Chichaburg - mysteries of the ancient city of Siberia

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

In the late 90s of the last century, during aerial photography in the Novosibirsk region, researchers discovered a mysterious anomaly on the shore of Lake Chicha, located 5 km from the regional center in Zdvinsk. The picture clearly showed the outlines of buildings, moreover, on an area of more than 12 hectares.

Scientists, using geophysical equipment, investigated a mysterious place called Chichaburg. The photographs show the clear outlines of streets, quarters, powerful defensive structures, and on the outskirts - the remnants of a developed metallurgical production.

It turned out that there was also a class stratification in the city - stone palaces were adjacent to the houses of commoners. According to preliminary excavations, the settlement was created in the 7th-8th centuries BC, therefore, a developed civilization existed in Siberia at the same time as the ancient Greek …

Chichaburg is an archaeological site in the Zdvinsky district of the Novosibirsk region on the shore of Lake Bolshaya Chicha. It represents the remains of a large urban settlement with an area of more than 240 thousand square meters approximately in the 9th-7th centuries BC, the transition period from bronze to iron. Researches are carried out by scientists of the SB RAS.

Archaeological excavations were preceded by a geophysical study of the area. Geophysical surveys revealed that the territory of the settlement is surrounded by powerful defensive fortifications - ramparts and ditches. The settlement is divided into separate sectors, within which there are various houses and buildings, while each sector, like the entire city, had a clear planned development. Judging by the excavations carried out and the fragments of household utensils found, people of almost European appearance, but of different cultures, lived in each sector. This suggests that the paths of various peoples crossed in Chichaburg.

On the shore of Lake Chicha in the Zdvinsky district of the Novosibirsk region, covered with a half-meter layer of earth, an ancient city was hidden for many centuries. Residents left it suddenly, perhaps because of a fire, flood, fleeing from the raid of warlike neighbors or from a terrible epidemic …

The first excavations in those places were carried out back in 1979 by archaeologist Vyacheslav Molodin, already then it was suggested that an ancient settlement was found here. Last year, an expedition of the Institute of Archeology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the German Archaeological Institute worked here, geophysical surveys of the territory were carried out and a sensational statement was made - there is an ancient settlement under a small layer of earth, possibly a proto-city of the 8th-7th centuries BC. The picture showed about 300 structures, surrounded by a defensive ditch and a rampart, in the most fortified place, perhaps, lived a noble part of this ancient settlement with more than a thousand inhabitants.

Archaeologists have made sure that the entire planography, represented by geophysical methods, coincides with the realities. It was possible to outline the monument, which occupies about 20 hectares - 650 m in length and 400 m in width (an area equal to a medieval European city), on three sides it was fenced with a moat and a low rampart, on the fourth - it was protected by the steep shores of Lake Chicha.

Numerous finds - ceramic vessels with ornaments, several bronze knives, attributes of horse harness confirm the preliminary dating of the 8-7 centuries BC, the late Irmen culture, the transition from the Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age.

Archaeologists worked on 4 excavations in different parts of the city. The roughest tool that they used was a shovel, but mostly shovels and brushes. The top layer has already been disturbed by many years of plowing. The first excavated residential complexes were pits 9x9 meters. These were semi-dugouts, the walls and roofs of which were built of wood. The materials used in the construction, wood, have not survived - 2800 years have passed.

Apparently, people have lived here for a long time. The premises were equipped, divided into household areas: in one place were placed vessels, ceramic pots, in another, meat was cut, bones were found, there was a whole system of hearths - metal was melted in one of them - remains of ceramics with traces of thermal effects were found - fragments of foundry molds, slags, bronze and even a piece of iron. It seems that each family smelted metal for their own needs. But where did they get the ore? Did you bring it from Altai, Ural, Kazakhstan? Was there trade, exchange of goods? …

The third excavation was fraught with a mystery - the ceramic objects discovered there belonged to another culture - Gamayun, characteristic of the Irtysh and Trans-Urals. Many ceramic vessels were found by archaeologists in this "house", dozens of them turned out to be intact. It is still impossible to say for sure what kind of premises it was, perhaps a trading post, where various tribes came to exchange goods. Perhaps there was a water trade route - Lake Chicha, located near the Chanovskie lakes, is most likely a continuation of Lake Chany. If you are lucky enough to find any fragments of boats, this hypothesis will be confirmed. It may also be that these items ended up in a foreign culture as a dowry for a bride from the distant Urals, if there was a connection between the tribes that made it possible to establish a marriage relationship.

The excavations brought another surprise - a burial was finally discovered - until now, during the excavation of monuments of the late Irmen culture, not a single burial has been found. Archaeologists do not know what our ancestors did with their deceased tribesmen: whether they used the rite of burning, air or water burial. The woman from the burial, according to rough estimates, was 60 years old, the skeleton is well preserved, it was possible to take material for genetic analysis, in a few months anthropologists and geneticists will be able to tell what racial type she belonged to. Judging by the fact that in this burial there was nothing but a few ceramic pots, the woman did not belong to the noble class.

In the excavation, located in the most fortified part of the settlement, numerous fragments of small figurines, possibly specially broken, were found. One of the intact figurines resembles a lizard with a crest with pronounced male and female sexual characteristics. All this suggests the ritual nature of clay sculpture.

What can you say about the people who lived in the settlement? Most likely, they were hunting, the area was apparently more forested, scattered bones of forest animals - elk, bear, sable, beaver, as well as domestic animals - horses, cattle, dogs were found. The dog was buried, such a ritual usually existed among hunters. Bone arrowheads and knives were found from weapons. However, the main occupation was undoubtedly herding.

In addition, bone tools were discovered that resemble sickles, if this is true, then the population was engaged in agriculture, which will allow us to speak of the rudiments of civilization. In the 8th-7th century BC in Europe there was a process of transition from a primitive communal to a class society. It is likely that the monument dates back to the time when the transition from the primitive communal system to the early class one took place, that is, to the era of military democracy.