“Golden Hills – 2004”

In 2004 an international expedition of Rostov State University (Russia), Center for the Study of Eurasian Nomads (USA) and Donskaya Arkheologia journal (Russia) continued the excavations of a Khazar time fortress Golden Hills.

The archaeologists again concentrated on the south-western and north-western parts of the settlement. The main goal was to study the remains of the complex of stone houses. Another task was to study the earlier layer (also from the Khazar era) that is located under the layer of the stone buildings. The excavations were carried out as far as the virgin land on the extremity of the settlement territory. A total area of 274 square meters was excavated during 2004.

In the south-western part of the settlement, the researchers studied a group of buildings with foundations made of stone and strengthened with clay that survived to the present day. Here they found several rectangular buildings fenced with a thick stone wall in the north-west. The most interesting artifacts in this part of the settlement were a bronze part of a harness and a broken hand-made black ceramic pot (both dating from the 8th century A.D.).

In the North-Western part of the settlement the remains of the stone houses were also excavated. There was found a small ground fenced with a wall and paved with the flat stones. There were the pits in the pavement. These might be the foundations of the wooden logs which supported the shed. They also found a small kiln that was used for making flat cakes.

Several kitchen pits (maybe used for storing food) were studied in this part of a fortress. One of them was used as a grave by the local people when they were leaving the settlement. A male burial with parts of a harness and pieces of iron was found here.

Additionally, four burials were excavated that supposedly date back to the times of the Golden Horde, after the Khazar settlement no longer existed.

Interestingly, when the archaeologists excavated a burial in the kitchen pit, they found the entrance of a shaft (leading to a catacomb burial) in the bottom of a grave. It was impossible to excavate this second burial as it was found during the last day of the excavation season. So the shaft was conserved untill the following year. Such shaft may lead to a burial of a catacomb culture (Middle Bronze Age), or perhaps to a Sarmatian catacomb burial, or less likely to a Khazar-era Alanic catacomb burial. Most likely it has the remains of a Bronze Age barrow that had been destroyed by a settlement. So next year the volunteers working on the excavation site will have a chance to excavate not only the medieval fortress but also a barrow that may date back to the second millennium B.C.

Pictures of the “Golden Hills - 2004”

Excavations
Finds and results
In the camp
Excursion to Tanais
The festival
Landscapes

KHAZAR EXCAVATIONS
GOLDEN HILLS - 2002
GOLDEN HILLS - 2003
GOLDEN HILLS - 2004
GOLDEN HILLS - 2005
VOLUNTEERS’ PROGRAM

Notes of Todd Morrison, doctoral student of Eurasian Archaeology at Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland.

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