Severed jaws – traces of Finns found in the Volga region

Scientists from Samara University, the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan for the first time discovered a burial in the Nizhny Novgorod region, which indicates the presence of Western Finns in the Volga region in the 1st century AD. Experts believe that this monument belongs to the Piseraly-Andreevsky group, since the artifacts found and traces of the burial of warriors with the upper jaws of killed enemies indicate this.

In 2023, a group of scientists from Samara National Research University named after Academician S.P. Korolev (Samara University), the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IA RAS) and the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan discovered a unique archaeological site in the Nizhny Novgorod region. Burials from three periods were found in this site: 5th–4th centuries. BC, 1st century AD, 2nd–3rd centuries. n. e. Found objects of household and military use allow scientists to judge the culture that existed in these territories in different eras.

Oleg Radyush, a researcher at the Department of Archeology of the Great Migration and Early Middle Ages at the Institute of Archives of the Russian Academy of Sciences, noted that the most significant find is a horizon dating back to the 1st century AD. This horizon belongs to the Piseral-Andreevsky group, like the famous Andreevsky Kurgan in the Republic of Mordovia. There are only a few such monuments known in the Volga region, which help determine the time and geography of migration of various ethnic groups at the turn of the era.

According to experts from Samara University, the Sursko-Sviyazhsk interfluve, where these finds were made, was an intermediate territory between the Western and Eastern Finns. The study of this area is aimed at determining the time of the appearance of Western Finns in the Volga region, who are the ancestors of the Mari, Moksha and Erzya.

Oleg Radyush noted: “We found military equipment in our Pilninsky burial ground that is similar to those found on the St. Andrew’s Mound. Chain mail, spearheads, helmets, swords and arrows clearly connect these two archaeological sites.”