The destroyed cities of Dauria (now the western part of the Amur region)

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

In the Mugalskoy desert, near the city of Naun, in the direction of the wall, there are also the remains of ancient stone buildings with heavy columns and towers as high as a large house in Amsterdam. The peoples living here bring handkerchiefs, silk and other things dear to them there as a sacrifice and put them at the foot of the tower. Apparently, there are cemeteries of people close to them. Nearby are the remains of many stone buildings with still standing columns, which cover an area of about 400 square feet.

It is said that this destruction was caused by Alexander. On the buildings, you can still see the bas-relief images of people of both sexes in clothes that are now unknown; animals, birds, trees; different things very well done. At one of the towers there is an image of a woman made of stone and cast plaster. She appears to be sitting on a cloud, with a halo around her head, with folded hands, as if praying; the legs are hidden. Inside the tower, as can be seen from the remaining parts, there was a room where sacrificial fires were burning. There were also found texts and images of the goddess written on red paper in the Indian language. Below and next to it are inscriptions in Tartar letters. I compared them with the letters niuhe or those tartars that now dominate Sina; and it seems to me that it resembles the language and writing of this language. But the letters printed in Beijing (I have many samples of them) are distinguished by a large number of dots. In general, this is all that can be said about these wrecks. Not far from there, there are many yurts, or clay houses, where Mugals live in a village style. There are many oxen with long hair, somewhat larger than our calves. They are called Barsvuz, or Barsoroye.

Like all people near the Great Wall, they live in houses made of clay, natural stone, or wood.

Iki Burkhan Coton, or the destroyed pagan city in Tartary

These ruins are said to be Iki Burkhan Coton, or Trimmingzing, is an ancient ruined city in the Mugal desert, four days east of another ruined city. There, they say, in antiquity, no one lived, except for the pagan priests, whence these names originate. Here, in some places, the remains of an earthen rampart are still visible. In the middle there is an octagonal Chinese-style tower with hundreds of iron bells suspended, which make a pleasant sound when the wind blows. The tower has an entrance; you can go upstairs. There are many thousands of small images of Xin's idols made of paper and clay of various kinds. I have two such paper [idols] (they were brought to me by the eastern merchant Simons; he himself took them from the tower). These figurines depict the same face, with a halo around the head, like an idol. The figure sits in Persian. Between them are visible Niuh letters, written in red ink, perhaps because of their holiness. It seems to me that this is a Sinskaya job, done quite skillfully. One figure has an ax-like weapon in his left hand, and a winding chain of coral in his right; hands apart. Many stones have fallen from the outside of this tower, and in these holes there are many scribbled papers brought there by passing lamas or pagans. The letters are East Tartar, or Manchurian, otherwise - of the people of Niuhe. Clay images lie around. Half a mile from there lies a village where many pagan priests live. They live off the passers-by, whom they teach the ancient paganism of these places.

Somewhat east of here, in the sand dunes, there is a low mountain. Neighboring and passing tartars consider it a holy place, without knowing the reasons. They leave here - out of piety, for good luck on the road or for health - their thing: a hat, underwear, wallet, boots, pants, etc.- like a sacrifice that is hung on an old birch tree, on the top. Nobody steals these things; it would be a huge shame and dishonor. So it all hangs and rots.

Another message sent to me says the following about these destroyed cities:

“Not far from the Naunda River there are three small lakes with salt water that is not drinkable. The water is white, almost like milk. To the west there are high mountains, and to the east and south there are low sand dunes. Drinking water is taken from the well, but it is bad here. There are no rivers. Four days' journey to the east, where no habitation is found, there is an ancient ruined city with a rectangular rampart more than a German mile long.

In six days' journey to the west, another ruined city of Trimingzin is encountered, surrounded by a rectangular earthen rampart, fortified with good bolvers. It has two towers: one is very high, the other is lower. The largest, octahedral, is built of bricks on the outside. In eight places, on both sides, at a height of about ten fathoms, images of historical subjects, carved out of stone, are visible. Statues of human height are visible, depicting, obviously, a prince or a king; they sit cross-legged. Around them people: stand like servants with folded hands. One statue of a woman, apparently, of the queen, for on her head there is a crown with bright rays.

The Xing warriors are also depicted. Among them, one stands in the middle, obviously a king: he holds a scepter; many of those standing around look like terrible devils. The statues are very skillful and can put a shame on European art. The largest tower did not have a staircase outside, everything was walled up.

In this town there were many large ruins made of bricks, a lot of sculptural, life-size, work carved out of stone: people, and idols, and stone lions, turtles, toads - of an unusual size. Obviously, once a noble khan or king ruled here. The Bolverki of this city are of unusual size and height, and the city itself is partially surrounded by an earthen rampart. This city has four entrances; there are many hares running in the grass. Now there are no people living near this city. Mughal and Xin travelers say that many hundreds of years ago, the Tartar king Utaikhan lived on this place and that it was destroyed by a certain Chinese king. Not far from here, in some places in the mountains, ruined mounds of stone in the form of towers, previously built by the Tartars, are visible. There are many beautiful places here. The message ends there.

Second report:

“In the center of the destroyed Mughal city (some called it Ikiburkhan Koton) there is a tower. It is flat from below, from the inside it has completely retained its previous appearance. It shows an image of gray stone. The entire tower is built of this kind of stone. It depicts lions and animals larger than natural in size as decoration, although there are no lions in these lands. The image of the turtle also had its own meaning, unknown to me. It is carved from solid stone at two cubits. There are stone cemeteries and mounds, carved and painted. There are many holes at the base of the tower. Round and other stones lay in them. There is only one room in the tower, which can only be entered by bending over. They also found letters there. The city walls are lined with bricks. It is impossible to climb the tower from the outside. From the side of the shrine, on the tower to the right, there is a man with a bow in his hands, and on the other side - a man blessing someone. On the back right is an image of a saint; the statues are like that; but on the side of it are two statues of people with a different appearance. One of them is a woman.

Several hundred bells hanging here are made of iron; they sound when the wind blows. You can climb the inner staircase to the tower and find there the letters and drawings of idols. There are many holes in the wall, two or three spans long, in which these letters were stuck in whole bundles. There were also many silk scarves and clothes lying there, obviously they were sacrificed. They lay on the floor and hung on the walls, and it was forbidden to touch or take them. A serpent and a crescent, artfully crafted of copper, stand on the tower. There are earthen ramparts around this ruined city."

This is where the message ends.

A traveler I know on his way to Sina saw this ruined city and told me how he drove off the road and entered the village. In one house, he saw on the wall an image of an ugly idol, near him was a priest. At this time, a man entered: he fell in front of the images, while making ugly movements. Then the priest, as it were, blessed the man by placing folded hands on his forehead. Here my friend was treated to tea brewed with horse milk and vodka made from the same milk.

Mr. Adam Brand, a noble merchant from Lübeck who saw this temple, writes to me the following: “Near the Kazumur River, which flows into the Naum and has good drinking water, there are ruined cities, where the figures of men, women and wild animals carved from stone are still visible real size. More elaborate sculptures are rarely found in Europe. These are, obviously, images from ancient history: men with bows - and they say that this area was destroyed by Alexander the Great. We saw here huge columns, skillfully carved out of stone; some of them have many bells. They make a lot of noise in the wind.

Driving past ancient ruined buildings and approaching the Great Wall, we found that the closer the area to the wall, the more densely populated it is. In three days' journey from the wall, we came across large rocks, and through them a paved road. Here you need to beware and not deviate to the side, fearing fierce animals: tigers, leopards, etc. In these rocks is the town of Shorn, or Corakoton. It is less than a day away from the wall. There is a lot of game in this area: deer, wild sheep and very small hares. This is where Adam Brunt's message to me ends.

According to an eyewitness, the Greek traveler Spatarius, who sent me a written message, there are ruins of large ruined cities between Amur and the wall.

Perhaps the current state of one of these ruined cities:

Travelers inside the ancient fortress. The ancient fortress is located on the outskirts of the Steklyanukha village in the Shkotovsky district of the Primorsky Territory.

Travelers in search of artifacts on the territory of the ancient fortress. This settlement dates back to the 12th - 13th centuries, that is, the time of the short existence of the Golden Empire of the Jurchens.

Travelers on the rampart of the ancient fortress. According to other sources, this site belongs to the time of the Bohai state (698-926), which died out even before the appearance of the Jurchens.

A source

And similar cities:

Archaeologists have long been trying to solve the riddle of the "clay house" - a fortress built in the middle of a lake in the Republic of Tuva.

Por-Bazhyn (clay house) is a historical monument measuring 160 m by 220 m, built on a small island in the middle of Lake Tere-Khol in the Republic of Tuva, not far from the border with Mongolia.

According to one version, there was a temple complex behind the adobe walls. Other researchers hold the point of view that in this place there were military barracks and a fortress, which was erected to protect the borders by order of the ruler Boyan-Chor, who headed the Uyghur Kaganate in the 8th century. There is also an opinion that the building was the summer headquarters of Boyana Chor himself.

In 2007-2008, archaeological excavations took place on the island's territory, which made it possible to more accurately determine the time of the creation of this historical monument - the 70s of the VIII century. Researchers found out when the trees were cut down, which were used to strengthen the walls and are well preserved to our times. This helped refute the version that the building appeared during the time of Boyana-chora: by that time he had already died and the place of the ruler was taken by his son Begyu-kagan. Unlike his father, who was a pagan, Begyu Kagan adopted Manichaeism, a religion that absorbed the features of Judaism, Christianity and Buddhism. This allows us to assume that a Manichean temple was erected in the middle of Lake Tere-Khol.

However, during the excavations, it was possible to find out not only the time of the appearance of the building. Archaeologists discovered that the structure was never used. “Not a single hearth or other heating device has been found, without which it is impossible to survive in the 40-degree winter frosts,” say geomorphologist Andrei Panin and head of the Center for Archeology of Eurasia Irina Arzhantseva in an article published in the journal Picturesque Russia.

Therefore, another hypothesis was born about the purpose of the "clay house". The fact is that Boyana Chor's wife was a Chinese princess. Researchers suggest that after the death of her husband, she decided to erect a memorial complex in the medieval Chinese tradition. According to researchers, the custom of arranging burials in picturesque places, in the mountains or on the banks of water bodies, is mentioned in written sources of the Tang era. But during the excavations, the grave of Boyana Chor was not found, therefore, in an attempt to find out what was on the island's territory, archaeologists decided to rely on the time of its origin.

In 779, the Begyu Kagan, along with more than two thousand representatives of the nobility, was killed during an anti-Manichean coup. If the temple on the island was built in the 770s, then the murdered monks simply did not have time to settle in it, which explains why the structure was never used. However, it is impossible to speak with confidence about the origin of the mysterious monument. "The resemblance to the capital of the state may indicate that this is not just a monastery, but a royal temple complex, conceived with functions broader than just the sacred," the researchers explain.

Vladislav Ratkunshared his photos taken from an airplane while flying over the Gobi Desert:

According to him, he was never able to find this city in Google maps.

I also tried to search. There are many similar mountain ranges in the desert. There were a lot of places suitable for these pictures: with dry rivers (or traces of streams during floods). But next to them I did not find a city.

izofatov `I managed to find the ruins of the city of Gaochang in 46 from the city of Turfan:

More about the city

Link to the map. But this ancient city does not fit the resemblance to the mountain range following from the dry river in the photo at the beginning. And the city itself is too destroyed by time (or cataclysm?).

And again, the Mongols-destroyers are involved here … Or is it so convenient to blame everything on them?