PSKOV, July 18 (Itar-Tass) - As many as 77 artefacts from the 9th-11th century burial grounds have been handed over by security officers to archaeologists. These articles of great cultural value were seized from illicit excavators in the Pskov region, a spokesman for the regional department of the Russian Federal Security Service told Itar-Tass on Thursday.
“Among these articles are fighting knives, spearheads, including incrusted with colored metals, hand axes, and fibulae (brooches) from a yet unexplored archaeological monument located in the vicinity of modern Pskov,” the spokesman said.
These artefacts are likely to have come from a barrow dated back to the 9th-11th century. There are just a few such barrows in the Pskov region and they are known primarily by the early 20th century excavations and stray finds. Many of these objects are unique in the Pskov region.
“All the objects - weapons, adornments, tools - are of high quality and might have cost much in the Middle Ages,” the spokesman said.
According to the spokesman, the collection of ancient artefacts is quite unique for Russia’s northwestern regions, which cannot boast such representative collections of weapons.
The artefacts were handed over to the Pskov region’s Archaeological Centre to be studied by specialists and later on handed over to the Pskov regional museum of local lore and history.