Timerevo

Timerevo (Russian: Тимерёво, Timeryovo) is an archaeological site near the village of Bolshoe Timeryovo, seven kilometers southwest of Yaroslavl, Russia, which yielded the largest deposits of early medieval Arabic coins in Northern Europe.

The site covers an area of five hectares and has no fortifications. It seems to have been operated by the Varangians from their principal base at Sarskoe Gorodishche, near Rostov. Like Sarskoe, it is situated at a distance from a major waterway — the Volga River. Nevertheless, substantial amounts of Arabic coins indicate its position as the most important Scandinavian trade outpost in the proximity of the Volga trade route.

The site was first settled by a mixture of Norse merchants and local population in the ninth century. This dating is based on three major hoards of dirhams that were detected at Timeryovo since the 1960s. The first hoard, numbering about 2,100 coins, was dispersed before scholars learnt about its existence. Only seventeen coins are known from this deposit, the earliest datable to 867. Another hoard also numbering more than 2,000 dirhams (entire and in pieces), was the largest deposit of such coins ever found from Early Medieval Europe. The earliest coin was issued by Idris II (who reigned in the 810s and 820s). Many dirhams have Runic graffiti carved on them.

The site was abandoned towards the end of the ninth century, only to be revived half a century later. At least 400 druzhina kurgans were erected there in that period. The burial rite normally featured cremation. Excavations revealed an unusual amount of Scandinavian pottery and a surprising number of crosses, indicating that a large portion of the Norse population was Christianised. Among other finds were amber artifacts from the Baltic, a unique roaster, a spatha labelled by a certain Ulfbert from the Rhine, and a chess piece with an enigmatic Runic inscription (illustrated, to the right).

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