In the historical park “Russia is my history” in Saratov, an exhibition of archaeological finds at the excavations of the medieval city of Ukek, nicknamed “Volga Pompeii”, has opened. It is believed that at first the ancient city, located on the site of the modern village of Uvek on the southern outskirts of Saratov, was badly damaged during a powerful landslide, and then was finally destroyed by the troops of Tamerlane.
World-class exhibit
This summer, at the Uvek settlement, archaeologists carried out excavations on Mount Kalancha at the ancient necropolis. One of the main finds was compressed fibers of tissue found in one of the burials. Judging by the surviving remains in the mausoleum, a young woman of about twenty years old was buried. The fibers were fragments of her silk robe. After cleaning and a special chemical plasticization procedure, the fabric could be applied to the prepared base to restore ancient clothing.
“Such finds are very rare, and after the complete reconstruction, we will have a world-class exhibit,” says the director of the historical park Dmitry Kubankin.
When Saratov scientists consulted the famous expert on ancient textiles Zvezdana Dode, it turned out that the patterns on silk were not typical for the Golden Horde fabrics: the nomads loved horizontal patterns, but this one had vertical colors. A similar silk could have been produced in Nubia. In ancient times, this was the name of the area that lay along the Nile to the south of Egypt. But how did silk from Africa end up in the Volga region?
Saratov historians have a version that explains this riddle.
Historical sources mention the visit of the Golden Horde in the XIV century by the ambassadors of the Mamluk Sultan. Perhaps a piece of African silk was donated by the envoys to the Golden Horde Khan, who bestowed it on one of his entourage. Most likely, this is how Egyptian silk got to the Volga city of Ukek.
By the way, the Mamluk sultans who ruled Egypt were also descendants of people from the Volga steppes.
One of the first in Eastern Europe to suffer from the Mongol invasion was the Türkic people of the Polovtsy, who roamed the vast expanses from the Volga to the Black Sea region. As you know, the Russian princes entered the war with the Mongols precisely because of their allies – the Polovtsians, and together with them laid their heads in the battle on the Kalka River.
After the defeat, part of the Polovtsians left for Hungary, and some emigrants even reached Egypt. In this country, the Sultan formed an army from former prisoners of war and slaves, mainly from Eastern Europe, who were called Mamluks. Former slaves and fugitives stopped the Mongol advance, defeated the crusaders and seized power in Egypt themselves. For more than a hundred years this country was ruled by the Polovtsian dynasty.
The most curious thing is that thanks to the work of scientists, it will soon be possible to see how the contemporaries of a young resident of Ukek, who wore expensive clothes, looked like. Earlier, Saratov historians, according to the method of anthropologist Mikhail Gerasimov, when a person’s appearance is reconstructed from the bones of the skull, restored the appearance of more than two dozen residents of the medieval city. Reconstruction works, as well as archaeological finds, for example, of ancient Russian ceramics, show that in this era the population of the Volga region was mixed: people of different ethnic groups lived here, both with Mongoloid features and Caucasian appearance.
The legacy of the Great Jam
By chance, during field work this summer, a treasure of things from the Golden Horde era was discovered in the Khvalynsky district. Local historian Aleksey Naumov reported the find to archaeologists, who later dug up several dozen objects in this field: copper cauldrons on long chains, axes, sickles, scythes, hoes, and silver coins.
“We do not specifically indicate either the place or the person who discovered the treasure, since we plan to carry out larger-scale excavations there,” says Dmitry Kubankin.
According to the museum workers, the find in the Khvalynsky district proves that already at that time the territory of the Saratov region was more populated by people than it was previously thought. In addition to the medieval city of Ukek, there were small agricultural settlements. According to the found coins, archaeologists dated the time of the hoard to approximately 60s of the XIV century.
“Apparently, the person who hid these things planned to return for them, but could not do this,” noted Dmitry Kubankin.
There is nothing surprising in this, since it was very restless in the Volga lands at that time. In Russian chronicles, this era was called “The Great Zamyatni”. Then, over two decades in the Golden Horde, as a result of internecine wars and the struggle for power, more than twenty rulers were replaced.
A boastful saying attributed to Genghis Khan is widely known: they say, he will establish such an order that a girl with a golden dish will be able to walk the entire Mongol empire from ocean to ocean, without fearing either for the safety of gold or for her honor. For the time being, the Mongols really successfully ensured security in their possessions, including for merchants who traveled across the steppes from Europe to China.
But in the second half of the XIV century, the situation in the Golden Horde, as historians explain, changed dramatically over a decade. And the sedentary population of the Volga region was the first to suffer from the weakening of the central government.
Served by two girlfriends
During excavations in Uvek, scientists discovered a trail of much later times – a position equipped during the war by anti-aircraft gunners who defended a railway bridge across the Volga from German bombers.
At this place, archaeologists dug up an unexploded artillery shell. The soldiers of the Russian Guard were summoned to the dangerous find, who took the ammunition to the landfill and blew it up there. Meanwhile, thanks to the caliber and brand of the projectile, historians were able to determine that an 85-mm anti-aircraft gun was installed in this place.
“Perhaps the projectile remained unfired, because there was a misfire, and then they simply forgot about it,” says Vyacheslav Komarevtsev, head of the Poisk aircraft modeling association.
A well-known model aircraft designer in the city was asked by the management of the historical park to make a model of this anti-aircraft gun for a museum exhibition.
Vyacheslav Nikolayevich says that he willingly responded to this request also because his great-aunt Galina Mukhaeva was an anti-aircraft gunner during the war and was guarding the bridge across the Volga. According to family legend, her best friend served with her, and the girls promised each other that if they stay alive and have children, they will definitely marry them. After Saratov, Galina Ivanovna fought at Stalingrad, met her future husband at the front and returned to her hometown after the Victory together with her husband.
– After the war, my grandmother had two sons, one of them married the daughter of that same fighting friend. Unfortunately, I know little about their military biography. While grandmother and grandfather were alive, they did not like to remember the war, and now there is no one to ask, – says Vyacheslav Nikolaevich.
Interestingly, Vyacheslav Komarevtsev himself worked as an engineer at the Saratov Aggregate Plant, was a leading designer in the development of the Chrysanthemum anti-tank self-propelled missile system, which was first demonstrated to the general public five years ago at a military parade on Red Square. Such bizarre patterns of destinies are sometimes drawn by history.
Help “RG”
The Golden Horde city of Ukek was built by the Mongols in the middle of the 13th century at the crossing of the Volga. The city had about 10 thousand inhabitants. There was a water supply system, they minted their own coins. It is believed that in 1395 Ukek was destroyed by the troops of Tamerlane. However, during excavations, coins of the 15th-16th centuries were found in these places. So, apparently, people continued to live here at a later time.
The ruins of Ukek survived until the 19th century, when they began to be actively used in the construction of Saratov. It is known that the cobblestone used to pave the city streets was taken from the ruins of Ukek. At the end of the 19th century, archaeological excavations began at the Ukek settlement. Since 2005, excavations have resumed and became annual. During this time, Saratov archaeologists have unearthed the city water supply system, an Orthodox church, residential houses and workshops, and a large number of burials. The findings made by scientists have made it possible to largely correct the idea of the past.
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