Pages: 77-92

The “skeleton of the Russian knight, in chain mail and a helmet” found “under the ruins of a burned-out gate tower” during the excavations of the Great Shepetovka Settlement is known mainly from the words of its researcher M. K. Karger and thanks to a brief information on weapons from this complex in the book by A. N. Kirpichnikov about the old Russian armament. The authors referred to the study of sources and were able to clarify the location and reconstruct the circumstances of the death and composition of the armament of a noble ancient Russian warrior of the 13th century. Moreover, instead of one defender of the town, the remains of several warriors and several sets of weapons were revealed there. This work is the first stage in the study of the complex of the ancient Russian armament and defensive structures, discovered in 1959 in the southwestern part of Shepetovka settlement. Full publication of the complex is possible only after a comprehensive restoration of the studied finds.

Keywords: Old Rus, 13th century, armament, defensive fortifications, military complex, reconstruction, breast cross-encolpion

Information about authors:

Kirill Mikhailov (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Anna Peskova (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]