MOSCOW, RUSSIA—Belarusian Telegraph Agency reports that a one-of-a-kind artifact was found during excavations near Moscow’s Church of the Icon of the Mother of God—a lead seal dating to the rule of Ivan III (reigned 1462–1505). It was among the 3,000 objects that have been uncovered at the site in recent years. The sixteenth-century seal is the first grand ducal seal ever found in the city and the last known example made of lead. Soon after these items, which were fixed to important political documents, began to be made from wax. One side of the seal depicts an image of St. George the Victorious, a prominent national symbol, while the other bears the inscription, “Seal of Prince Ivan Vasilievich the Great.” To read about a fourteenth- or fifteenth-century birchbark letter discovered during excavations of a medieval road near the Kremlin, go to "Medieval Russian Memo."
