Archaeological excavations carried out by a group of Soviet scientists in the mausoleum of the legendary conqueror Tamerlane on the eve of the Great Patriotic War raised many questions and a variety of opinions. But even if we discard the mystical legends, the exhumation of the remains of the great commander in itself presented many surprises to scientists.
Mausoleum of Gur-Emir
Tamerlane or, as he was also called, Timur (1336-1405) lived an active life full of dramatic events. He devoted almost all his time to military operations, conquered most of Asia, created a huge empire and founded a dynasty of rulers.
This extraordinary man died during the next campaign. At the head of the army, the number of which was about 200 thousand people, Tamerlane headed towards China. But on the way he fell ill and died.
The body of the commander was buried in the Gur-Emir mausoleum in Samarkand, because this city was the capital of the Timurid empire. In addition to the most legendary conqueror, his children and grandchildren found peace in the magnificent tomb.
The famous journalist and writer Igor Viktorovich Obolensky in his book “Four friends of the era. Memoirs Against the Background of the Century”paid special attention to the legends about Tamerlane, prevalent among the inhabitants of Central Asia. The author said that the first scientist-archaeologist who submitted an official petition for the exhumation of Tamerlane's remains was Academician Mikhail Evgenievich Masson (1897-1986), who had been in charge of the Samarkand Regional Museum for several years. But in 1926, the Soviet authorities did not authorize excavations in the tomb.
For a long time, no one dared to disturb the peace of Tamerlane. For centuries, eerie stories have spread among the locals about the strange sounds that were heard from the mausoleum at night. There was also talk of a mysterious glow that appeared from time to time over the grave of the deceased ruler. It was these paranormal phenomena that initially interested M. E. Masson, but later the scientist abandoned his idea and did not take part in the exhumation of the remains of Tamerlane in 1941, despite the invitation.
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Difficult excavations
A separate chapter is devoted to the so-called curse of Tamerlane in the book "Great Conquerors", which was written by a group of authors: I. A. Rudycheva, V. M. Sklyarenko, V. V. Syadro, O. V. Manzhos. They told the readers that JV Stalin was interested in carrying out excavations, since the personality of the medieval conqueror appealed to the harsh "leader of all nations."
The expedition included famous scientists: academician Tashmukhamed Niyazovich Kary-Niyazov; historian-orientalist Alexander Alexandrovich Semenov; anthropologist Mikhail Mikhailovich Gerasimov. In addition to the researchers, the writer Aini (real name - Sadriddin Said-Murodzoda), as well as cameramen, who were supposed to capture this historical moment for posterity, participated in the excavations. The object was guarded by employees of the NKVD of the USSR.
Things went wrong from the start. Several unpleasant surprises awaited the scientists. Even before the excavations, in May 1941, some local residents approached the researchers with warnings. People said that the ashes of the great conqueror should not be disturbed, otherwise numerous troubles await everyone, a war could start, but Soviet atheist scientists did not believe in such legends.
Accidents, breakdowns, surprises
A systematic and thorough study of the remains of Tamerlane and his descendants was prevented by a communal accident. The fact is that next to the Gur-Emir mausoleum, the construction of the Intourist hotel was in full swing. On June 16, 1941, a stream of water rushed into the ruler's tomb from a burst pipe. Scientists had to speed up the work, because the flooding that began could lead to the destruction of the ancient remains.
In addition, on June 20, 1941, a winch unexpectedly broke down, with the help of which the members of the expedition raised the slab that covered the sarcophagus of the ancient ruler. The work had to be stopped for a while.
When the coffin with Tamerlane's body was opened, the whole tomb was filled with a strong smell of aromatic substances. Scientists have disassembled notes of camphor and some other plant extracts that were used in body embalming. Researchers froze in surprise: the persistent aroma of these substances remained even after several centuries.
Even more members of the expedition were surprised by an inscription in ancient Arabic engraved on a jade gravestone. Its contents were deciphered by the orientalist A. A. Semenov. The inscription repeated the warnings of local residents that it was impossible to disturb the remains of Tamerlane, otherwise a terrible punishment would befall everyone.
In general, many unpleasant surprises occurred during the excavation. Several times the light went out unexpectedly, the equipment broke down, various failures occurred. But scientists paid no attention to them.
The warning of the three elders
I. V. Obolensky in his book cited the memoirs of one of the participants in those events - Malik Kayumovich Kayumov (1911-2010), who was one of the cameramen who filmed during the excavations in the mausoleum. Subsequently, this man became a famous director, was awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR.
Once, during a lunch break, Malik Kayumovich went to the nearest teahouse. There he met three elderly men, who warned the participant of the excavation: the remains of Tamerlane should not be disturbed in any way.
“One of the old men handed me a book and pointed to the lines in which it was written that it was impossible to open the grave of Tamerlane - the spirit of war would break free. I studied Arabic at school, so I was able to read these lines. I returned to the mausoleum and handed everything over to my leaders. They listened to me and asked to accompany them to these old men. We went out into the street and went to the teahouse, where the three elders were still drinking tea. However, after talking with them, the members of our expedition made them laugh. They were offended, got up and left. And we returned to the mausoleum and continued our work,”M. K. Kayumov.
Scientists-atheists stubbornly did not believe in ancient traditions. On June 21, 1941, they finally opened Tamerlane's coffin. And what kind of war began the next day, everyone knows.
Malik Kayumovich, who was a front-line cameraman during the war, told the legendary military leader Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov about the warning of the three elders. A former participant in the excavations had the opportunity to talk with the commander during the bloody battles near Rzhev. Unlike Soviet scientists, the marshal took the ancient legend seriously and promised that he would tell JV Stalin everything.
Soon after the remains of Tamerlane and his descendants were reburied in accordance with all the rules, the offensive of the Nazi invaders near Stalingrad was stopped. Perhaps this is just a coincidence, but then the Red Army began to gradually liberate the territory of the USSR.
He turned out to be red
Another surprise for scientists was the remains of Tamerlane themselves. It turned out that the great conqueror, who came from the Mongol clan Barlas, had red hair and was quite tall. And its outward features were more consistent with Indo-Europeans than Mongols.
Doctor of Historical Sciences, anthropologist Mikhail Mikhailovich Gerasimov, participated in the excavations for this very purpose - to compose a portrait of the ancient conqueror. The scientist has developed a unique technique for reconstructing the external appearance of a person from his remains.
The book "Tamerlane", which the Moscow publishing house "Gurash" published in 1992, contains a number of scientific publications, articles and historical documents dedicated to the great commander. Among them is the article by M. M. Gerasimov "Portrait of Tamerlane". The scientist confirmed that the remains found in the Gur-Emir mausoleum really belonged to this conqueror, because he was lame, according to numerous historical documents. The height of this extraordinary man was about 170 cm, and his right leg and right arm were injured at a fairly young age, as evidenced by improperly fused bones. Obviously, one of the enemy arrows severely damaged Timur's kneecap, and the other - his upper limb, which gave rise to a legend among the people about the conqueror's dry hands.
“The massiveness of healthy bones, their highly developed relief and density, the width of the shoulders, the volume of the chest and relatively high growth - all this gives the right to think that Timur had an extremely strong constitution … Timur's hair is thick, straight, gray-red in color, with a predominance of dark - chestnut or red. It turns out that he wore a long mustache, and not trimmed over the upper lip, as was customary by the faithful followers of Sharia. Timur's small, thick beard had a wedge-shaped shape. Her hair is coarse, almost straight, thick, of a bright brown (red) color, with significant graying , - this is how the famous anthropologist described the conqueror.
By the way, the scientist refuted the myth that the ancient commander dyed his hair with henna. This is how some historians have tried to explain the embarrassing paradox: how could a representative of the Mongolian people, judging by the Iranian and Indian miniatures, have red hair? M. M. Gerasimov confirmed that it was his natural color.
Moreover, the scientist noted that the actual Mongoloid features in the external appearance of Tamerlane were rather weakly expressed, as evidenced by "a significant protrusion of the root of the nose and the relief of the upper part of the brow."
Orynganym Tanatarova