Archaeological practice with the students from Oxford

Within the educational internship the students of the 2d grade of the educational program “The History” of the National Research University HSE – Perm went on archaeological expedition. This year the diggings at the Mokinsky burial ground were executed in cooperation with the students-archeologists from Oxford University.

Vitaliy Mingalev, Assistant Professor of the Department of Humanitarian Subjects, is the head of the expedition. During several weeks the students participate in the diggings at the Mokinsky burial ground, which is the monument of the early Iron Age in the Perm region. The students have already removed the upper layer at the diggings, reached the firm land and soon will start to open old tombs. They can find beads, noise-making pendants, Perm zoomorphic ornament, and maybe make archeological discovery!

This year the expedition was joined by the students-archeologists from the Oxford University. For the students of HSE, it is a great opportunity to practice and improve command of English language given that geologists and historians can always find mutual talking points.

It should be noted that the Mokinsky burial ground was opened in 1924, but deep archeological studies started at the end of 1980-1990s. More than 200 tombs have been studied up to this day. Along with the local population, resettlers from southern regions of the Kama River area were buried at this burial ground. Peculiarities of the obsequies reflect difficult ethnopolitical situation in the Transurals area in the early times of A.D.