The legendary city of Kitezh could exist. On Lake Svetloyar in the Voskresensky District, Nizhny Novgorod archaeologists have discovered traces of a medieval settlement. All this time, scientists were convinced that no one lived on the banks of the only federal natural monument in the region, and the story of Russian Atlantis is just a myth
Shards of pottery, fragments of iron knives, flint and stone millstones could be used by local residents of Lake Svetloyar in everyday life in the late 14th - early 15th centuries, and several centuries later they literally fell under the feet of Nizhny Novgorod archaeologists.
Andrey Pudeev, a member of the Vetluzhsky archaeological expedition, leading engineer of the ethnography department of the museum complex of the NI Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod: “Behind the chapel, in the ruts of forest planting ditches, outcrops of a cultural layer were discovered, which in color and structure differs from ordinary non-chernozem soil.”
Scientists have long rejected the theory that people lived on the banks of Svetloyar. A trip to these parts of a Moscow expedition 40 years ago was not crowned with success. In the fall of last year, Nizhny Novgorod archaeologists walked through the same places. Unique finds were hidden at a depth of half a meter in the Exaltation of the Cross mountain on the shore of the lake. As the members of the expedition believe, there was a settlement here - an unfortified settlement with one residential yard.
Evgeny Chetvertakov, head of the Vetluzhsky archaeological expedition, laboratory engineer of the archaeological department of the museum complex of the NI Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod: “There could have lived as many people as could fit in an average Russian medieval courtyard, that is, 10-15 people”.
Archaeologists are sure that the settlement was larger, but part of it left with landslides to Svetloyar. Perhaps this formed the basis of the legend about the city of Kitezh, which sank entirely, fleeing the Tatar-Mongol invasion. True, the artifacts found still belong to a later era. The myth could also be generated by the mysterious disappearance of people from Svetloyar.
Dmitry Karabelnikov, member of the Vetluzh archaeological expedition, Nizhny Novgorod ethnographer: "At the beginning of the XIV century, they left the shores of Svetloyar, but somewhere in 100-150 years new settlers came here."
Where and why did the inhabitants of the Slightyarsk coast disappear? Nizhny Novgorod scientists are preparing to look for answers to these and other questions in the summer. Large-scale archaeological exploration will be carried out at Svetloyar-1 (as the archaeologists called their discovery).
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