During two years of fieldwork in the Pilninsky District of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, researchers have identified a new archaeological heritage site linked to the Early Iron Age. Materials recovered from the site show clear connections to both Ananyino and Scythian antiquities, according to a report from the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The site is interpreted as a ritual-burial complex, with artifact analysis suggesting a provisional date of the 5th–4th centuries BCE. The findings have been published in the journal "Archaeology of the Eurasian Steppes."
A Discovery with Deep Roots
The identification of this new object in the Pilninsky District has a notable backstory. In 2009, archaeologists uncovered the Pilnino I inhumation cemetery. Part of its collection—featuring weapons, horse harnesses, belt fittings, clothing ornaments, and other items dated to the 1st–2nd centuries CE—was acquired by the State Historical Museum.
In 2023, excavations at the Pilnino cemetery resumed under the joint leadership of three archaeological expeditions:
- Sergey Zubov, Leading Researcher at the Archaeology Laboratory of Samara University;
- Oleg Radyush, Researcher at the Institute of Archaeology RAS;
- Ruzil Sattarov, Associate Professor at Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University.
Local residents handed over artifacts discovered in the erosion zone of the site's eastern slope. Specialists unanimously concluded that these items did not match the finds from the Pilnino inhumation cemetery—and were significantly older.
Remarkable Finds Prompt Further Investigation
Among the most striking discoveries were:
- A bronze cheekpiece or baldric plaque depicting a lion's muzzle;
- An S-shaped bronze rod psalion (horse harness component);
- A cast bronze chape for a bladed weapon's scabbard, adorned with a relief of a crouching predator;
- Two round bronze cheekpiece beads.
Based on these compelling materials, the team decided to excavate a test trench near the discovery location.
The trench revealed a burial containing poorly preserved femoral and tibial bones, a left humerus, and scattered cranial fragments. The bone arrangement suggests the deceased was oriented head-to-southeast.
Additional finds included:
- A bronze, presumably temporal, open ring (1.2 turns of round wire) near the skull fragments;
- A bronze horse harness ornament—a noseband or forehead piece shaped like a griffin's head with pronounced eyes, a sharply curved beak, and an ear—found beneath the left femur;
- A bronze plaque depicting a goat in profile, with a longitudinal loop on the reverse side;
- A small ceramic vessel fragment in the upper layer above the burial (consistent with 1st–2nd century CE cemetery pottery, but unrelated to the burial complex itself).
Notably, archaeologists recorded a strongly calcined soil patch measuring 2 × 1.5 meters and 20 cm thick near the burial. Its southeastern section contained a concentration of cremated human bones.
Expansion in 2024: A Child's Burial Emerges
In 2024, the excavation area was expanded. New discoveries included a cluster of children's tooth crowns and two presumably temporal pendants. The pit's orientation—matching the first burial—and the location of children's teeth and ornaments in the southeastern sector led specialists to interpret these remains as a child's burial, likely aged 2–4 years.
The authors note that the temporal pendants are remarkably similar in size and design:
- One is an open bronze ring (15 mm diameter) of round wire, threaded with three round beads—one blue and two with internal gilding.
- The second features an iron wire base of similar diameter (though fragmentation limits precise measurement), threaded with three round beads (one blue, two gilded internally) and one truncated biconical blue bead.
While these pendants do not allow for precise chronological attribution of the second burial, its spatial proximity and similar orientation to the first grave suggest a potential connection.
"With due caution and necessary caveats, we do not entirely rule out the possibility that this burial belongs to the Scythian period," the researchers state.
"Findings from the first burial allow us to draw preliminary conclusions about its chronology. Based on excavation materials and artifacts collected by locals near the trench, we provisionally date the burial complexes of the Pilnino Escarpment Site to the late 5th–4th centuries BCE, possibly extending into the early 3rd century BCE."
A New Link in Ancient Trade Networks?
The site's remote location—at the edge of the Scythian and Ananyino cultural spheres—suggests the existence of another trade route connecting the Northern Black Sea region to the Middle Volga, running along the northern boundary of the forest-steppe zone. It is quite possible that this archaeological point marks long-distance contacts between Scythians and tribes of the Gorodets culture.
"Scythians may have communicated with local inhabitants 'through seven interpreters speaking seven languages' to trade weapons and crafted goods—possibly saddled horses—in exchange for honey, wax, furs, and slaves," the researchers suggest.
"We hope that further work at this remarkable archaeological site will yield new finds, helping to refine the chronology of the monument and clarify its functional purpose," the team concludes.
This discovery underscores the Volga region's significance as a crossroads of ancient cultures—and reminds us that history's deepest chapters are still being written, one excavation at a time.
