KUNSTKAMERA

PROJECT
"AN UNIQUE BURIAL MACRO-OBJECT FROM THE TIME OF THE VIKINGS IN THE NORTH-WEST OF EASTERN EUROPE
(PALEOECOLOGY OF THE EARLY MEDIEVAL WORLD:
THE COMPLEX OF ARCHEOLOGICAL MONUMENTS AND LANDSCAPES OF THE UPPER LUGA REGION)"
The Project will be carried out by the Center for Baltic Anthropological and Archeological Studies (CBAAS) of the Department of European Studies and Common Problems of Anthropology of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkammer) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg (MAE RAS).

For the last seven years, CBAAS has been involved in a number of projects that explore the problems of cultural interaction among the Scandinavian and German peoples and the Slavic, Baltic, and Finnish peoples in the South-East Region of the Baltic Sea Coast. Contacts among these peoples have been considered in a wide chronological frame, beginning in the first millennium AD.

The following projects are being carried out by CBAAS:

1. Theoretical Seminar "Between Asia and Europe: Problems of Ethnic and Cultural Contacts", studying early German cultural motivations in Europe from the late 1st mil. BC to the 1st mil. AD along with the problems of Goth-Hun interaction on the eve of the Early Middle Ages;
2. Annual conference on "Scandinavian Studies", presenting a wide range of scholarly reports concerning archaeology (from the Stone Age to the time of the Vikings) and anthropology;
3. Russian-German anthropological expedition, exploring the heritage of Russian coast-dwellers in the folk culture of the German Baltic Region;
4. Joint Project "A Unique Burial Macro-Object from the time of the Vikings in the North-West of Eastern Europe (Paleoecology of the Early Medieval World: The Complex of Archaeological Monuments and Landscapes of the Upper Luga Region)".

BRIEF OUTLINE OF THE PROJECT

The main aim of the Project is to reveal and study Scandinavian traits in the culture of the inhabitants of the South-East Region of the Baltic Sea Coast in the Early Middle Ages. For the most part, the research is based on the study of archaeological monuments of the time, mostly burial.

Thus, the Project anticipates comprehensive fieldwork in the area of lakes Chudskoe-Ilmen-Beloozero-Onega-Ladoga, in particular the Upper Luga Region, aimed at the reconstruction of the process of cultural genesis in the context of human migrations in the 2nd half of the 1st mil. BC to the early 1st mil. AD, focusing on a number of historical, archaeological, anthropological, and folk materials.

The unique majestic Shum-Gora Burial Mound (12 m. height, 60 m. diameter) happens to be the convocational center of this cultural area. It can only be compared with the "King's" burial mounds in Useburg (Norway), Uppsala (Sweden), the memorial burial mound of Harald Bluetooth (Denmark), and a prince's burial mound with the name Black Grave in Chernigov (Ukraine). Shum-Gora is the greatest of all the existing burial mounds - both in Russia and in Europe - that date back to the Middle Ages.

The First Stage of the Project will be to examine Shum-Gora using scanning techniques. Scanning will enable researchers to construct an outline picture of what exists within and around it before excavation.

The Second Stage will be to complete the archaeological research excavation of the site and to explore the paleoanthropoligical features of the Upper Luga Region using methods of cartographic simulation. Expeditions around Shum-Gora would enable researchers, using a number of geological methods, to locate contemporaneous settlements and to study their connection with the natural environment.

MEMBERS

Director of the Project
Prof. Alexander S. Mylnikov, Academician, Head of the Center for Baltic Anthropological and Archaeological Studies of the Department of European Studies and Common Problems of Anthropology of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkammer) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Full Professor.

Co-director of the project
Prof. Mark B. Shchukin, leading researcher of the Department of East-European and Siberian Archaeology of the State Hermitage, member of the Archaeological Institute of the Academy of Sciences of Germany.

Director of the Archaeological Part of the Project
Prof. Gleb S. Lebedev, Director of the St. Petersburg Section of the Heritage Research Institute (Russian Ministry of Culture), Full Professor.

Academic Secretary of the Project
Dr. Yuri Y. Shevchenko, Academic Secretary of the Center for Baltic Anthropology and Archaeology Studies of the Department of European Studies and Common Problems of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkammer) of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Academic Manager of the Project
Dr. Tatyana A. Schrader, Researcher at the Center for Baltic Anthropological and Archaeological Studies of the Department of European Studies and Common Problems of Anthropology of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkammer) of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Manager of the Project
Dr. Tatyana G. Bogomozova, Manager of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkammer) of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Web-Manager of the Project
Dr. Olga M. Bronnikova, Web-Manager of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkammer) of the Russian Academy of Science.

Web-Provider of the Project
LANCK Company, St. Petersburg

Excavation Managers of the Project
Dr. Nadezhda I. Platonova, Researcher at the Institute of the History of Physical Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Tamara A. Zheglova, researcher; Sergey L. Kuz'min, researcher.

Academic Advisors
Archaeology: Dr. Vasily A. Bulkin, Dr. Valery N. Sedykh - Assistant Professors of the Department of Archaeology of St. Petersburg State U.
Anthropology: Dr. Nikita V. Ushakov, Researcher of the Dept. of Russian and East Slav Ethnography of the Kunstkammer.
Geophysical Techniques: Dr. Vladimir V. Petrov, Assistant of the Dept. of Geodesy of the St. Petersburg State Institute of Mine