First results of new studies of the Gnezdilovo cemetery near Suzdal

Search for medieval burial sites which had been under excavations in 1851– 1852 in the framework of A. S. Uvarov’s field campaign and later became invisible in the landscape with the destruction of the barrows which marked the location of the burials on the intensively cultivated lands are going on for twenty years. Surveys are conducted by Suzdal expedition of the Institute of Archaeology RAS and State Historical Museum. Methods and techniques of these surveys became more effective in the recent years with the progress of GIS, georeferencing of maps of the 1851 excavations and introduction of remote sensing and geophysical prospections for the detection of barrow platforms and areas with the flat in-ground inhumation graves. Recent field investigations at Gnezdilovo burial site demonstrate high scientific value of the sites which were previously regarded as completely destroyed