Archaeological surveys in the Kamyzyak district of the Astrakhan region
In August 2023, employees of the Institute of Archaeology named after A.Kh. Khalikov of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences together with colleagues from Astrakhan (Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, LLC “Archeotsentr”) and Donetsk (Republican museum of local history) conducted archaeological surveys in the Kamyzyak district of the Astrakhan region.
These works are the continuation of investigations on the identification and study of sites in the delta of the Volga river. In 2023, the studies were related to the exact definition of the boundaries of the archaeological heritage site “Baraniy Bugor” – an urban-type monument of the Khazar period (VIII–X centuries), located on the left bank of the Bolda river – one of the branches of the Volga. During the survey works, 6 test pits of 2×1 m with a total area of 12 m2 were laid. Four of them revealed cultural layers and objects of the Saltovo-Mayaki culture (VIII-X centuries). The objects are represented by a child burial, pits and the remains of a furnace. An interesting stratigraphic occurence has been traced in the pits: under the layer of arable land is light yellowish dense sand with the shells, with a thickness of at least 30 cm, under which cultural layer of the settlement lies. Most likely, the settlement was abandoned by the population because of the transgression of the Caspian Sea.
