Archaeologists excavating 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, offering fresh evidence about the origins of one of the Volga-Oka region’s least understood early medieval populations.
The discoveries were made during the fourth field season of excavations at the site in the Vachsky District by a joint expedition from the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Nizhny Novgorod Museum-Reserve.
Over the course of the 2026 season, researchers excavated approximately 1,000 square metres of the cemetery, uncovering 43 burials, including 37 inhumations, one cremation and six horse burials, two of which shared a single grave pit.
Earliest Murom burials identified
While previous excavations focused on understanding the decline of the Murom people, this year’s work shifted attention to the cemetery’s oldest section, allowing archaeologists to investigate how the Murom culture first emerged.
Evidence suggests that some of the newly excavated graves date to the late 6th and early 7th centuries—earlier than the traditionally accepted beginning of the Murom culture.
“This season has allowed us to move from asking when the Murom people disappeared to exploring where they came from,” the expedition team said.
Rare female burial with ceremonial headdress
Among the most significant discoveries was the burial of a high-status woman wearing an elaborate ceremonial headdress decorated with eight cross-shaped brooches.
Seven small brooches were arranged around her skull in a halo-like pattern, while a larger two-plate brooch was found behind the head. Researchers believe the ornaments were decorative rather than functional, as they lacked fastening pins and were likely sewn onto a textile headdress embroidered with tin-lead beads.
The burial also preserved traces of leather cords bound with bronze rings, providing rare insight into the construction of elite Murom headwear.
Archaeologists say the arrangement closely matches similar headdresses previously found at several 5th- to 7th-century cemeteries across the Volga-Oka interfluve, including the Bezvodninsky, Akhmylovsky and Zheltukhinsky burial grounds.
The consistency of the design across multiple sites points to a shared cultural tradition that extended across a wide geographical area.
Weapons, belts and military-style ornaments
Male graves contained a range of weapons typical of the period, including spearheads, darts, axes and celts. One burial preserved a complete warrior’s weapon set consisting of both a spear and a dart.
Researchers also uncovered several distinctive belt assemblages. Alongside iron-fitted belts common among Volga-Finnic peoples, archaeologists identified so-called “eastern belts”, a style believed to have originated in Central Asia before spreading into the Kama region during the 7th and 8th centuries. Five examples have now been found at Zvyaginsky II.
One female burial contained one of these eastern-style belts worn around the pelvis, together with a rare tin-lead clasp featuring a “winged needle” motif. Although such clasps are generally regarded as military attributes, similar examples have previously been found in women’s burials at the nearby Podbolotevsky cemetery.
Earlier dates reshape Murom history
Dating evidence from jewellery, including boat-clasp torcs, syulgams, glass beads and decorated breast ornaments, places many of the burials between the late 7th and early 8th centuries.
However, several children’s graves contained artefacts that appear to predate this period. A necklace of opaque red glass beads dates no later than the 7th century, while distinctive syulgams suggest two other burials belong to the late 6th or early 7th century.
These finds indicate that Murom communities settled along the high banks of the Oka River earlier than previously believed.
Tracing the origins of the Murom people
The discoveries strengthen archaeological links between the Murom culture and the earlier Bezvodninsky-Akhmylovsky cultural tradition, represented by sites across the Volga-Oka interfluve.
Researchers believe comparisons between the new discoveries at Zvyaginsky II and earlier excavations at Podbolotevsky and Malyshevsky burial grounds are beginning to reveal broader cultural processes that shaped the region during the third quarter of the first millennium AD.
According to the expedition, these processes ultimately led to the expansion of Murom culture across the Lower Oka basin, where the population remained established for nearly 500 years despite being divided by the Oka River itself.
The Zvyaginsky II burial ground is now regarded as one of the most comprehensively studied Murom archaeological sites, with modern excavation methods—including advanced digital recording and scientific analysis—providing a far more detailed understanding of burial practices, costume traditions and social organisation than was possible during excavations carried out in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Sources : Russian Academy of Sciences
