The number of identified monuments of cultural heritage in Adygea over the past ten years, thanks to the excavations carried out by archaeologists, has increased almost 2.5 times - from 1.6 thousand in 2008 to 4 thousand this year, the head of the republican department for protection and use of objects of cultural heritage Rustem Tsipinov.
“Adygea attracts the country's archaeologists, archaeological expeditions are constantly working here. Over the past ten years, the list of identified cultural heritage sites has grown by almost 2.5 times. If in 2008 there were 1.6 thousand of them, then by the end of the year, thanks to the conducted archaeological surveys, in particular, at the site of the planned construction of the second stage of the Maikop city bypass highway, the number of identified cultural heritage objects will increase to about 4 thousand. part of them - 3.4 thousand - are monuments of archeology,”he said.
Over the past ten years, 66 archaeological expeditions have been carried out in the republic, some of which were financed from the republican budget. Many archeological monuments have been identified at the site of new buildings of linear objects and the planned construction of infrastructure of enterprises. In recent years, 240 objects of archaeological heritage have been preserved in Adygea, which could have been destroyed during construction and household work, Tsipinov explained.
The issue of financing remains topical for the protection of cultural heritage monuments. After identifying the monument, it is necessary to develop documentation, conduct a historical and cultural examination, determine the boundaries and protection zones of these objects. The problem is in the absence in the republic of relevant specialists certified by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation for carrying out historical and cultural expertise and in the absence of funds for conducting exploration work, the head of the department specified.
“On average, one historical and cultural examination costs from 30 to 150 thousand rubles, depending on the complexity of the object. Funding for the industry from the budget of the republic has significantly decreased since 2011, and we are interested in their implementation, since archaeological monuments, after being included in the Unified State Register of Cultural Heritage Objects, become monuments of federal significance. With an increase in the number of monuments of federal significance, the amount of subventions from the federal budget should also increase,”the source said.
Among the 3.4 thousand archeological monuments found in Adygea are Paleolithic monuments, dolmens - the same age as the Egyptian pyramids, burial mounds, fortified settlements, settlements, ground burial grounds, which are of interest to many domestic and foreign researchers. The Maikop archaeological culture, named after the finds from the famous Maikop mound "Oshad", excavated in 1897 by the expedition of the archaeologist Veselovsky, gained worldwide fame.