Marat Bakushev

The article focuses on the results of the archeological study, conducted on the ruins of the Fort 5, located in the terri-tory of the medieval settlement Pirmeshki. The work was carried out in the context of the research of the fortification system Dag-bary, which had been a part of the Derbent defensive complex, erected during the reign of shahanshah Khosrov I Anushirvan (531–579) in the late 560s’. Judging by the remains of the walls, the fort had the internal dimensions of around 13,2 by 25–25,1 m with a wall thickness of 2 m. These parameters are very similar to the fort dimensions of the Mountain wall, which have better preserved. The revealed remains of the walls have the same constructive features as other fortifications of the Derbent defensive complex – double-shelled dry masonry of slabs with backfilling of lime mortar. The complex of ceramic ware, presented in the cultural layers of the dig, belongs to the 6th – early 13th c. It can be assumed that the settlement and the forts No. 4 and No. 5 in it ceased to exist in the period of the Mongol invasion to Dagestan of Jebe and Subutai in 1222, the intervention of Khwarazm-shah Jalal ad-Din in 1225–1226 and later the campaign of Bukdai in 1239. The data from written sources, and, mainly, Adam Olearius’ information, who visited Derbent in 1638, testifies to the destruction of numerous strongholds of the Mountain wall by the XVII c.

The mountainous Dagestan region has a unique historical development, likely based in independent cereal domestication and terraced agriculture. However, there is little to no data on the nature and timing of environmental changes throughout the settlement history of this region. In contrast to the much studied neighboring Caucasus regions, Dagestan remains mostly unexplored from the standpoint of paleoecology. Here we present a detailed radiocarbon-dated 185 cm long pollen record from the Shotota swamp located in the mountainous zone of the Eastern Caucasus (Dagestan). Peat and soil deposits of the swamp span most of the Holocene from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages, and this study, for the first time, presents an analysis of Holocene vegetation history and the populating of the Eastern Caucasus. Our analysis reveals three basic stages of transformation of natural conditions: a stage of predominantly warm and dry climate, open meadow and steppe landscapes of 9200–7300 BP associated with the Neolithic period; a warm and humid climate of 7300–6000 BP which accompanied the appearance of deciduous forests in the Chalcolithic period; and cooling and several phases of humidification oscillations with the constant rise of pine forests with 5000 BP, which are associated with the Bronze Age, Early Iron Age and Middle Ages. With the data obtained on the dynamics of vegetation, we conducted a coupled analysis of climate dynamics, populating and economy in Dagestan. The results of the study show significant discrepancies in the timing and sequence of the expansion of tree species in the Holocene in comparison with Transcaucasia and the Western Caucasus. Despite the low settlement density pollen results reveal signs of agricultural development in the Khunzakh plateau in the Chalcolithic, the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age that are not documented in archaeological surveys and require further investigation. DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2018.06.020

В статье рассматриваются терракотовые женские статуэтки из Шаракунского могильника и Дербентского поселения (Южный Дагестан). Авторы, опираясь на археологический контекст, датируют дербентские фигурки первыми веками н.э. (не позже середины 3 в. н.э.). Антропоморфные статуэтки, очевидно, представляют стилизованный образ богини плодородия, покровительницы земледелия, матери-хранительницы зерна, хлеба и отражают существовавший аграрный культ, развивавшийся в условиях значительного прогресса комплексной земледельческо-скотоводческой экономики региона. Статуэтки встречаются в памятниках Дагестана раннебронзового и албано-сарматского периодов и демонстрируют схожие процессы, происходившие в религиозно-мировоззренческой сфере в периоды развития земледельческой культуры.
The terracotta female figurines from the burial ground Sharakun and the Derbent settlement (Southern Dagestan) are considered in the article. Authors, basing on an archaeological context date the figures from the Derbent settlement to the first centuries AD (not later than the middle of 3rd century AD). Anthropomorphous figurines obviously represent the stylized image of the goddess of fertility, the patroness of agriculture, mother-keeper of grain, bread and reflect the existing agrarian cult developing in the conditions of significant progress of complex agricultural and cattle breeding economy of the region. Figurines meet in monuments of the Early Bronze Age and Albano-Sarmatian period of Dagestan and demonstrate the similar processes, which took place in the religious sphere during the periods of development of agricultural culture.