In the depths of Saransk Mountain, historians are studying the ancient cave city, which, apparently, gave rise to the legends about the mysterious "underground people".
There are many legends about underground cities in which people, for one reason or another, hid from the white light. The most famous legend in this series is about Kitezh-grad, which went either underground, or under water right in front of Khan Batu. And Russian historians have long argued about a mysterious people called Chudyu, who allegedly lived until the XIV century somewhere in the Urals, or in the Irtysh region. The Siberian Chronicles say that the chud lived underground, only occasionally coming to the surface. Whether it was or not, it is not possible to say for sure in the absence of material evidence. Underground settlements as such, in principle, are known to science - these are various cave complexes and cities, but they arose mainly in areas with a favorable climate - in Central Asia, the Middle East or the Mediterranean,that is, far from our borders. However, in the central part of Russia, as it turns out, there is a unique underground city, the research of which for the first time gave unique material to historians. It testifies to the former existence of a certain social group, perhaps very numerous, which preferred to lead an underground lifestyle. What if this is a part of the very people that were once called Chud? Correspondents of "Outcomes" went to explore the dungeons.what was once called a chud? Correspondents of "Outcomes" went to explore the dungeons.what was once called a chud? Correspondents of "Outcomes" went to explore the dungeons.
On the mountain and under the mountain
On the border of the Penza region and Mordovia, in the vicinity of the town of Narovchat, which is half a thousand kilometers away from Moscow, the Saransk Mountain rises. The mountain is like a mountain. At first glance, nothing special. It is very difficult to believe that people once lived inside it. However, this is so. Local historians know for sure that in the 18th century hermits from the nearby Trinity Scanovy monastery settled in the underground cavities. In search of solitude, the monks lived here until 1933.
It is known that the novices practically did not carry out any work underground, but used what had already been created by someone before them. But by whom? Nature? It is not excluded. The mountain consists of marl - a loose rock, and underground waters for thousands of years could easily wash out numerous passages. Or maybe not only nature worked here, but also a man who worked the walls and arches of the resulting halls and corridors?
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Back in the early 80s of the last century, underground structures attracted the attention of archaeologist Anna Alikhova. After exploring the caves and its surroundings, she came to the conclusion that a certain settlement was located inside the Saransk Mountain. Local historian Vladimir Polyakov, carried away today by this topic, introduces us to the area: “The hills around were, apparently, part of the rampart. It encircled the mountain, which made the underground city inaccessible to nomads who made their raids. This is a classic, from the point of view of archaeologists, a variant of the protective shaft. Under it is the second line of defense - a ditch, which was filled with water in moments of danger. From the side of the ravines from the north and south, the ditch ended with artificial embankments that did not allow water to leave. And on the site of the current road at the entrance to the mountain, there was probably a drawbridge”.
Oshlya river flows under the mountain, the name of which is translated into Russian from Mordovian as … "city river". And she got her name a long time ago. At least there are records about it that have survived from the time of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, the camp of the Tatars from 1237 was located nearby, just 4.5 kilometers from the mountain. “I don’t see any other reason to call the river urban, except that there was a large settlement nearby among impenetrable swamps and forests,” says Vladimir Polyakov.
The researcher believes that a crowded city was located in the caves. The results of excavations indicate a large number of the population. Polyakov, who personally took part in them, shows us the craft settlements found at the foot of the mountain, the remains of a kitchen and other above-ground structures. The entrance to the underground part is located at the top of the mountain. It is believed that the passages in the caves are divided into three tiers, along which you can walk quite freely. There is supposedly a fourth, but now the passage to it is blocked. “The length of the passages explored to date is 670 meters,” says Vladimir Polyakov. - Many passages have been filled up and have not yet been properly studied. It may well be that the caves are spread over a larger area than expected."
However, they say that at the beginning of the twentieth century people descended to the fourth tier and their memories of an underground lake surrounded by stone benches have been preserved. The underground lake seemed to have never dried up. And the inhabitants of the city used the water from it both for domestic needs and for filling the defensive ditch. Jade figurines allegedly stood next to the benches. One of these statuettes fell into the hands of local ethnographer Margarita Lyubchina.
Cavers and archaeologists have managed to find amazing things in the underground city. For example, on the lowest, third tier, having cleared the rubble, the researchers found a fairly spacious room. It contained many incomprehensible flasks with unknown substances. It feels like there was some kind of pharmacy here. Having studied strange liquids, scientists have not fully figured out their properties and suggested that these were drugs unknown today. Persistent paints and ampoules with incense were also found in the vials. One of the ampoules was accidentally broken on the surface of the mountain, after which a stable pleasant aroma hovered over the clearing for a long time.
In the caves, on each tier there are living quarters resembling cells. Small rooms are equipped with stone beds. There are sleeping places in the aisles themselves - these are ledges in the walls. A person could easily fit on them.
On the second tier, another large room is carved into the rock. Its purpose has not yet been understood. Presumably, meetings of the urban population were held there.
Natalya Sivtsova, an employee of the Narovchat Museum-Reserve, told Itogi that there was one more level of passages in the caves. Its size did not allow people to walk on it, and most likely it served for ventilation. Probably, in part, the passages also led out smoke from stoves where food was cooked and heating fires. Still, a rather uncomfortable temperature is kept underground - from 7 to 10 degrees, depending on the tier. Nevertheless, the air in the cave is the purest - the bats, in abundance inhabiting the local underground passages, would not live in another.
Naturally, the cave dwellers got their food on the surface. Probably, honey from an apiary at the foot of the mountain and the fruits of trees growing on the slopes fell on their tables. Rich gardens covered the mountain. Moreover, the fruit crops were planted for a reason. Firstly, they are not as dense as an ordinary forest, which made it possible to freely observe the surroundings and learn in time about the approaching nomads. Secondly, unlike larch and coniferous trees, garden crops do not take their roots deep into the ground and are not able to destroy the stone vaults of caves.
Like any society, the population of the underground city was divided into classes. The social heterogeneity of residents can be evidenced by the fact that the living quarters are equipped with varying degrees of comfort. Some of them even had toilets. In addition, there was a kind of eavesdropping system here: thin ceramic pipes pierce the walls. They allow you to hear a conversation, even in a whisper, at a very distant distance.
When did people live here, and most importantly - who were they?
Lived once
About how long the underground city existed, one can only speculate. Vladimir Polyakov has two versions. According to the first, the city was founded in the middle of the first millennium. This is indicated by objects found underground, testifying to links with the Parthian kingdom. It is even assumed that after the fall of their statehood in 224, the Parthians came here in search of shelter and dug caves, which became the center of a well fortified underground city. The connection of the city with the ancient eastern state is also indicated by the tip of a Scythian arrow recently found here. But the Scythians were Iranian-speaking nomads.
There is also another version. Perhaps it was a city called Sawan, found in legends, whose inhabitants were Burtases - a tribe whose ethnic composition has not yet been precisely determined. According to one version, they were descendants of the Iranian-speaking Sarmatians. Who knows, maybe it was these people who came from the East who were called by the same word "chud" for their wonderful knowledge of the secrets of arranging caves underground, in which it was most convenient to hide from enemies. The peoples who lived in the neighborhood at that time could really seem unusual and wonderful the ability of people to go underground for a long time, then again to return to the world.
In general, Burtases were first mentioned by Arab authors in the 10th century, and therefore the city was probably built in the 10th-11th centuries. And its decline, in all likelihood, came in the XIV century. This means that, surrounded by impenetrable swamps, it existed for more than a hundred years after this area was occupied by the Mongol-Tatar tribes under the leadership of Khan Uzbek. Then another coincidence arises: in the legend of Kitezh-grad, people went underground in front of the Tatar-Mongol army. In historical documents, local historians also found information that in the XIV century the city was nevertheless taken by nomads and they cut off the right ears of all the captured and killed. There were about four thousand of them.
Perhaps further study of the mysterious underground city will allow archaeologists to read the unknown pages of its history.
People with a riddle
Olga Zelentsova, candidate of historical sciences, leading researcher at the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences:
- Burtases are a mysterious people known only from written sources. Therefore, it is necessary to approach carefully the statement about the existence of the Burtas city in general. It also cannot be unequivocally asserted that there was a large underground city next to Narovchat. Rather, it is a complex of caves in which hermit monks could live.
Dmitry Madurov, Ph. D. in art history, archaeologist, historian:
- It seems strange that on this territory, inhabited in those days by the Mordovians and Bulgars, another people could exist. It is not clear how the Burtases wedged themselves in here. They had their own principality with its capital on the Sura River. When the Golden Horde, led by the commander Batu Khan, captured their cities, they massacred the entire people. So the Burtases disappeared.
Alexander Sokhryakov, director of the Narovchatsky Museum-Reserve:
- The Burtas city of Savan could well have been located in these caves. According to archaeological excavations, this is a very ancient settlement. Ceramics from the 13th century period, arrowheads, and various weapons are found right on the mountainside and underground. All this clearly indicates that the caves were inhabited long before the monks settled in them.