No 3 (2024)

The Karakuduk flint processing workshop is located in the eastern part of the Ustyurt plateau on the northern slopes of the Barsa-Kelmes depression (Republic of Karakalpakstan, a region of Uzbekistan), 1.5-2 km north of the well of the same name. The workshop was uncovered by E.B. Bizhanov in 1978. Surface finds were scattered over an area measuring 200 × 100 m. The collection includes more than 900 lithic finds. One part of them are flinty limestone plates, the other part includes flakes obtained from them. The size of the plates is mostly within 5–10 cm (sometimes bigger), the thickness is on average 1.5-2 cm. The length of most flakes is 2–3 cm (sometimes up to 5 cm). A series of bifacially processed tools was also revealed at the site. E.B. Bizhanov noted different degrees of preservation of artefact surfaces (the collection has not been studied in detail); all of the objects were attributed to the Acheulian. In this article, the author employs the technical and typological method as well as the “deflation rate” method (Derevianko et al., 2000, p. 204) to divide the artifacts from the site into three complexes. These are: Early Paleolithic including 86 items with strong surface deflation; Middle Paleolithic including 703 items with desert tan on the surface, in terms of cultural features they are included in the bifacial faction; and Late Paleolithic – 44 items which only have a patina.

In the Neolithic of the Fertile Crescent, the practice of making containers from a mixture obtained by burning gypsum and lime, as well as coating ceramic vessels with them, was widespread. This study examined the technology for manufacturing presumably plaster vessels made with sequential application of elements technology, by coating the mold, as well as clay vessels with plaster coating originating from the settlement of Yarim-Tepe I (Neolithic, Northern Mesopotamia). This study includes technological, X-ray fluorescence (XRF), spherulite, Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis (SEM-EDS) analysis. It was established that the main raw material is gypsum plaster with artificially added temper – dung and clay in small concentrations. The presence of another type of organic matter is possible as evidenced by the data of an experiment that showed the impossibility of making a vessel using sequential application of elements technology at a low concentration of dung.

The article focuses on determining the possible regions of origin of wool fiber in Bronze Age Alakul textiles from the Southern Trans-Urals (first half of the 2nd millennium BC). The main method is the analysis of ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr isotope ratios. The comparison was made for values of 12 textile samples from the Stepnoye VII, Alakul and Agapovka II burial grounds with those on interpolated background maps of bioavailable strontium and for other archaeobiological materials of these microregions. It was found that 5 out of 12 examined textile samples have an isotopic signal that differs from the local intervals in the vicinity of the necropolises within a radius of 10–15 km. This indicates the existence of metabolic processes that could be associated both with the import of animals with fleece suitable for spinning, and with the movements of textiles and the owners of the costume themselves.

Soil samples were taken from the bottom layer of several vessels (an amphora, a red clay jug, and two oinochoai) from the classical burial ground of Volna 1 on the Taman Peninsula in order to develop approaches to determining the composition of ritual food. Microbiological and enzymological traces indicating initial organic substrates in the vessels were studied. By planting an aqueous suspension of soil on solid nutrient media, the number of trophic groups of microorganisms associated with the initial presence of food in burial vessels was determined. Microorganisms that assimilate organic matter, fats, starch and protein were evaluated. Live cultures of lactic acid bacteria were isolated from all vessels, and micrographs of them with the shape of cells and colonies were obtained for the first time. They differed in their growth rate and the rate of fermentation of substrates such as milk and simple sugars. Genetic identification of a microorganism found in the oinochoai from burial 370 by genus Sporolactobacillus as the closest to the typical Sporolactobacillus pectinivorans strain with a similarity level of 97.55% makes it possible to discuss interpretations assuming the original presence of funeral food in the ancient vessel in the form of raw milk with sugar syrup. Other lactobacilli were also found in the vessels.

In the Roman-era necropolis Frontovoye 3, uncovered in 2018 in the Southwestern Crimea, three burials were discovered in ground crypt 16. One of them (skeleton 1) belonged to a woman 30-39 years old. Due to the good preservation of the skull, it was chosen for craniofacial reconstruction of the buried woman. To reconstruct the appearance, the method of M.M. Gerasimov was used supplemented with new developments, namely the “Appearance Algorithm” programme. A paleoanthropological study was conducted. The complete information about the lifetime dimensional characteristics of the woman’s head was obtained, and the qualitative lifetime individual features of her appearance were determined. The final stage is the creation of a sculptural reconstruction of the woman’s appearance. The paper features a contour reconstruction illustrating the process of restoring the appearance based on the skull.

The article publishes for the first time fragments of frescoes from the earliest church of St. John the Baptist on Petryatin Dvorishche (otherwise, in Opoki) located in Trading district of Novgorod. The first church was founded there by Prince Vsevolod (Gabriel) Mstislavich and rebuilt, according to the chronicle, in 1127–1130. In 2021–2023, excavations in the church were conducted jointly by the Novgorod Museum and the Architectural and Archaeological Expedition of St. Petersburg State University under I.V. Antipov. The results of the excavations have not been published yet. For the first time, archaeologists had a chance to conduct works in the interior of the church and raise the floors of the second church of 1184, under which fragments of ancient paintings survived. Several thousand fragments of frescoes of 1127–1130 were uncovered there. They were transferred to the restoration workshop of the Novgorod State Museum-Reserve. There are few figurative images and ornaments among them, a little more than a dozen. The interpretation of many details, style and techniques of painting in the St. John’s Church in Opoki is strikingly similar to the decoration of the St. George’s Cathedral of the Yuriev Monastery in Novgorod. The activities in the latter were carried out between 1119 and 1130 by order of the same Prince Vsevolod. The few fragments of images of the St. John’s Church in Opoki are of great interest in the context of comparison with the frescoes of the St. George’s Cathedral. They provide a rare case of reliable and multifaceted information about the large-scale activities of the painters’ team of Prince Vsevolod. It includes two quite accurately dated areas of the decoration in the St. George’s Cathedral (the naos and the chapel of the tower), two icons originating from the same cathedral, “St. George” and “Ustyug Annunciation”, and the paintings of the St. John’s Church in Opoki produced by the recent excavations.

Political repressions against the scientific staff of academic institutions in Leningrad led to the destruction of scientific schools and the reorganization of institutes. Significant changes in the institution-building process of Russian archaeology occurred largely due to the tragic events that took place in the State Academy for the History of Material Culture (GAIMK) in 1934–1936. Personnel changes, scandals and “squabbles” that began after the death of the long-time Chairman of the Academy N.Ya. Marr were aggravated by the events of the “Kirov series” and the subsequent mass arrests among the pro-Trotsky-Zinoviev opposition. The “terrorist organization at the GAIMK” was included in the criminal “Case of a network of counter-revolutionary pro-Trotsky-Zinoviev groups in research institutions of Leningrad” framed-up by NKVD. Mass arrests within this case deprived the Academy of its entire administrative staff and became the reason for the inclusion of GAIMK in the USSR Academy of Sciences as an ordinary institute. Unpublished materials from criminal investigative cases contribute to more detailed restoration of the last chapter in the history of GAIMK.