And at its bottom, a dark sediment was visible.
This find was found by archaeologists of Phanagoria back in 2018. During excavations on the territory of the Eastern Necropolis in a tomb of the 2nd century AD. e. there was balsamarium - a tightly sealed glass vessel. But, what is interesting, from the moment of burial it has preserved (!) Liquid. The vessel was half full, and a dark sediment was visible at the bottom.
“In the overwhelming majority of cases, such glass vessels, used in funeral ceremonies, are found filled with soil or empty (for two millennia their contents have completely evaporated),” Komsomolskaya Pravda-Kuban tells the press service of the antique monument “Phanagoria”.
An archaeologist examines the burial of a warrior. Photo: the press service of the ancient monument "Fanagoria".
According to archaeologists, the liquid in the vessel was preserved due to the fact that its neck was hermetically closed with a cork, and later, when the vault of the crypt collapsed, it was also sealed with clay.
But most of all, scientists wanted to figure out what the balsamar contained in it. To get to the truth, scientists sent the find for a comprehensive study to the Institute of Petrochemical Synthesis of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
And now, after months of research, it turned out that the Phanagoria vessel was filled with a salty liquid. But the concentration of salt in it is much higher than that of the seawater of the Taman Bay. - The results of research, as well as data on the funeral traditions of antiquity, suggest that the liquid in the vessel could contain tears of people who mourned the death of a warrior, scientists continue. - Such vessels - lacrimaria - are described in biblical texts as "holding back the tears of mourners."
According to the researchers, the lacrimaria were filled with tears of people who mourned loved ones, after which the vessel was placed in the crypt.
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The contents of the vessel also contained traces of aromatic compounds (possibly special incense that was placed in tombs), as well as sulfur dioxide, which could have entered the flask as a preservative.
Eastern necropolis. Warrior with balsamar. Photo: the press service of the ancient monument "Fanagoria".
“The warrior with a golden wreath, who found his last refuge in a Roman crypt on the Eastern necropolis of Phanagoria, was clearly not an ordinary citizen,” says Aleksey Voroshilov, head of the Necropolis detachment of the Fanagoria expedition. - A man of 20-30 years old from a wealthy urban family was an equestrian warrior. A long iron sword at the left leg, the hilt of which is put into the hand of the deceased rider, unambiguously testifies to his belonging to horseback riding.
The glass vessel, as can be clearly seen in the photo, was installed at the warrior's head in the corner of the sarcophagus and has been perfectly preserved for nearly two millennia.
EVGENIYA KHILKO