A group of Kuzbass scientists in the vicinity of the village of Malaya Salairka in the Guryevsky district discovered an ancient abandoned mine. Archaeologists are sure that these mines appeared on the territory of Kuzbass in pre-Russian times.
Interview with Doctor of Historical Sciences Vladimir Bobrov.
Vladimir Vasilyevich, there is a legend about the Chud people who lived in the very place where the archaeologists found the mines, but these people lived exclusively underground and smelted copper. Of course, scientists do not trust legends, but still, how true are the ancient legends? Could the mines that were found in the Guryevsky region be "Chud mines"?
- "Chud" is the conventional name of the pre-Slavic people. They were "strangers" or "weird." These people from the first half of the third millennium BC to the XI-XII centuries AD were engaged in the extraction of mountain ore. Subsequently, their ancient mines and mines really got the name "Chud mines".
In the Guryevsky district, scientists discovered ancient copper mines back in the 1780s. Those researchers called the local mines "chuds". We tried several times to find mines based on old data, but the experience of 2009 and 2012. was unsuccessful. The fact is that the coordinates in the documents are approximate, and the distances are in versts. In October, a group led by Anna Savelyeva, a leading engineer in the archeology laboratory of the Institute of Human Ecology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, finally found a cave near the village of Malaya Salairka and several depressions - small hollows that remained after ore mining.
They also found a piece of copper ore with traces of malachite and azurite. The minerals were sent to a specialist for study to establish their age and origin. And archaeologists will return to Malaya Salairka to continue their research.
Unfortunately, people did not live permanently at the mine, that is, there will be no burial places, no dwellings, or any household items. It remains to hope for random finds - for example, abandoned stone hammers or lost things. In any case, if the study of the "Chud mines" is successful, we will receive the first mining monument in Kuzbass.
Promotional video:
Archaeologists in the Guryevsky region have been working in the fall. But they didn’t mess around in the summer either. One group went to the village of Bolshoye Pichugino, and the other to an excavation site in the Yashkinsky region. Have archaeologists succeeded in making scientific discoveries?
- Candidate of Historical Sciences Pavel German excavated the Bolshepichuginsky burial mounds in the Tisul region. The most surprising thing is that in the burials of the Early Iron Age, his group found vessels dating back to the Early Bronze Age. That is, the pots have an ornament characteristic of the tribes of that time. But it is not yet clear where the Tagarians took these ancient, even by their own standards, jugs and why they decided to put them in the grave of their dead? Maybe already at that time people did not disdain to stir up the old mound and profit from what was found?
A group led by Alexei Marochkin, a researcher at the Institute of Human Ecology, explored an ancient settlement near the village of Ivanovka-1. Here they found the first burial complex of the Kulai culture in the Kuzbass region. This is an amazing and little-studied culture of the early Iron Age. It is known that ancient people knew how to make tools from bronze and create cult artifacts - figurines of people, animals and birds. Alexei managed to find a characteristic ceramic vessel and round stone display. Just what it is and what it was intended for, we cannot yet say.
Ancient surprises
In general, do ancient peoples often ask archaeologists difficult tasks? Well, they say, we knew how to use this thing, and you, since you dug it out, sit now and think what kind of Lemurians and Atlanteans taught us how to use it. Or are such cases very rare, and usually everything is extremely simple and understandable, and there is no mysticism?
- Each expedition brings a collection of new things and materials to the institute. They may already be known, for example, crockery with a certain pattern or arrowheads. What these items are for is clear and understandable to everyone. Such finds, similar or identical, have already been, have already met. But still, any ancient thing is a source that contains certain information. All finds are carefully studied and researched.
But even mysterious objects, the purpose of which cannot be said unequivocally, are often found by archaeologists. It is these things that arouse genuine interest not only among scientists, but also among ordinary people. For example, ceramic balls and discs that belonged to the culture of the Late Bronze Age. They do not look like decorations or tools … For what they were needed, we have not yet been able to determine.
Vladimir Vasilyevich, well, the archeologists found the balls, they were delighted like children, but why they are still unclear. There are no versions at all?
- Unfortunately, there are no versions. We are just at the doorstep of the study of an ancient monument. In appearance - ordinary balls of baked clay with a diameter of 7 to 10 cm, lay in a pit. There could be a settlement, a bronze casting center or a sacred place. In order to understand the purpose of the balls, you need to unearth this entire object. So far, even for us, this is a big mystery.
I want to say that an archaeologist works like a forensic expert. He also studies the remnants of traces, builds different versions in order to understand and establish who the perpetrator or victim is. Only we have to start a criminal case and there is no need to punish anyone. We are simply exploring historical phenomena, looking for who left traces. It is very interesting to identify the origins of the people, to trace their historical fate, to learn about the way of life, right down to what diseases our ancestors suffered from, whom they hunted and what they ate.
What archaeologists find can be seen somewhere or unique artifacts and those that have no name are stored only in the laboratory of the institute?
- We do not hide anything and do not hide from prying eyes, because there are many things that are unusual and interesting. For example, "irons" - ceramic items from the Stone Age, the purpose of which is still unknown to scientists, are in the Museum of Archeology and Ethnography of Kemerovo State University. They were called "irons" because there is a hypothesis: with their help, ancient people smoothed reed shafts for arrows.
In the Kemerovo Regional Museum of Local Lore, there is an ancient burial mask from the Tesin period of the Tagar culture, which was found in 1968 by Professor Anatoly Martynov.
What are the most important questions you, as a scientist, would like to find answers to?
- First, find out why the ancients needed mysterious ceramic balls. Secondly, to find a settlement or burial place of the very first peoples who settled in Kuzbass. And thirdly, to understand who left the drawings on the rocks of the Tomsk Pisanitsa. There are many questions, which means that we have something to work on.