The Archaeologist's Day

Only three days long, from 15 to 18 August, there will be a unique archaeological find – gag bits with golden onlays, which are nearly 1500 years old – presented in the Amber Museum. Endings of the metal middle parts of the sheaths were made in I German animalistic style as heads of einherjar warriors in horned helmets.

They were found during the excavations of an headman burial in Zelenogradsk district of Kaliningrad region, which were made by the Sambia archaeological expedition of the Institute of Archaeology RAS on the necropolis "Aleika 7" in 2017. This monument dates back to the late 4th–7th centuries and probably it is the Skarr Wald grave site mentioned in some pre-war works.

Gag bits are from one of the most distinguished burials of this grave site belonging to the type of so-called "headmen's graves".  Such burials were discovered in  aesti geographical area the only time over 140 years ago.

A headman was accompanied to the "spirit world" by four horses – their burials were found nearby. Psalia – parts of the gag bits – of one of the horses were made of gold and silver, using the techniques of casting, chiselling, gilding, etc. The specialists assume that the work was executed by a Langobardic jeweller from the North of Italy. This unique find has no analogs. However, we can appreciate the beauty of this items only after a restorer working with it.

Apart from psalia there will be their photographs before the restoration in the exposition.

The Amber Museum expresses gratitude to the Institute of Archaeology of Russian Academy of Sciences.