A necropolis with stone battle axes, 4,500 years old, was discovered by archaeologists in Istra near Moscow, the regional Ministry of Culture said.
The burials belong to the bearers of the Fatyanovo culture - the first cattle breeders and farmers on the Russian Plain. These complexes are the same age as the pyramids of Cheops in Ancient Egypt and the gold-bearing royal tombs of Ur in Ancient Mesopotamia. The necropolis dating back to 2600-2500 BC was discovered by an expedition of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
“The appearance of the Fatyanovo burial ground in Istra is associated with the displacement of carriers of battle ax cultures and the territory of Northern and Central Europe to the forest zone of Eastern Europe, which led to the inclusion of this territory in the global European world of battle axes and Corded Ware. The new find may shed light on the genesis of this culture, the ways of their migration and their ancestry in the formation of the Eastern European tribes,”the article says.
The excavations have just begun, but the first artifacts have already been found in the necropolis. Among the finds of researchers are battle and ritual axes, dart points, a knife blade and burial vessels.