The Kama archaeological expedition of the Perm State University has completed excavations in the historical center of Perm.
Within four months of archeological work the scientists have found 208 burials in the area of over 200 square meters.
According to archeologists, this find has become a true sensation for years of research.
Besides the human remains they found valuable objects of funeral culture, in particular, next-to-skin crosses, footwear and even a kokoshnik (traditional women’s headwear). It should be noted that initially scientists assumed that only an estate had been located in this place – the archives had no records of a country churchyard in the center of modern Perm. The documents only mention the so-called “new cemetery” of the Yegoshikha copper-smelting plant, but there were no remarks about an old one. Apparently, this is what the archeologists have found. Here factory workers – the first Perm dwellers, who started building the city - were buried.
Today the archeologists have rich anthropological materials that will help them find out more about the life of the first Perm dwellers, for example, their origin, food or diseases. Research will be carried out in laboratories and archives all the autumn and winter long, and once warm weather is back, scientists and students of the Perm State University, as well as volunteers will return to field works in the historical part of the city – about 400 square meters on the site are yet to be examined.
Author: Vera Ivanova