Archaeologists have explored the ancient Cossack city of Donskoy (Donetsk), located on the border of the Rostov and Voronezh regions. The fortress was destroyed by the punitive troops of Prince Dolgorukov during the suppression of the Kondraty Bulavin uprising.
“This event has the exact date of October 26, 1707. Therefore, the city existed for only about 130 years, and all the objects found in it fit into this close date. For historians, this is a real find, because a clear chronological limit is known,” said the head of the archaeological research laboratory of the Southern Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Historical Sciences Sergey Lukyashko.
Students from the Don State Technical University also took part in the expedition. The object of study were the traces of the Cossack fortifications, the elaboration of topographic plans and the monitoring of the state of the objects.
Local historians handed over to archaeologists a large collection of artifacts found on the territory of the city of Donskoy. These are iron table knives, a Tatar women’s ring, called “royal” by scientists, a ring with an insert in the form of a Polish coat of arms, a tip from an ancient weapon for piercing and cutting – sovni.
The collection of finds also included a female signet ring on the little finger (characteristic of France in the 17th century), bronze crosses – encolpions. After all, the Cossacks were mostly Old Believers until the second half of the 17th century, as evidenced by a large number of Old Believer pectoral crosses.
The scientific catalog will also include men’s earrings from the Cossacks and a large number of silver coins. Among them are silver “flakes” of Mikhail Romanov and Peter I, as well as coins of the Polish king Sigismund III.
There are a large number of artifacts at the site of the Cossack city. Photo: SSC RAS
– It was important for us to get and fix these things, to find their place in history. Otherwise, they will surely end up in the pockets of lovers of this antique. We collected this collection, photographed it in order to revive the pages of the history of a completely troubled time for Russia in the 17th century. This will help to understand where the Cossacks came from, their first peoples, who their inhabitants were, how they lived, what they did, said Sergey Lukyashko.
Photo: DSTU press service
