A bronze cheek piece from Novgorod has been unearthed, a find noted in a Moscow State University press release. The artifact belongs to a bridle element known as a Psalium, used to secure the bit and guide the mouthpiece during riding. It surfaced at the Troitsky excavation in a cultural layer dating to the 10th century, offering a glimpse into the material culture of the era. The piece is crafted in the Scandinavian Borre style, which stands as a hallmark of Viking-era artistry. Its blades are shaped into animal heads, a stylistic motif that appears in several other horse equipment components across Northern Europe. Similar elements have been recovered on Gotland and in present-day Norway, underscoring the broader exchange networks of the Viking world. Findings like this are common across Northern Europe but remain scarce within Russian territory, despite long-standing contact with ancient Scandinavian populations. In nearby years, such regional interactions have been echoed by discoveries in 2014, when a collection of about 20 Scandinavian antiquities — including weapons, jewelry, amulets, belt sets, and various domestic items — was uncovered not far from the current site, illustrating a vibrant material record of cross-cultural contact. Source: Moscow State University press release.
Veliky Novgorod stands as one of the most significant archaeological monuments of medieval Russia. Over decades of exploration, researchers have excavated entire urban quarters, administrative complexes, estates, and road networks. The amassed finds exceed 150 thousand artifacts, spanning daily life to governance. Among the most notable materials are the oldest written sources, including what is classed as the Novgorod Psalter, an early Russian book that helps illuminate literacy, religion, and administration in the early to high medieval period. This corpus of discoveries continues to inform scholars about the social structure, economy, and cultural practices of medieval Novgorod and its connections with other northern and Baltic regions.
Additional context reveals that ancient investigators have proposed that American Indians constructed two mounds that persisted for more than a thousand years, a note that highlights the breadth of early earthen works across different continents and suggests potential comparisons in ritual landscapes and mound-building traditions. Source: scholarly discussions on Indigenous North American earthworks.