Current work site: Aleksandrov, Vladimir Oblast
Head of expedition: Sergey Tomsinsky
The project operated as the Uglich Expedition from 1989 to 2003 before adopting its present name. In 1989–2004 it conducted excavations on the kremlin and Assumption Square in the historical centre of Uglich (Yaroslavl Oblast); on the Grekhovy Brook site; in the town of Myshkin and in the St. Alexis, St. Nicholas and Uleima monasteries.
The studies have confirmed that Uglich was founded in mid-10th c. on the site of earlier settlements associated with the Ancient Russian (9th–10th c.), Merya (7th–9th c.) and Dyakov cultures (former half of the 1st millennium AD) and was characterized by the strong presence of ancient Russian military aristocracy (druzhina) including Scandinavians. Part of the 16th c. cemetery on the Grekhovy Brook on the site of an ancient Russian settlement (11th–13th c.) was explored. Remnants of 15th–16th c. religious and civil buildings were studied in Assumption Square and the St. Nicholas Monastery, including the construction site (interrupted by the 1492 fire) of an aristocratic residence and the ruined masonry of the 16th c. St. Nicholas Cathedral blown up during the Polish invasion in 1610. Assumption Square was found to contain fragments of unique late 15th c. terracotta décor in the Renaissance style. In 2005, part of a cemetery, possibly dating from the 15th and 16th c., was discovered on the Abaturovo site, Uglich District.
In 2005–2008 exploratory works were conducted on the kremlin and mediaeval trading quarter (posad) in Yuryev-Polsky, Vladimir Oblast; the thickness and chronology of the human deposits in the kremlin and the adjacent areas of the trading quarter were identified. The oldest complexes dating from the latter half of the 12th c. were registered; remnants of 17th–19th c. buildings and cellars were unearthed. The large collection of finds obtained from the site provides a vivid picture of the culture and lifestyle of what may have been one of the most fascinating provincial towns in ancient Russia.
The Yuryev-Polsky sites demonstrated that 12th–13th c. human deposits were present throughout the whole of the posad in the ancient Russian city of Mstislavl.
In 2005 the Expedition launched an excavation project on Vassily III and Ivan IV the Terrible’s residence (1513–1582) in Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda, Aleksandrov, Vladimir Oblast. The thickness and chronology of the human deposits in the area of the royal residence have been deter-mined. The team has explored the remnants of white stone buildings of the Tsarina Court with unique “perspective” passages, completely destroyed in the mid-16th c. and previously unstudied. One of the chambers had a deep basement used for storage. Individual finds retrieved from this area include fragments of glazed wall tiles and the tiled clay floor, confirming the suggestion that the royal residence may have been built by the same Italian artists that created the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow. Remnants of foundations of stone structures built during Ivan the Terrible’s reign and destroyed in the 17th c. have been studied. Part of the internal wooden fence in the Tsar’s Court and one of the ponds backfilled in the 18th c. have been unearthed.
The Expedition operates a specialized architectural unit (Supervisor: Е.А. Turova).
