One of the most interesting, from an archaeological point of view, places on the Don is located in Rostov itself. We are talking about the oldest in Eastern Europe Liventsovskaya fortress - a monument of fortification art of the Bronze Age, which experts call "Donskoy Troy".
The fortress was built in ancient times by the tribes of the North Caucasian catacomb culture. Now this place is located on the edge of the Don capital. The opening of the Liventsovskaya fortress in the mid-1950s was greeted as a worldwide sensation. The historical significance is about the same as that of real Troy, because it is the only stone fortress on the territory of southern Russia, which dates back to the Middle Bronze Age, to the 17th century BC.
At the end of the 2nd millennium BC. nomads appeared near the walls of the Liventsovskaya fortress two meters thick. Excavations testify to a grandiose battle, which ended not in favor of the defenders of the ancient citadel. In the cracks between the stones and in the ditch, silicon arrowheads were found - only 700 pieces. Fragments of battle axes found. This was the end of the history of the Liventsovskaya fortress.
They are going to breathe a second breath into the cooled stones in the short term. The regional authorities have created a project of an ethnoarchaeological complex, which is called “Donskaya Troy”. A number of interactive and playgrounds are planned, aimed at popularizing the historical heritage of the Don region. For example, it is assumed that there is a site for a paleontological excavation, as well as a site dedicated to ancient water transport. There is an idea to use the facility as a tourist complex during the 2018 FIFA World Cup - after all, the World Cup matches will also be held in Rostov.
The regional government has taken a course towards the restoration of ancient monuments and the development of domestic tourism in the Don region. Its unique archaeological sites can become a real magnet, attracting not only history lovers from all over the country, but also foreign researchers, and just tourists from all over the world. They play an equally important role for local residents. By becoming familiar with the ancient history of their land, people begin to appreciate their small homeland even more and feel personal responsibility for everything that happens here. "Transformations in the country are impossible without the spiritual and cultural education of a person," - said the governor of the Rostov region Vasily Golubev.
The Donetsk residents can only get more reasons for pride in the future. Back at the end of the 19th century, in a letter to the oldest Don local historian Khariton Popov, the prominent Russian archaeologist Alexander Spitsyn pointed out: “Don is so unknown to us that one can expect to find anything on it”. More than a hundred years have passed since then, but these words remain in force.
The territory of the modern Rostov region has been inhabited since ancient times. Historians find mention of these lands among many peoples of the ancient world. For example, the Greeks called the Don region Scythia, the Romans called Scytia or Sarmatia, and the Arabs called the steppe land near the Don Kazaria and Gazaria. In the Russian chronicles of the XIV-XV centuries, the name Wild Field was fixed, and since the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the possessions of the Cossacks began to be called nothing but Don.
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Free Don … Since the hoary antiquity its fertile shores have attracted newcomers from different places. Archaeologists have discovered sites of primitive people almost along the entire course of the river, and the Liventsovskaya fortress, located on the outskirts of Rostov-on-Don, has preserved traces of the Bronze Age culture.
During the Iron Age, a real merry-go-round of successive peoples who fought for fertile lands spun on the Don. The Cimmerians were driven out by the Scythians, the Scythians - by the Sarmatians, then power passed to their most warlike tribe - the Alans. An important milestone for the development of the steppe region was the emergence of Greek colonies, the northernmost of which was the city of Tanais, now famous among historians - in the past, a large trade and craft center. During their centuries-old turbulent history, the Greek cities experienced periods of prosperity and decline and eventually fell under the blows of numerous nomads who swept the Don lands during the Great Migration.
In the 4th century A. D. the Avars came to the Don. Decades later, they were replaced by the Khazars, who founded their settlements here and left the memory of their stay in the form of the Sarkel fortress, which is now at the bottom of the Tsimlyansk reservoir.
The raids of the Khazar nomads became a real terror for the southern lands of Kievan Rus, which posed a significant threat to the stability of the ancient Russian state. The squads of the Kiev prince Svyatoslav set out on a campaign against the enemy. They inflicted a crushing defeat on the Khazars and captured Sarkel. A Slavic city called Belaya Vezha was founded in its place. Unfortunately, then the Russians did not manage to gain a foothold for a long time, and under the pressure of constant attacks of warlike nomadic tribes they left for the central regions of Russia.
Soon the Don lands were occupied by the Pechenegs, they were in turn replaced by the Polovtsian tribes. The Polovtsi captured the vast steppe areas of the Azov, Don, Kuban, captured the Tmutarakan principality, and then for many years carried out devastating raids on the outskirts of the Russian state, sometimes reaching Pereyaslavl, Chernigov and even Kiev.
A new threat arose in the person of the Mongol-Tatars, who at the beginning of the 13th century turned their eyes to the Don. In fear of their formidable armies, the Polovtsians, forgetting the previous enmity, hastily turned to the Russians for help, and in 1223 the famous battle on the Kalka River took place, which ended in the defeat of the combined troops of the Russians and Polovtsians. The Don land for many years was in the hands of the Golden Horde. On the coast of the Sea of Azov, the Golden Horde city of Azak was built, which, due to its favorable geographical position, quickly became a large trade center. Near Azak, Genoese and Venetian merchants founded the Tana colony, which also played an important role in trade relations between East and West.
At the end of the XIV century, Don was invaded by the hordes of Tamerlane, which put an end to the southwestern part of the Golden Horde state. Azak and Tana were plundered. Taking advantage of the collapse of the Mongol-Tatars, the coast of the Azov Sea is captured by the growing Ottoman Empire. The Turks renamed Azak to Azov and turned it into a formidable fortress. From here, the main danger for the southeastern borders of Russia began to emerge, provoking centuries-old battles for Azov.
Over time, the borders of the sprawling Russian state came close to the Wild Field. On the border territories, outposts were set up, Russian fortresses were erected. In the 15th century, fugitive peasants rushed to the vast expanses of the steppe from Central Russia and the Volga region in search of a better life, giving rise to a new military class - the Cossacks. From the middle of the 16th century, they founded their towns - Razdory, Manych, Cherkassk - and became the sole rulers of this land. Wild Field turns into Free Don.
Yuri Pozdnyak