Archaeologists have unearthed gold and silver jewelry in an early medieval cemetery near the city of Sevastopol in Crimea.
The new discoveries indicate that the burial site – the Almalyk-dere cemetery on the Mangup Plateau, approximately 16 km east of Sevastopol – was reserved for elite members of a society that spanned southwestern Crimea from the late fourth century to the sixth century. There is archaeological evidence of prehistoric settlements on the Mangup Plateau dating back 5,000 years.
A pair of gold earrings inlaid with red stones, possibly garnet or agate. (Photo: Crimean Federal University).
Archaeologists first excavated parts of the Mangup Plateau in the 19th century and have been systematically investigating the area since the 20th century. “This burial site has brought many surprises,” said Valery Naumenko, an archaeologist at the Crimean Federal University VI Vernadsky. “Despite the severe looting of these complexes, valuable scientific artifacts still remain.”
Naumenko and his colleagues are excavating this site alongside archaeologists from the Russian Academy of Sciences. The sixth-century Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea wrote that the Mangup region at that time was part of the Christian duchy of Gothia, established in southwestern Crimea by the Goths, who had refused to follow Theodoric the Great during the invasion of Italy in 488.
Exquisite Jewelry
The new finds come from two tombs dating from the fourth to the sixth centuries, and the jewelry appears to have been worn by women. The treasure includes pins, gold earrings, pieces of belts, shoe clasps, and jewelry made from gold leaf sewn onto the collars of clothing.
“It is likely that wealthy women were buried in both tombs where these items were found,” said Artur Nabokov, an archaeologist at the Crimean Archaeological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, adding that the earrings could have been imported, while the pins were produced locally in Crimea.
The earrings are particularly intricately designed and made of gold with inlaid red gemstones, possibly garnet or agate; while another pair of earrings is cast in silver and then coated with gold leaf and set with red stones. One of the tombs also contained a “pyxis”, a decorative container made from animal horn used to hold cosmetics, such as blush.
