Museum complex

The funerary treasures of the Voltari camp site

The end of the Stone Age (end of IV - beginning of III Millennium BC)
Volosovo Culture
Flint, limestone, sandstone, bone
1 – 14 cm
Receipt: excavations of the Historical Museum under the supervision of I. K. Tsvetkova, 1946, 1971-1973.
Showcase 10

In the end of the Stone Age (at the end of the IV – beginning of the III Millennium BC) in the Central part of the Russian plain (Volga-Oka interfluve) on the territory of ancient settlements of settled hunters and fishermen there were burial grounds. On their grounds not far from the grave pits and occasionally inside them, archaeologists have studied curious objects – piles of burnt flint tools and flakes with traces of sprinkling with dye powder (red ochre). These finds were accompanied by burnt fragments of bone and horn products, bones of mammals, rarely - jewels made of bone and teeth of animals. As part of the eleven ritual treasures examined at the Volodara camp site, there were several hundred artifacts, among which, in addition to products and waste from flint, there were objects made of sandstone and limestone.

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Especially expressive were several chopping tools – chisels, arrowheads and small spearheads. Perhaps, in this way, ancient hunters and fishermen equipped the dead to the other world. They believed that the weapons stored in the treasure would live again there with the dead people.
Functional purpose: a ritual offering to deceased members of the community.
Notice of uniqueness: ritual treasures of stone and other artifacts located on the area of burial grounds of the forest zone of the Russian plain are rare complexes of finds, known in the number of no more than three dozen.

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