Do the Don pyramids remember the times of Great Tartary, that marauders are looking for ancient burial mounds and who will stop the black diggers - local historians and AiF-Rostov figured out.
Surprise foreigners
On the eve of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the Don was seriously talking about domestic and inbound tourism. The public and local authorities eagerly picked up the idea. There is always something to show guests: the local Cossacks are arranging life in a modern way, carefully preserving the traditions of their ancestors, surprising not only neighbors, but even foreigners.
“For example, we could show tourists ancient burial mounds dating back to the“Bronze Age”, in abundance the surrounding towns and villages of the Don region and“our Tartary”! On the territory of the present-day Rostov region, these historical monuments have existed since the times of ancient Rome, - Anatoly Chalykh, a Volgodonsk local historian, told the editorial board of AiF-Rostov. - But, unfortunately, now they are actively and brutally plundered.
According to Anatoly Yegorovich, traces of unauthorized excavations in the vicinity of the city of Semikarakorsk, the village of Konstantinovskaya and the village of Dubravny are visible not only with the naked eye, but even from space.
The Don pyramids, dating back to the XXX century BC - XIV century AD, stood for millennia, but could not withstand the onslaught of modern black diggers.
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Our Tartary
Particularly damaged was the ancient fortress Ahaz, which was located on the Don River between Semikarakorsk and Konstantinovskaya on Kurkin Island in the bend of the Old Don.
reference
The Rus Empire was called "Great Tartary". There are many documents and maps that support this. Some of them are in the Russian Geographical Society, where President Vladimir Putin visited on January 15, 2013 and "declassified" the archives of ancient Tartary.
Map of Tartary (southeastern fragment) Gerhard Mercator, 1575. with notes by Anatoly Chalykh
Photo: From the personal archive of Anatoly Chalykh
“An ancient historical monument has been damaged by unauthorized excavations by local and visiting vandals,” complains Anatoli Chalykh. - But he gives a decryption of the toponym Kara Corum - "black stony placer", that is - "coal"! Our, "Don Kara Corum" of the period of ancient Tartary, is the territory of residence of local "aborigines" from Starocherkassk, Semikarakorsk and to the village of Tsymlyanskaya. These are settlements along the Don near the places where coal reaches the surface. The main and indispensable condition for the manufacture of edged weapons by blacksmithing and - as a consequence - the flourishing of the ancient fortress Ahaz at the intersection of the ancient caravan routes”.
It is known that Little Tartaria is the name of the region used in European Medieval cartography and geography. It was located on the territory of modern southern Ukraine and Russia between the Dnieper and Don rivers, limited from the south by the coast of the Black and Azov seas.
"Wounded" mounds
Today, the historical monument "Fortress Ahaz" is being massively excavated, ancient burial mounds in the Semikarakorsk region and the village of Dubravny in the Tsimlyansk region are "eaten away" by pits measuring one meter by one meter in width and about 10 meters deep. These "wounds" on the body of the Don pyramids are clearly visible from space.
What are the black diggers looking for there? They are interested not only in evidence of antiquity, priceless relics of the past, but they are also very valuable, amateur archaeologists are primarily interested in finds as objects of profit.
Moreover, vandals are wielding not only harmless shovels, but they are driving serious equipment. comb out the same "profitable" places with the help of georadars. Many photographs of the "traces of the crime" are evidence of this.
Local historians are outraged by the looting of the kurgans, but their attempts to resist the marauders come across outright threats from artifact hunters.
To protect not only the national heritage, but also themselves, local residents turned to Rostokhrankultury, law enforcement agencies, and even the presidential administration for help.
Don burial mounds are on the list of cultural heritage of the Rostov region
Photo: From the personal archive of Anatoly Chalykh
And this is understandable: the plundered mounds are included in the list of cultural heritage of the Don region. The zone of land surrounding the monuments is called a conservation area - you cannot dig, alter or build anything on it. For monuments with a cultural layer, the limits of which are unknown, it is recommended that the zone boundary is not less than 50 meters in radius from the explored outcrops of the cultural layer. The same protection zone is provided for rock carvings, burial grounds, ancient roads.
“It is impossible to develop inbound tourism without worthy protection of historical heritage sites,” Anatoly Chalykh is convinced. - It's time to stop the criminal excavations. Otherwise, our Tartary, not having time to resurrect from oblivion, turn into dust."