Archaeologists discovered objects of French origin and other intriguing artefacts during excavations near the Taz River in Yamalo-Nenets autonomous region, Russian Federation. The artefacts are said to date back 300 years to the time of Luis XIV reign.

The artefacts were found within a grave belonging to the Selkup people, which ancestry dates to the Neolithic cultures of the 3rd century BC, as they were the origin of a wide range of tribes from the Eastern Ural region of Western Siberia. In all some 300 archaeological finds were made at two sites in the region.

It is believed that the French finds and other items were bartered by Russians to the Northern Selkups, who were hunters and fishermen, who also herded reindeer. It may be also possible that the tsarist government bought metal from items no longer used in European countries and that is how the coins were brought to the remote region.

Among the finds are counting tokens that depict Louis XIV, several iron knives with handles with enamel decorations produced by Russians, a lion figurine of uncertain origin, brass decorations made by Russian masters, ancient jewellery made in Western Siberia and the Urals, namely earrings, noise-making pendants, and a remarkable sets of buttons manufactured between the 12th and 18th centuries.

(after The Siberian Times, IPDN, Krasny Sever & Natalia Ryabogina)