Under the influence of rumors about valuable finds in the excavations conducted by Professor Samokvasov in August [1909] at the Gochevo settlement [present-day the Belov district of the Kursk region] the peasants began to look for treasures. They started by digging a few ditches on the island of two arshins [142 cm] long, one arshin wide and one arshin deep, but they did not find anything. So, they began to dig through the mounds, and opened 12 mounds with their shafts. According to the belief of the peasants, the treasure is given to a man in his hands only at night, so the excavations were carried out by moonlight. Therefore, the treasure hunters could only see large pieces. According to their accounts, they found burials with 2–5 bones in each grave, in one grave there were seven bones; in each grave there were large and small clay vessels and the skeletons of small animals (skeletons of moles or mole rats?); the burials on the mainland were both in earth pits without coffins and in coffins made of thick logs; apparently, some burials were with the bodies in a sitting posture. All the vessels were broken by peasants.