An unusual stone bowl was discovered in the forest by a resident of the village of Azov, Roman Kazakov, when he was picking mushrooms outside the village of Ubinskaya and came across a large stone resembling a bowl or a font.
Alexander Sazonov, Director of Kuban Archeology LLC.
“At first glance, the bowl looks very much like an early Christian baptismal font,” said A. Sazonov. - These come across on the medieval mountain fortresses-fortresses of the X-XII centuries. But since there are no traces of a medieval settlement at the location of the bowl, but there are closely located dolmens, it can be assumed that it was created and used by carriers of the dolmen culture, possibly for sacrificing animals and collecting blood. This bowl and groups of dolmens in the area were discovered during archaeological exploration in the 1980s by an employee of the State Museum named after E. D. Felitsyna Alexey Pyankov. According to Pyankov, two similar bowls were found here, one of which was lost or covered with leaves or earth, but, nevertheless, can still be found.
In addition, Alexander Sazonov noted that such bowls are found all over the region, there is information about more than ten finds. They can sometimes be associated with monuments from other eras and, if there are no dolmens nearby, they were most likely used as baptismal fonts.
“In general, the builders of dolmens could erect quite complex architectural structures: statues, columns, platforms, including bowls,” the archaeologist noted. - For example, in the area of the village Novosvobodnaya, a mound was discovered in which there were columns, and in a dug dolmen - a statue of a bull with a broken head. But, nevertheless, despite the fact that the culture of the dolmen builders was very developed, now it is mysterious and little is known about it. There are only hypotheses, and what happened in reality can only be guessed at.
- Is this bowl of any value?
- Like any object of archeology, it is unique and of scientific value. Initially, such items are not scored; scoring can be spontaneous only if the cup becomes collectible. But we should never consider the subject of archeology to be a bargaining chip, because it is a national treasure of our state and it cannot be sold.
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When asked why not take the bowl to the museum, thereby avoiding destruction by vandals, the scientist explained that it is not a movable object of cultural heritage, is topographically tied to dolmens and constitutes a single complex.
- If archaeological excavations were carried out at this place, it is possible that they would have revealed pavements, paths, platforms, destroyed dolmens hidden underground. That is, it would be linked into a single complex, - he noted. - But in any case, dolmens, including the bowl, are an immovable object of archaeological heritage, it cannot be moved.
There are more than ten dolmens in the Seversky District, and almost all of them are located in the mountainous area near the villages of Ubinskaya and Derbentskaya. In Ubinskaya dolmens can be found along the mountain ranges, including on Sober, but they are all destroyed. And in Derbent, about five dolmens were found, and there is even an undamaged one, but where exactly it is located, the archaeologist did not tell in order to preserve it.
As he noted, most of the dolmens in our area and in the region were destroyed due to the fact that people used them as an easily accessible building material (dolmen slabs were dismantled for thresholds and foundations of buildings), or they were destroyed for treasure-hunting or hooligan motives.
Despite the fact that many objects of cultural heritage have been discovered, still unexplored ones can be found in the forest. What about those who stumbled upon an archaeological monument?
“The peculiarity of archeology is that you can always find something new and unknown, especially in mountainous and forest areas, where objects can be hidden for hundreds of years,” Sazonov explained. - For example, some century-old oak will fall and the edge of the dolmen will be exposed along with the roots. By the way, a lot of dolmens have been found underground. Some remained on the surface, and the original part is still under the ground. For what the dolmens were covered with earth, no one knows, but one of the versions is that dolmens were used as generic burial objects. That is, when the last in the clan or the head of the clan died, he was buried in a dolmen, which soon fell asleep.
- If you find a dolmen or other archaeological monument, - noted the archaeologist, - you should immediately contact the regional department of state protection of cultural heritage objects, which is located in Krasnodar along Krasnoarmeyskaya street, 16. After contacting the place of discovery, archaeologists will go, who will draw up a topographic plan of the location, photograph and draw up a registration card according to the state model, on the basis of which it will be possible to monitor the state of this object and, in the event of its destruction, initiate criminal proceedings against the destroyers. If there is no record card, the archaeological site is defenseless and it will be impossible to bring the barbarians to justice.