Archaeologists still searching for answers to treasure mystery hidden in chess figure

MOSCOW - Coins dating back to the times of Ivan the Terrible could have been hidden in an ivory chess bishop from thieves or robbers, head of Moscow’s Cultural Heritage Department, Alexey Yemelyanov, stated on Thursday commenting on a trove archaeologists had discovered in central Moscow.

“Chess was a game played for money at that time. Maybe the person who owned the chess set did not want to carry money in a purse out of fear of being robbed, but wanted to be able to pay in case he lost,” Yemelyanov said.

Archaeologists in downtown Moscow have dug up a trove dating back to the days of Ivan the Terrible. It contains ten silver coins hidden in an ivory chess bishop, City Hall said on its website on Wednesday. Read more.

16th-century English Tudor rose pendant unearthed

A 400-year-old pendant engraved with the Tudor rose, a traditional emblem of England and a symbol of the Tudor dynasty, has been found at a building site near the Kremlin in the heart of the Russian capital.

The pendant, made of tin and lead, is some 5cm in diameter and bears the Tudor rose on its front – a typical feature of the English monarchy which is a white and red rose juxtaposition representing the merger of the two warring houses of York and Lancaster in the 15th century after a protracted conflict.

According to archaeologists, this particular item dates back to 1590. It has a French phrase engraved on it – ‘Dieu et mon droit,’ which translates into English as 'God and my right.’ This has been the motto of the UK monarch since the 12th century.  Read more.

Gustav von Mardefeld

Portrait of Peter the Great and a Black Page

Russia (c. 1720)

This vibrant portrait was a part of the inspiration for P. Djèlí Clark’s “The Mouser of Peter the Great”, one of the stories from the anthology Hidden Youth, out this week from Crossed Genres!

It’s the sequel to the outstanding Long Hidden anthology, and edited by the illustrious duo of Mikki Kendall and Chesya Burke!

You can see the table of contents at this link, and purchase a print copy here:

Or get the ebook here:

The most stunning example of ancient pictorial tattooing is the heavily tattooed Scythian chieftain, the “godfather of the Tribal Tattoo,” discovered by Russian archeologists in Siberia near the Mongolian and Chinese borders in 1947. The mummy was unearthed from a kurgan burial mound at Pazyryk in the Altai Mountains and was dated to ca. 500 BC, though archaeologist James Mallory (author of In Search of the Indo-Europeans) believes he is more properly dated to about 300 BC.

The chieftain was preserved as an “ice-cube” because water leaked into the kurgan and froze immediately and permanently. His arms, shoulders and parts of his torso and one leg were covered with unique bold blackline tribal animal motifs. They have stylistic echoes of Persian, Assyrian, Indian art and particularly strong parallels in the Zhou (Chou) Dynasty and Warring States periods of Chinese art.

Gold torque (neck ring)

Celtic, made in Southern Russia or Black Sea Region (?), 6th–4th century B.C.

Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

DNA tests to seek modern relatives of 800 year old mummified boy

The images show scientists as they carefully peel away the cocoon - including birch bark and copper - which led to the  mummification of  a boy aged six or seven who lived close near to the modern town of Salekhard. The lower part of his face, including his teeth, become suddenly visible for the first time in around eight centuries.

DNA samples of the boy are being taken taken and will be compared with local indigenous Siberian groups to see if he has modern-day day relatives still in the region.

The child’s well preserved remains were found at the Zeleny Yar necropolis, previously seen as belonging to a mystery medieval civilization with links to Persia despite its position on the edge of the Arctic.

Work is also underway to recreate the boy’s face with the help of scientists in South Korea, and a discovery has been made that raw fish was integral to his diet. Read more.

Siberian Venus Figurines  are NOT “Venuses” After all

The Mal’ta Venuses are a collection of 40 figurines discovered between 1920 and 1960 during excavations along the Angara River near Lake Baikal in Siberia. The figurines were carved from mammoth tusks by members of the Mal’ta-Buret’ culture, a prehistoric archaeological culture that lived in Southern Siberia over 20,000 years ago.  For decades, these statues were believed to be Venus figurines, depictions of idealized nude female figures that may have been used for ritualistic purposes.  However, an in-depth study of the Mal’ta Venuses conducted by Dr. Lyudmila Lbova and  Dr Pavel Volkov  of the Russian Academy of Sciences have discovered that the figurines are not idealized nude females, but depictions of clothed individuals -  many of them depicting men, teenagers, and children. 

Through microscopic examination and macro photography, Drs. Lbova and Volkoy were able to discover traces of lines that were not able to be seen by the naked eye due to ravages over time. These lines depicted more details of clothes that were not previously seen such as bracelets, hats, shoes, bags, and even back packs. The team also discovered that the creators of the figurines depicted different hats, hairstyles, and other accessories, and use different carving techniques to highlight the different materials such as fur and leather.

Although the function of these figurines are still unknown, it is clear from the study that the Venus/Mother Goddess connotations attached to these figurines will have to be completely reevaluated. According to Dr. Lbova: “What we can say for sure is that these realistic details of clothes, accessories, hairstyle clearly show that ancient masters made the figurines of some real people, maybe their relatives. I strongly doubt that these were the images of abstract goddesses or spirits in the sense often used to understand so-called Venus depictions.”

Pazyryk Culture (Scythian) Pommel, 5th Century BC

Wood and leather walking stick pommel in the form of a large griffin holding a deer in its beak. Found in the Second Pazyryk mound, Big Ulagan, Pazyryk valley, Gorny Altai, Russia.

The Pazyryk Culture is a Scythian Iron Age archaeological culture (c. 6th to 3rd centuries BC) identified by excavated artifacts and mummified humans found in the Siberian permafrost, in the Altay Mountains, Kazakhstan and nearby Mongolia. (map)

Archaeologists unearth military arsenal from the era of Ivan the Terrible

An archaeological expedition from the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, while conducting a rescue excavation dig near Zvenigorod (Moscow Region) involving the new Central Circular Highway, has unearthed the private arsenal of a military commander from the era of Ivan the Terrible.

The location of the find was formerly the 16th-century village of Ignatievskoe, once the homeland of the famous Boyar family of the Dobrynins. A member of this family once figured amongst Ivan the Terrible’s “hand-picked thousand "—the top brass of the notorious Tsar’s army, an elite officer group formed in October 1550. A royal edict ordered that the cities of Dmitrov, Zvenigorod and Ruza should be "brought to heel” by a specially formed unit of “the best officers, sons of Boyars.” The “hand-picked thousand” became the new elite officer corps of the Russian army. Read more.

2300 Year Old Scythian Chariot

Pazyryk Culture, c. 5th-4th century BC, found in the Fifth Pazyryk mound, Big Ulagan, Pazyryk valley, Gorny Altai, Russia. Made of leather and wood.

The large chariot is one of the most spectacular finds of the Fifth Pazyryk mound. It’s made of birch, and its body consists of three frames with interconnected columns and carved leather straps forming a platform on which stands a gazebo canopy. The huge wheels have 34 spokes which were strengthened by glued birch bark. This chariot was collapsible so it could be carried instead of being pulled when going over treacherous terrain, such as mountains.

The Pazyryk Culture is a Scythian Iron Age archaeological culture (c. 6th to 3rd centuries BC) identified by excavated artifacts and mummified humans found in the Siberian permafrost, in the Altay Mountains, Kazakhstan and nearby Mongolia (map). 

@Neoprusiano Emperador Pablo I de Rusia Импера́тор Павел I России Imperator Paulus I Russiae Kaiser Paul I. von Russland Emperor Paul I of Russia Empereur Paul I de Russie

Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky (1757-1825), 1799.

New DNA tests confirm last tsar's remains: investigators

New DNA tests on the remains of the last tsar Nicholas II confirm their authenticity, Russia said Wednesday, after exhuming them in a bid to end a dispute with the Orthodox Church.

The remains of Nicholas II, his wife and five children, shot by the Bolsheviks in 1918 and hastily buried in the provincial city of Yekaterinburg, are still disputed by the Russian Orthodox Church and some of the family’s descendants.

The latest tests, which are still ongoing, could finally lead to the burial of the whole family with full funeral rites.

The influential Church has declared all the slain Romanovs saints—but has not recognized any of their remains, insisting there are still doubts over their authenticity despite DNA testing by Russian and international scientists. Read more.

Archaeologists Unearth Moscow's Oldest Road

Moscow’s oldest road, thought to date back to the 12th century, has been unearthed in the city’s central Zaryadie district, archaeologists said Wednesday.

The road is believed to have connected the old Kremlin and a wharf on the Moscow River, Leonid Belyayev, a department head from the Russian Academy of Sciences’ archaeology institute, told The Moscow Times.

“We were very lucky to have reached the road. The district is full of the city’s infrastructure lines and old archaeological excavation sites,” Belyayev said.

As it is seen by archaeologists, the road consists of several layers of wooden pavements, he said. So far archaeologists have uncovered most of the 17th-century layer and in some spots have dug deeper to the late 15th century. The deepest layers are thought to date back to the 12th century, given that the Kremlin was established then, said Belyayev. Read more.

Surviving Russianization: Lithuanian and the Book Smugglers

In Lithuania, March 16 is celebrated as Knygnešio diena, or the Day of the Book Smugglers. It commemorates the birthday of Jurgis Bielinis, a newspaperman who created a secret distribution network smuggling banned Lithuanian books into the country. Why are book smugglers so important to Lithuanians? Well, Lithuania was under Russian rule in the late 1800s. In 1866, after years of taking increasingly powerful measures to implement Russian-only education, Tsar Alexander II banned printing in Lithuanian or importing anything printed in Lithuanian. The language would die. Only Russian would be spoken or read in the former country. The people would become thoroughly Russian and loyal subjects of the empire. That was the plan anyway. But there sprang up an unlikely army, armed with ingenuity and bravery, to defend the Lithuanian language and culture: book smugglers.

One of many examples is Motiejus Valančius, the Bishop of Žemaitija, organized and financed an effort to print Lithuanian-language books abroad and distribute them within the country. When his system was exposed, five priests and two book smugglers were exiled to Siberia. Their arrest was but a small victory in a larger war, and Russia was definitely losing the war. The policy was lifted in 1904 and completely abolished following the disastrous defeat of the Russians in the Russo-Japanese War, under the official pretext that the Russian Empire needed to pacify its national minorities. During the ban’s final years, it is estimated that more than 30,000 books were being smuggled into the country annually through a number of secret organizations and legal institutions.

Only known photo of an alleged live Tarpan, which may have been a hybrid or feral animal, 1884 Tarpan (Equus ferus ferus), also known as Eurasian wild horse, is an extinct subspecies of wild horse. The last individual believed to be of this subspecies died in captivity in Russia in 1909, although some sources claim that it was not a genuine wild horse due to its resemblance to domesticated horses.

July 17, 1918: The Romanovs are killed.

After a turbulent and much-hated twenty-three year-long reign, Tsar Nicholas II abdicated the throne and passed the title of tsar to his brother, who acknowledged the authority of the Provisional Government. This too was overthrown in the 1917 October Revolution by Bolsheviks who installed their own government, bringing to an end the Russia of old and the 300-year-old Romanov dynasty. Meanwhile, the former tsar and his family - including his wife Alexandra, four daughters Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia, and son Alexei - were relocated to Tobolsk, and then to Yekaterinburg, located in the Ural Mountains.

The remnants of the imperial family were held in the Ipatiev House - “the House of Special Purpose" - as both civil war and world war raged around them. By the summer of 1918, White Army forces were on the move and, to the dismay of the Bolsheviks, approaching Yekaterinburg, Though they were unaware of the family’s imprisonment there, losing the Romanovs to anti-Bolshevik forces who could potentially use the deposed tsar as a rallying point posed too great a risk, and so the decision to execute them was quickly made under the authority of Vladimir Lenin himself, and transmitted by telegraph, to be carried out by Yakov Yurovsky and a force of ten soldiers and local Bolsheviks.

There is no universally agreed upon account of the exact manner of their execution, but, according to the chief executioner’s version of the events, the family was awakened at 2:00 AM and brought to the basement of the Ipatiev House, supposedly for their own safety. Yurovsky read aloud to the family their execution orders, to their confusion, and then commenced the shooting. Those who did not die in the initial onslaught of bullets were stabbed to death with bayonets or shot in the head. Those killed alongside the Romanovs included a court physician, a maid, footman, and cook. DNA analysis has since confirmed the deaths of all the Romanovs, but rumors surrounding the possible survival of Grand Duchess Anastasia, the youngest Romanov daughter, persisted into the late 20th century.