Ax from Shekshov

The Shekshov ax differs from standard hatchets of this type with a silver decor covering the neck and butt, on the end part of the butt the ornament is made of inlaid silver on iron, on the side faces - plating (a silver plate is applied on the iron, on which the figure was cut in advance).

In addition to ornamental figures, on one of the side faces of the ax there is an image of a straight cross with a long lower blade, on the other - an image of a two-prong with a triangular protrusion at the base and teeth bent outward (an early generic sign of Rurikov’s house ), on the end of the neck - an image of a trident with a triangle at the base there is a tamga - shaped sign close to the signs of princes Vladimir Svyatoslavich and Yaroslav Vladimirovich.

The trident, as well as the trident on the side face, have clear outlines, these are clearly recognizable signs, and not ornamental figures.

Some researchers call the tamga-shaped two-pronged common generic sign of the Princes Rurikov's house, the use of which was limited to the 10th - early 11th centuries. But S.V. Beletsky clarifies that only representatives of the senior branch of the Rurikovich clan used this simple double-tooth: Igor Rurikovich , Svyatoslav Igorevich , Yaropolk Svyatoslavich and Svyatopolk Yaropolchich , and then it was not used ^[2] . In his article, Beletsky hypothesizes that the double-pronged hatchet belonged to Svyatopolk Yaropolchich.

In the summer of 2011, the Suzdal expedition of the Institute of Archeology discovered and explored the remains of one of the mounds of the medieval burial ground near the village. Shekshovo in the Suzdal Opole . Kurgan burial ground in the vicinity of. Shekshovo is known as one of the largest in the center of Suzdal: in 1852, A. S. Uvarov excavated 244 embankments here.

No traces of mounds have been preserved at present, however, knowing the location of the settlements, archaeologists were able to localize the approximate place of the burial ground and identify a ditch in one of the excavations, surrounding a 17 × 18 m rounded area in plan, on which, apparently, the mound was located.

In the center of the site, at the level of the ancient day surface, a battle ax was cleared with traces of silver inlay, severely damaged by corrosion, and a silver horseshoe-shaped brooch with gilding. Obviously, these things accompanied the male burial, the bone remains of which were not preserved.

The value of the find for studying the early history of North-Eastern Russia was fully appreciated after the restoration of the ax, carried out in the laboratory of the State Historical Museum by V. A. Shiryakov. Under the corrosion layer, not only an ornament was revealed, but also tamga-shaped princely signs ("signs of the Rurikovich"), which had never been seen before on such objects.

New excavations of the Shekshovo burial ground in the Suzdal Opole were carried out in 2017. Of great interest is the burialless medieval burial of a woman of 20-29 years old. About 140 items have been cleared here - costume jewelry and clothing details ^[3] .

Hatchets with silver inlay are the ceremonial weapon of the 10th-12th centuries, represented by a small group of finds originating from the territory of Northern Russia, the Volga Bulgaria, Scandinavia, the Baltic States and Poland. A significant part of hatchets are random finds, only a few come from excavations and are properly documented. Among hatchets with silver decor, objects that form the standard series with close ornamentation and individual samples stand out.

Typological Parallels

About two dozen ornamented hatchets with a notched butt are known, eight of them come from the territory of Russia, most of them are decorated with the same decor. Dated copies belong to the second half of the XI - the first third of the XII centuries.

Among the individual samples - the famous Old Ladoga hatchet. This is a narrow-blade ax with relief ornaments and animal images found in 1910. G. F. Korzukhina called him “one of the wonders of Ladoga” and dated it to the beginning of the 11th century. Perhaps its creator was a native of Sweden and worked in one of the urban centers of Northern Russia ^{[4] [5]} .

A miniature bronze Simbirsk (Ulyanovsk) hatchet with a steel blade was found in 1913 and published by Spitsin in 1915 ^[6] . On this ax there is also the sign of the Rurikovich (trident), depicted 3 times. At the end of the middle tooth of the trident is a cross. The ax dates from the 12th century, based on the trident style. It is described in the work of P. Kotovich (2013) on p. 50 ^[7] .

The village of Bilyarsk (Bilyar) in Tatarstan occupies an interesting position in the history of Russian arms art. About 5 unusual ancient hatchets were found here (although they are often associated with the Baltic region). Spitsyn published them already in 1915 in three photographs ^[8] . One of the axes from Bilyarsk (the so-called “Andrey Bogolyubsky ax”) is also presented in more modern publications ^{[9] [10]} .

Some of these highly artistic works of weaponry are now kept in the State Historical Museum and the State Hermitage .

A recent find from the necropolis in Pien in Povislenie (Poland) was published by A. Yanovsky ^[11] . According to P. Kotovich, the ax was discovered in a chamber grave with rich utensils of a mature man. Burial can be dated to the end of the Xth or first half of the XIth century. Probably, the ax is connected with Northern or North-Eastern Europe. The ornament in the form of inlaid sheet strips is made of silver. Also on the ax is a variant of the Crutch Cross ^[12] .

Inlaid Greek crosses are found on two more axes found in northern Russia. Kotovich shows them in the same Figure 8.

The first of them (Fig. 8: 2) was discovered in 1853 in a mound of the 11th century in the Settlement ^[13] .

The second comes from the former village of Lukovets (Vologda Oblast) (Fig. 8: 3) and was found in a fortress belonging to the second half of the 10th – 11th centuries ^[14] .

The hatchet from Shekshovo, of course, is an individual product, although the principle of the location of the ornament and some elements of the composition are common to a number of samples.

Placement on the ax of tamga-shaped princely signs is almost a unique phenomenon. Not so often used in their design and crosses; we find their images on the Simbirsk hatchet, and, possibly, on one of the hatchets from Bilyar. There are quite a few crosses on axes, especially in the Baltic region ^[15] .

Signs of Rurikovich

Tamga in the form of a trident with a triangle on the middle prong was not previously found among princely signs. It is close to tridents, which are placed on the coins of Vladimir and Yaroslav and are identified as their personal signs. It is possible to note the similarity of this tamga with the trident signs with the middle tooth in the form of a pointed point with protrusions at the base, known on Vladimir’s silver and trapezoidal pendants, but there are no grounds to see identical signs in them.

Obviously, a tamga with a triangle on the middle tooth of the trident could belong to one of the closest relatives of Vladimir and Yaroslav.

The chronicle has preserved news of only two Rurikovichs who occupied the Rostov table in the late 10th and early 11th centuries. - Yaroslav and his brother Boris, who succeeded Yaroslav after Rostov’s reign, after the latter’s transfer to Novgorod. It is likely that the tamga-shaped sign with a triangle on the middle prong belonged to Boris Vladimirovich , but this attribution cannot be strictly proved.

Without data for accurate personal attribution of the tamga-shaped sign at the end of the hatchet (as well as for determining the personal identity of many other signs), we can nevertheless reliably relate it to the circle of emblems of the late X - early XI centuries. and date the hatchet by this time. A combination of a trident and a trident indicates an early date.

S.V. Beletsky also admits the possibility that the tamga-shaped trident could belong to Boris Vladimirovich, but he prefers a different version. In his opinion, the trident on the hatchet most likely belonged to the son of Vladimir Svyatoslavich Vsevolod Vladimirovich . In this case, the owner of the ax received his power simultaneously from Svyatopolk Yaropolchich and Vsevolod Vladimirovich ^[16] .

Beletsky suggests that the history of this ax may be associated with some turmoil that occurred in the last years of the reign of Vladimir Svyatoslavich.

“Didn’t it pass at the beginning of the second decade of the 11th century? the sluggish front-line Svyatopolk’s confrontation into an open confrontation with Kiev, and into such a confrontation in which the twenty-five-year-old Svyatopolk of Turov took the side of the twenty-five-year-old Vsevolod Volynsky, who became one of the participants in the conspiracy against the great Kiev prince? ” ^[17] .

In this case, the date when the ax was made and handed to a certain governor, who ruled in this area as governor, is determined about 1012 years.

As you know, shortly before the death of Vladimir in 1015, Svyatopolk and his wife were in custody in Kiev . They were put in prison about 1012-1013 years.

The find of an ornamented hatchet with princely trident and trident in Shekshov burial ground is remarkable in many respects. This is one of the earliest examples of ceremonial weapons of this kind found in the territory of Russia.

The find expands the small number of tamga-shaped princely signs of the late X - early XI centuries, known to science today. This is the first case recorded by archeology of placing tamga-shaped signs on an expensive ceremonial weapon, acting as a symbol of power. Obviously, the ax, as well as the silver brooch fastener found next to it, was accompanied by the burial of a high-ranking representative of the princely authority (the high status of the buried in the mound is also indicated by the size of the embankment, the diameter of which was almost double the average value for Suzdal Opolie of 8-10 m).

Thus, the front hatchet indicates the presence at the beginning of the XI century. princely administration in the emerging centers of Old Russian settlement in the North-East of Russia, in territories that, as it was recently believed, were for a long time managed by the local nobility and were little affected by the voyage.

• Edged weapons of Ancient Russia
• Mint (ax)
• Medieval weapons

• I. E. Zaitseva, E. K. Stolyarova, On a burial of the Shekshovo burial ground in the Suzdal Opolie. Native land of the past fate ... On the anniversary of A.E. Leontyev - M .: Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2018.328 p. ISBN 978-5-94375-262-9
• Makarov N.A., Zaitseva I.E., Krasnikova A.M. Ceremonial hatchet with princely signs from the Suzdal Opolie // Fundamental problems of archeology, anthropology and ethnography of Eurasia. To the 70th anniversary of academician A.P. Derevyanko. Novosibirsk: Publishing House of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography SB RAS, 2013.P. 435-444.
• N.A. Makarov , A.M. Krasnikova , I.E. Zaitseva . New studies of the medieval cemetery Shekshovo in the Suzdal Opole. 04/14/2014
• Zaitseva I.E. Products from non-ferrous metals and silver // Archeology of the North Russian village of the X — XIII centuries. t. II. M., Science, 2008
• Makarov N. A., Krasnikova A. M., Karpukhin A. A. The burial mounds of the Suzdal okrug in the context of studying medieval settlement and funerary traditions // Veliky Novgorod and medieval Russia: Collection of articles dedicated to the 80th anniversary of academician V. L. Yanin. M., 2009.S. 432-454.
• Sedova M.V. Suzdal in the 10th-15th centuries. M., 1997.
• Ravdina T.V. Burials of the 10th — 11th centuries with coins in the territory of Ancient Russia: Catalog. M .: Nauka, 1988.