Archaeologists working at the Zvyaginsky II burial ground in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod Region have uncovered what they believe are the earliest known Murom burials on the right bank of the Oka River. The finds give new clues about the rise of the Murom culture, one of the least understood early medieval groups in the Volga-Oka region.
The discoveries came during the fourth excavation season led by a joint team from the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Nizhny Novgorod Museum-Reserve. Over several years, Zvyaginsky II has grown into one of the best-studied Murom cemeteries, helping researchers trace changes in the culture across several centuries.
This season, archaeologists examined about 1,000 square meters and uncovered 43 graves. The site included 37 inhumation burials, one cremation burial, and the remains of six horses. Two horses had been buried together in the same grave.
Earlier work focused on when and how the Murom people disappeared. This year’s excavation turned to a different question, when and where the culture first appeared. The oldest section of the cemetery produced several unusual burials, pushing the story of the Murom farther back than many researchers expected.
One of the most striking finds was the grave of a woman wearing an elaborate ceremonial headdress. Seven small cross-shaped brooches formed a halo around her skull, while a larger double-plate brooch rested behind the head. The smaller brooches appear to have been cast from the same mold. None still had pins, showing they served as decorations rather than clothing fasteners.
Researchers found traces of tin and lead beads beneath the brooches, suggesting they had been sewn onto fabric. The woman’s head also wore leather cords covered with bronze rings and a braided headband. Unlike later Murom examples from the eighth and ninth centuries, these rings measured only about two centimeters across.
The headdress likely marked high social standing. Similar examples were last excavated about 80 years ago at another Murom cemetery, while related headdresses have appeared at several burial grounds linked to the Bezvodninsky-Akhmylovsky cultural tradition, dating from the fifth through seventh centuries. Their nearly identical layout points to shared customs across a wide area between the Volga and Oka rivers.
Male burials contained axes, spears, arrows, and other weapons. One grave held the common warrior set of a spearhead and a dart. Archaeologists also found openwork belt pendants and several decorated belt sets. Five so-called eastern belt sets have now been recovered at Zvyaginsky II. These styles likely reached the Volga region from Central Asia, where similar belts appear in seventh and eighth century artwork.
One woman’s grave included such a belt in its original position around the pelvis. A winged clasp made from a tin-lead alloy lay on her upper chest. Researchers link these clasps with military gear, although similar pieces have appeared in female burials at other Murom cemeteries.
Jewelry, glass beads, neck rings, and other grave goods date most burials in this area to the late seventh and early eighth centuries. Yet several children’s graves appear older. One contained a necklace of solid red glass beads known only from the seventh century. Two others held distinctive ornaments dated no later than the sixth and early seventh centuries.
These early graves suggest Murom communities settled the high bank of the Oka River sooner than long accepted. The finds also strengthen links between the Murom and nearby Bezvodninsky-Akhmylovsky sites, including one located only about 60 kilometers away.
By comparing the new discoveries with older excavations, archaeologists see signs of shared cultural changes across the Volga-Oka region during the middle of the first millennium. Those changes helped shape the Murom culture, which later spread across the lower Oka valley and remained established there for nearly 500 years.