Khаrlashov B.N. (Candidate of historical sciences,

Senior researcher of Independent non-profit

organization “Pskov archaeological center”)

Within the framework of the implementation of the international project «Archaeology, authority, community: cooperation to protect archaeological heritage», which is carried out with the financial aid of “Estonia-Latvia-Russia cross border cooperation Programme within European Neighborhood and Partnership instrument 2007-2013”and with the support of the regional long term purpose oriented programme “The cultural heritage of the Pskov region” archaeological excavations were carried out in Vibouty ancient settlement from July 8 to July 31, 2013. According to archaeological research of 1980-1990-s Vibouty ancient settlement used to exist from the second half of the I millennium A.D. till the XVIII century.¹

At the first stage the archeological excavations were carried out mostly by the participants of the volunteer camp (the camp was working from July, 8 to July, 22 and gathered volunteers from Pskov, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Orenburg and Tartu). To finish the archaeological excavations the contract-workers of Pskov Archaeological center were invited. The studying of the archaeological layer began in the area of 64 m2, located on the bank of the Velikaya river, 168 meters to the west from the XV century st. Elijah’s church. Then the excavation pit became bigger, becoming 74 m2 because of the slope of the steep river bank. One of the main objectives was to study the ancient cultural layer in the zone of the bank’s sliding down into the Velikaya river. On the riverbank the thickness of the cultural layer reached 1,6 m. This year’s excavation site №7 was located very closely to the excavation site №2 (dug in 1989). The total area, studied by archaeologists in this part of the ancient settlement was 314 m2. As a result of the conducted research a collection of 145 objects was created, samples for radiocarbon and archeozoological analyses were collected.

The most ancient archaeological finds of 2013 were: the fragments of roughly made molded ceramics, decorated with pit-ornament, slashes and irregular dashes, dating from the first phase of the early iron age (the 1^st half of the I millennium B.C.). The finds of ceramics were accompanied by silicic flakes, however no undamaged implements of labour could be found. Thus it is possible to date the old settlement as having existed in much earlier time. It has become possible to view this ancient settlement as a multi-layered phenomenon.

The next period of the settlement’s life (just like in earlier archaeological research) is represented by the molded smooth surface ceramics with the admixture of coarse sand in the dough. Only small fragments of pots were found, however they are analogous to the pots found in the lower layers of the ancient settlement sites of Pskov, Kamno and Izborsk and can be dated the 2^nd half of the I millennium A.D. Among the ceramic pots found during archaeological excavations there is a fragment of a polished bowl of the so called “Rouge type”. In addition to the ceramics we can attribute as being from the same time period such objects, found during the archaeological excavations of 2013, as: an onlay in the shape of a shell made of some non-ferrous metal, a brown barrel-like bead with dots, a fragment of a clay spindle whorl.

The implements of labour, domestic implements (knifes and their fragments, a borer, a bridle bit), discovered during archaeological excavations, date back to the XI – XIV centuries. Also the fragments of rings, bracelets, wire temple rings, bronze chains, consisting from paired rings, fragments of trapezoidal pendants and a clay bead were found. In addition to the objects, mentioned above the cultural layer contained numerous fragments of ornamented ceramics from the XI-XIV centuries, well known due to archaeological excavations in Pskov and Izborsk.

The life of the residents of Vibouty in XV – XVIII centuries is characterized by the numerous nails (for construction, for fixing horse shoes, for making shoes), staples, crosses, a cutting tool, a Polish XVII century coin, glass beads, numerous fragments of clay pots for cooking and for festive meals, fragments of tiles, window and crockery glass.