In search of Sayan settlements
https://doi.org/10.21285/2415-8739-2023-1-64-81
Abstract
Artificial defensive structures – “settlements” – are widely represented in the archeology of the Baikal region. Since the XIX century, finds of similar structures in the southwestern part of the Baikal region, including in the Tunka and Oka valleys, have been mentioned in the literature. The discovery of the “ancient city” in the foothills of the Tunka Alps dates back to 1809. As a result of the special attention shown by the Irkutsk governor Treskin to the find, a study of this site was organized. As a result, the presence of “ancient ruins” was confirmed, but their origin and purpose remained unclear. Later, the area where the ruins were discovered attracted the attention of geologists as unusual limestones were discovered there. Comparison of these messages showed that we are talking about the same objects. The famous geographer P.A. Kropotkin reported about an unusual hill in the valley of the Oka River similar to an artificial embankment in 1875. The expeditions conducted by the Children's Center “Lazurit” showed that these objects are not artificial structures, but are geological sites formed under the influence of a number of geological factors. The “ancient Mongolian city” actually turned out to be calcareous deposits (travertines) formed during the deposition of calcium carbonate from the water of the mineral spring Suburgyn-Arshan. The complex forms of travertines – terraces, barriers, walls – have created a landscape resembling ancient structures. The “Chinese embankment” in the valley of the Oka River turned out to be a fragment of the terminal moraine (glacial deposits) of one of the mountain glaciers of the Belsky chars of the Eastern Sayans. As a result of the erosive activity of the Oka and Gargan Rivers, one of the moraine hills acquired a shape similar to an artificial embankment.
About the Author
S. V. Snopkov
Irkutsk State University;
Irkutsk National Research Technical University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Sergey V. Snopkov, Cand. Sci. (Geological and mineralogical), Associate Professor of the Department of Oil and Gas Geology of the Geological Faculty; Leading Researcher of the Siberian School of Geosciences
1, Karl Marx St., Irkutsk 664003;
89, Lermontov St., Irkutsk 664074
References
1. Agapitov N.N. (1881) Baikal antiquities: images on the cliffs of Lake Baikal (settlements of Irkutsk province). Izvestiya VSORGO = Reports of the Siberian of the Branch of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. Irkutsk: Tipografiya N.N. Sinitsina. Vol. 12. No. 4-5. P. 1-23. (In Russ.).
2. Bulgatov A.V. (1959) Resort Arshan. Ulan-Ude: Buryat Publishing House. 127 p. (In Russ.).
3. Vasil'evskii M.M., Tolstikhin N.I. (1930) Mineral spring “Arshan Tunkinsky”. Materialy po geologii i poleznym iskopaemym Vostochnoi Sibiri = Materials on geology and minerals of Eastern Siberia. Irkutsk: Publication of the BuryatMongol Regional Geological Exploration Department. Iss. 2. 37 p. (In Russ.).
4. (1894) The Geography of Asia by Karl Ritter. The geography of the countries that are part of Asian Russia or border with it. Eastern Siberia; Lake Baikal and the Baikal countries, Transbaikalia and the Gobi Steppe. Part 1. The Sayan Highlands within the Irkutsk province to the southwestern tip of Lake Baikal, south of the Great Siberian Highway St. Petersburg. 605 p. (In Russ.).
5. Collective of authors. (2019) Irkutsk Archeology: a newspaper compendium of the Soviet period. 1919-1941. Irkutsk: Publishing Solutions. Pt. I. 199 p. (In Russ.).
6. Kotlobai N., Snopkov S.V. (2005) “Mysterious ruins” of the Tunka Valley. Baikal'skoe kol'tso: materialy oblastnoi nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii uchashchikhsya 6–9 dekabrya 2005 g. = Baikal Ring. Proceedings of the Regional Scientific and Practical Conference of Students, December 6-9, 2005. Irkutsk. P. 45-48. (In Russ.).
7. Krestenko N., Snopkov S.V. (2004) Mysterious hills of the Oka River. Baikal'skoe kol'tso: materialy oblastnoi nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii uchashchikhsya 30 noyabrya – 3 dekabrya 2004 g. = Baikal ring. Proceedings of the Regional Scientific and Practical Conference of Students, November 30 - December 3, 2004. Irkutsk. P. 112-116. (In Russ.).
8. Kropotkin P. A. (1867) The journey to the Oka Guarding station. Zapiski Sibirskogo otdela Imperatorskogo Russkogo geograficheskogo obshchestva = The Notes of the Siberian Branch of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. Irkutsk: Tipografiya Okruzhnogo shtaba. Books IX, X. P. 1–94. (In Russ.).
9. Kropotkin P.A. (1992) Diaries of different years. Moscow: Sov. Russia. 464 p. (In Russ.).
10. Leont’ev A., Snopkov S.V. (2004) Children's camp “In the footsteps of P.A. Kropotkin's expeditions”. Baikal'skoe kol'tso–2003: materialy nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii = Baikal Ring-2003. Materials of the scientific and practical conference. Irkutsk. P. 12-14. (In Russ.).
11. Lomonosov I.S., Kustov Yu.I., Pinneker E.V. (1977) Mineral waters of the Baikal region. Irkutsk: East-Siberian Publishing House. 223 p. (In Russ.).
12. L’vov A., Kropachev G.A. (1909) Brief report on the results of Arshan's research. Izvestiya VSORGO = Izvestia of the Siberian Branch of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. Irkutsk: Publishing House of the District Headquarters. Kotel'nikovskaya No. 1. Vol. 40. P. 41-77. (In Russ.).
13. Mordvinov A. (1856) About the ancient ruins found near the Tunka fortress in 1809. Zapiski Sibirskogo otdela IRGO = Notes of the Siberian Branch of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. St. Petersburg: Printing House of Eduard Pratz. Book 1. P. 13-16. (In Russ.).
14. Myasnikov P., Snopkov S.V. (2017) The riddle of the “ancient city”. Baikal'skoe kol'tso: materialy regional'noi kraevedcheskoi konferentsii shkol'nikov 7–10 dekabrya 2016 g. = Baikal Ring. Proceedings of the Regional Local History Conference of Schoolchildren, December 7-10, 2016. Irkutsk. P. 103-110. (In Russ.).
15. Myasnikov P., Snopkov S.V. (2018) The riddle of the “ancient city”. Krai rodnoi – Pribaikal'e. Materialy nauchnoprosvetitel'skikh chtenii im. B.I. Dybovskogo. Yubileinyi sbornik = Native land - Baikal region. Proceedings of Scientific and Educational Readings named after B.I. Dybovsky. Anniversary collection. Irkutsk: “Reprocenter A1”. P. 194-201. (In Russ.).
16. Myasnikov P.M. (2017) In search of an “ancient city” in the Tunka Valley of Buryatia. Geoarkheologiya i arkheologicheskaya mineralogiya–2017. Nauchnoe izdanie = Geoarchaeology and Archaeological Mineralogy - 2017. Scientific publication. Miass: Institute of Mineralogy of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. P. 35-38. (In Russ.).
17. (1998) Tunka: History and Modernity. In 2 vol. UlanUde: “Buryaad unen”. Vol. 1. 320 p. (In Russ.).
18. Kharinskii A.V. (2002) Topography and construction of “settlements” of the Malomorsky coast of Lake Baikal. Arkheologicheskoe nasledie Baikal'skoi Sibiri: izuchenie, okhrana i ispol'zovanie: sb. nauch. tr. = Archaeological heritage of Baikal Siberia: study, protection and use. Collection of scientific works. Irkutsk: Publishing House of the Institute of Geography SB RAS. Iss. 2. P. 109-126. (In Russ.).
19. Khoroshikh P.P. (1924) Studies of the Stone and Iron Age of the Irkutsk Region (Olkhon Island). Izvestiya biol.- geogr. NII= Reports of Biol.-Geogr. Research Institute. Vol. 1. Iss. 1. 49 p. (In Russ.).
20. Cherskii I.D. (1875) Yelovsky spur as a link between the Tunka Alps and Sayan. Izvestiya Sibirskogo Otdela IRGO = Reports of the Siberian of the Branch of the Imperial Russian Geogpaphical Society. Vol. VI. No. 4. P. 137-183. (In Russ.).
21. Cherskii I.D. (1880) Preliminary report on the geological study of the coastal strip of the lake Baikal. Izvestiya Vostochno-Sibirskogo Otdela IRGO = Reports of the Siberian of the Branch of the Imperial Russian Georpaphical Society. Vol. 11. No. 1-2. P. 8-83. (In Russ.).
22. (1876) What is the “ancient ruins found near the Tunka Fortress in 1809”? Izvestiya SOIRGO = Reports of the Siberian of the Branch of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. Vol. VII. No. 4-5. P. 155. (In Russ.).
Review
Views:
65
Email this article 