Archaeologists from the Kulikovo Pole museum-reserve in Russia have uncovered the tip of a tamga belt dating to the 1st–2nd centuries AD, found during investigations of a settlement near the village of Barybinki. The find was reported by RIA Novosti and highlights a rare link to a broader treasure trove of women’s jewelry tied to the Central Sarmatian culture. This trove was first uncovered by a so-called black digger, a term used in the field for anonymous metal detectors or opportunistic diggers who uncover significant items outside sanctioned excavations.
What makes the belt fragment remarkable is its end, which is preserved only in partial form yet bears a tamga—a Sarmatian sign that enjoyed popularity in the early centuries of our era. The fragment attaches to the belt by a leather rivet. Excavations indicate that the end piece of the women’s jewelry aligns with the treasure in age, suggesting a shared chronological framework and cultural context for these artifacts.
To determine the treasure’s origin, archaeologists conducted targeted digs at the site where the find was originally made, located in the Shcheglovskaya Zaseka forest area. The researchers aimed to understand how the treasure arrived at this place and what it might reveal about trade routes, social structure, and ritual practices within the Central Sarmatian communities.
The ancient settlement, positioned along a tributary of the Sinetulitsa River, yielded artifacts spanning several periods, including pieces from the Middle Ages. This layered archaeology provides a fuller picture of long-term habitation and evolving material culture in the region, showing how successive communities reused and repurposed local landscapes over centuries.
Experts note that the forthcoming results of the fieldwork will be published, and the treasure is planned to be on display in a dedicated exhibition at the Museum Quarter of Tula by the end of 2024. The planned exhibit will offer visitors a rare chance to view the intertwined stories of Sarmatian ornamentation, gendered material culture, and the broader historical processes that shaped the area during late antiquity.
Previously reported discoveries in related regions include the identification of a 3,500-year-old nomadic site in Azerbaijan that preserved intact pottery, underscoring a long continuum of mobility and cultural exchange across Eurasia that contextualizes these Russian finds within a wider historical framework.