item was a confirmed and certified discovery history.
Another funny example of the discovery of a rare historical item at the fair was the gold Byzantine coin of John Tzimiskes. The outstanding archaeologist Gorodtsov saw and bought this coin. The peasant woman from whom he bought the coin took it from her son herself, seeing on the back the profile of a man with a halo, the woman believed that it was an image of a certain saint. Then she pierced the coin with a nail and began wearing it as an amulet.
A very interesting episode of the book is a description of the effectiveness of the work of the Accounting Archive Commissions of the Russian Empire. It is noted that in the first years after the creation and legislative regulation of the activities of archival commissions, the population did not trust these organizations throughout the country. At first, there were no more than one or two treasures handed over by the population per year. But gradually, after news about payments for the delivery of treasures began to spread widely, the number of registered finds grew inexorably every year. It is noted that in the Tambov province alone, nine money treasures were recorded and accepted from the population in one year. And here we can return to my recent article “Why in Russia citizens do not hand over treasures.” An interesting note if you take into account that at the end of the 19th century, people brought only one province at a time to the archival commissions, up to ten treasures per year for one province. Why did this happen? Yes, because the carrot and stick system worked. On the one hand, the commission clearly indicated whether the find was valuable or not. For example, the 14 pounds of Katya’s nickels that the peasant brought to the commission were of no value to science or collectors. Therefore, experts advised the peasant to sell them for scrap. Or a peasant found a birch tree with copper coins, the expert admitted that the coins were of no value, but asked to take the tree to a museum. There was no Internet then, and there were no catalogs of coin values. Therefore, many peasants who found a treasure quickly realized that resellers could deceive them and give a price for a rare coin or item that was not at all what it was really worth. And when a rumor spread that the Accounting Commissions were paying real money, that’s when people began handing over treasures en masse. Unfortunately, in the USSR this successful experience was ignored, and therefore in the statistics of treasures recorded during the period of the union, we again return to the indicators of 3-5 treasures per year throughout the union from among those voluntarily surrendered by the population.
Let’s get back to theory.
As the author of the book notes, clothing treasures have their own specific feature and difference from money treasures. The treasures are represented by objects from one historical period. More precisely, in terms of style and fashion, these are objects of one century or less. Then, the spread of minting dates in monetary treasures can be three hundred or four hundred years. In monetary treasures of the pre-Mongol period, the presence of coins from different centuries is absolutely normal. Moreover, this fact was also repeatedly encountered in money treasures. Coins from different time periods lay, so to speak, in different layers inside the jug, not mixed up, but in layers.
Further, while reading, I found one interesting episode for myself. There is a small interesting detail in the descriptions of more than twenty treasures found. On top of the pot or above the bag of jewelry, the owner of the treasure placed a separate item before hiding it. These were either iron axes or barn locks, and there is also a mention of a knife and a stone with notches. The author of the book concludes that the reason why people hid treasures and added locks to valuables is not clear to her. Then how do I know it? I published a separate work on this topic on this site in the article “How treasures were searched before the advent of metal detectors.” In short, the essence and reason why treasure owners supplemented them with locks, axes and notched stones is hidden in the beliefs and superstitions of that period. Then people knew and believed that in order to find a treasure, a person must either cast a spell or turn to specialized spirits from among the evil spirits for help. So, so that the hidden luggage could not be seen with the help of witchcraft or enchantment, magical locks were placed on them. Moreover, locks could be both literal locks and certain objects in the power of which the owner of the luggage believed.
So where were treasures most often hidden?
According to the statistics of finds, most often treasures were hidden outside the house or building. Most likely, at that time, it was either a vegetable garden or a personal plot. In the places where the treasures were discovered, archaeologists did not find traces of the cultural layer of the dwellings. Almost all of the treasures found and recorded were discovered at a shallow depth of 30-50 centimeters. The exception is two Kyiv treasures; a rich load of church utensils was hidden in separately dug grottoes at a depth of almost 2 meters. In general, the nature and method of burying valuable luggage directly depended on the circumstances that caused it. Complete treasures, as a rule, were hidden in great haste. This could be traced by the chaotic placement of the finds, and also by the fact that in such treasures, in addition to jewelry, silver stripes with scraps of fabric were found. It was clear that the one who hid the treasure had shortly before torn off valuable linings from expensive clothes.
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Based on the number of treasures found, it was possible to trace individual historical events. Thus, the largest number of pre-Mongol treasures found were discovered on the territory of Kyiv. In total, at the time of writing the book, 59 clothing and monetary treasures were found on the territory of the ancient Kyiv settlement. Archaeologists directly connect this with the invasion of Batu and the capture of Kyiv by the Tatars as a result of the assault. Thus, at least ten treasures were found on the territory of the Tithe Church. This is the place where the residents of Kyiv took refuge with the last defenders when the Tatars burst into the city. According to chronicles, the invaders did not storm the church, but set it on fire along with the people.
But perhaps the most interesting scientific discovery that I made for myself while reading this book was the information about the treasures of the ancient settlement on Knyazhaya Gora. This place is located not far from Kyiv, although if you google it, three geographical toponyms with the same name come up. So, what is the interest? But the fact is that at the end of the 19th century, on the territory of a small settlement, archaeologists and local residents engaged in treasure hunting found TWELVE, please understand, twelve clothing and monetary treasures of the pre-Mongol period. For comparison, at that time only five treasures were found on the territory of Old Ryazan. And here it is twelve. The mystery of the Princes of the Mountain is not only and not so much the treasures themselves, but the fact that historians have still not been able to find or establish the name of this settlement in the chronicles. What kind of city was this? What did its inhabitants do, and where were they from, the number of rich townspeople?
In the early 70s of the 19th century, the Archival Registration Commission of the Kiev province began to receive information that peasants of Kanevsky district had repeatedly found treasures of gold and silver jewelry on the territory of Knyazhi Gora. By the way, I came across an interesting wording: “Peasants-treasure hunters”. Having accepted the information, the collector and collector of antiquities Samokvasov organizes regular full-scale excavations at the site. And already in the first month, luck smiles on him. In a broken pot at the base of a burnt palisade, excavation workers discovered:
The items entered Samokvasov’s collection and were subsequently transferred to the State Historical Museum. In the same year, the collector managed to find another treasure trove, which was also subsequently transferred to storage at the State Historical Museum.
Unfortunately, the purpose of excavations at that time was precisely the discovery of jewelry, so for twenty years the Knyazha Mountain was completely dug up, both by official archaeologists and peasant treasure hunters. And after this, scientific archaeological research was not carried out on the territory of the settlement. At least in Korzukhina’s book and on the vastness of the modern Internet there is no information about this. Moreover, modern residents of this area do not know that this place in the past was glorified by so many unique treasures. On the Internet, upon request, you can find the website of a recreation center called Knyazha Gora. So in the description and features of the location of the recreation center, an absolutely standard story is indicated that this is some kind of place of power and not a single mention of treasures or the ancient city. Such a sad story it is, but quite an ordinary story for significant archaeological discoveries.
Why is it interesting for me to read, analyze and share with you, dear readers, this kind of material? The fact is that when searching and choosing new places, the so-called “ sense.” Or intuition, for whom it is more convenient to call the compass of the lower hemispheres. So intuition is not just some kind of instinct or foresight; it is, first of all, an analysis of existing experience, knowledge and results. And if experience and results are a factor of practical training, then knowledge cannot be obtained by looking at others on YouTube. Only reading, awareness and personal understanding, passing information through the neural networks of your brain. Thank you for reading and I can say that if you are reading such material and you are really interested in it, then you are undoubtedly head and shoulders above all those for whom even the instructions for MD are unnecessary reading, which quickly starts to give you a headache. I wish you good luck, success and good finds.
