The largest treasure in the history of the city of the X century was discovered in Novgorod

The treasure of the last quarter of the 10th century with silver jewelry and coins was discovered by an expedition of the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences during excavations on the Sofia side of Veliky Novgorod. This was reported by the press service of the institute on its page on the social network.

The new treasure, called "Vozdvizhensky", became the fourth and largest by weight of silver and the number of items among the treasures found in the early cultural horizons of Novgorod. In total, 1,9 thousand objects were found — about 1,8 thousand whole and fragmented silver coins and more than 80 silver jewelry, its weight is about 3 kg. One of the most expressive objects of the treasure is a silver cross with branches extending to the ends with three disks at the ends, this is a sample of the so—called "cross of the Scandinavian type".

Archaeological research was carried out in the construction area of a residential building on Vozdvizhenskaya Street, here is the territory of the medieval People's end, 10 meters from the excavation was the medieval Vozdvizhenskaya street. The central part of the estate of the XII-XV centuries got into the excavation, called "Vozdvizhensky".

In the future, a comprehensive study of the treasure is planned, but its scientific significance for the early history of Novgorod and Ancient Russia is already obvious: the presence of eastern, Byzantine and Western coins in one complex reflects the breadth of Novgorod's trade contacts and its importance as a center of attraction for imported coin silver, and jewelry that has received accurate dating from coin finds is of exceptional importance to study and reconstruct the ceremonial female headdress of the Novgorod nobility of the reign of Vladimir Svyatoslavich.