200px, Shum-gora, August 2013, as viewed from the North-East Shum Gora () is a massive

kurgan A kurgan is a type of tumulus (burial mound) constructed over a grave, often characterized by containing a single human body along with grave vessels, weapons, and horses. Originally in use on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, kurgans spread into mu ...

(

tumulus A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found through ...

) situated in Peredolskaya Volost, near the bank of the

Luga River The Luga () is a river in Novgorodsky and Batetsky Districts of Novgorod Oblast and Luzhsky, Volosovsky, Slantsevsky, and Kingiseppsky Districts of Leningrad Oblast of Russia. The river flows into the Luga Bay of the Gulf of Finland. It free ...

, Batetsky District,

Novgorod Oblast Novgorod Oblast () is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Veliky Novgorod. Some of the oldest Russian cities, including Veliky Novgorod and Staraya Russa, are located in the oblast. The historic m ...

northwestern Russia Northwest Russia, or the Russian North is the northern part of European Russia, western Russia. It is bounded by Norway, Finland, the Arctic Ocean, the Ural Mountains and the east-flowing part of the Volga. The area is roughly coterminous with th ...

, about 60 km west of

Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( ; , ; ), also known simply as Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the oldest cities in Russia, being first mentioned in the 9th century. The city lies along the V ...

. The hill was formerly involved in local liturgical practice. 19th century sources record that three crosses standing on its top, but by the 20th century these had been removed. During the mid 19th century, there used to be processions, with pilgrims walking three times around the hill before ascending it to "listen to the noise" and leave small sacrifices in a pit at the top. People suffering from headache used to put sand from the pit in their ears. These practices are described by A. A. Panchenko in 1998. The site and the associated folk customs were first described by M. Bystrov in 1879. Bystrov records the tradition that the sand from the hill had miraculous power on

Trinity Sunday Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christianity, Western Christian liturgical year, liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity. Trinity Sunday celebrates the Christian doctrine of the ...

, and that if the hill was ascended on that day, the sound of bells could be heard if one "listened in a special way", and that on this day, pilgrims from as far as 50 miles away would come to the hill in hope of curing headaches. The kurgan has not been excavated, but in 2002 a georadar survey was performed by the Russian Federal Geological Institute (ВСЕГЕИ), and in 2003 to 2004, the Institute for the History of Material Culture of the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...

has done experimental surveys testing non-intrusive archaeological methods. The kurgan is 14.6 m in height and 70 m in diameter, comparable in proportion to the largest Migration era tumuli in Scandinavia such as Raknehaugen. Aleksashin (2006) discusses a boulder with a monogrammatic inscription he found on the hill in 2003. He compares the inscription to Carolingian monograms and based on this revives the theory which identifies

Rurik Rurik (also spelled Rorik, Riurik or Ryurik; ; ; died 879) was a Varangians, Varangian chieftain of the Rus' people, Rus' who, according to tradition, was invited to reign in Veliky Novgorod, Novgorod in the year 862. The ''Primary Chronicle' ...

, the founder of the

Kievan Rus Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,. * was the first East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas of Russ ...

, with

Rorik of Dorestad Rorik (, ; ; – ) was a Danish Viking, who ruled over parts of Friesland between 841 and 873, conquering Dorestad and Utrecht in 850. Rorik swore allegiance to Louis the German in 873. He was born in Denmark around 800. He died at some point ...

.S. S. Aleksashin, «Надписи на камнях с сопки Шум-гора: проблемы интерпретации и опыт прочтения» опубликована в сборнике «Скандинавские чтения 2004 года». СПб.2006.
online version

References

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External links

(countrysite.spb.ru) Archaeological sites in Russia Kurgans Geography of Novgorod Oblast Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Novgorod Oblast Anti-Swedish sentiment