Country of cities (South Ural)

Settlements were discovered in the 1960s - 1980s. One of the first (in 1968) was found a hillfort near the Sintashta river (a tributary of Tobol ), thanks to which the found hillfort itself was named after the signified South Ural river. Soon after the discovery of other sites, archaeologists began to use the term "Sintashta culture." A number of scientists, including G. B. Zdanovich , separate it from the Andronovo culture .

Many ancient settlements were damaged due to economic activities, but Arkaim was saved. It was supposed to create a reservoir, which was supposed to flood the territory of Arkaim. In the 1980s, work began on the filling of the soil shaft of the water-retaining wall between the Zmeinaya mountains and the Grachinaya hill, but public movements managed to stop and cancel this project.

The “Country of Cities” is located in the Chelyabinsk Region , Orenburg Region , Bashkortostan of the Russian Federation and northern Kazakhstan . Fortifications are scattered over a territory with a diameter of 350 kilometers. Many hillforts were found using aerial photography. At the moment, archaeological excavations have not been carried out in most fortifications.

All found settlements are united by a similar type of structure, organization of urban infrastructure , building materials, a lifetime, as well as the same topographic logic. The ancient cities had a round or oval shape, were surrounded by an external wall. The wall adjoined public and private premises. Inside each of the cities there was a storm sewer that led water outside the city. Near the cities burial grounds were organized, animal pens were built. On the territory of the country of cities were found places of extraction of raw materials for metallurgy.

All fortified settlements were made in three different forms:

• round (8-9 cities)
• oval (about 5)
• rectangular (about 11)

The term “Country” best describes this arrangement of cities. In addition to the fact that all the cities found were built on a compact territory at the same time period, in the same architectural style and using the same engineering solutions, similar materials, other unifying properties are also visible. The cities of Sintashta culture were inhabited by people of one ethnos (belonging to the Caucasians ) and conducted similar economic activities. It is not known what were the political relations between cities within the country. Cities were located at a distance of up to 70 km from each other, which was suitable for a one-day transition from one settlement to another. Such a location of settlements made it possible to conduct economic relations conveniently, whether it be trade, the movement of raw materials or the relocation of specialists, and for military purposes to provide an approach of reinforcements to the place of the threat.

Uniqueness

For a variety of reasons, ancient settlements are unique monuments of archeology

• The age of the monuments - the youngest of them is 3700 years old, which is comparable to the ancient Egyptian pyramids ;
• Type of settlement - city . Of the other ancient monuments found, there are very few cities. Basically they find other traces of human activity, barrows, burials (see the Bronze Age , Archaeological Culture );
• Settlements were built immediately as cities, and did not develop from settlements;
• Each city is a single complex of premises (usually cities consist of separate buildings that are built at different periods of time)
• No other settlements (including ancient ones) with a similar urban structure and architecture have yet been discovered on the planet;

Also:

• Unlike other cultural layers of the steppes of Eurasia ;
• The oldest of the chariots found (dated 2026 BC);
• Products of metallurgy developed for that time;
• Sufficiently perfect hydraulic structures: dam, dam, drainage channels ( Sintashta ) and storm sewers ( Arkaim ).

• Arkaim - Bredinsky district ( Chelyabinsk region ), on the cape of the Bolshaya Karaganka river. Found in 1987 (preliminary discovery of 1957). Shape: round.
• The fortified settlement of Alandskoye is the Kvarkensky district ( Orenburg region ), on the cape of the left bank of the Suunduk River (found in 1987, shape: oval, egg-shaped).
• The fortified settlement of Andreevskoye - Bredinsky district (Chelyabinsk region), on the peninsula of the left bank of the Sintashta river. Discovered in 1990 when analyzing aerial photography. Shape: rectangular.
• The fortified settlement of Bersuat is the Bredinsky district (Chelyabinsk region), on the left bank of the Bersuat River, in the confluence of a small tributary of the Yagodny Dol. Discovered in 1987 (when analyzing aerial photographs perfect in 1957) Shape: oval. Dimensions: 200 × 150 m.
• The fortified settlement of Bakhta is the Agapovsky District (Chelyabinsk Region), on the left bank of the Gumbeyka River (on the cape formed by Gumbeyka and the ancient channel of the Bakhta River). It was discovered in 2000 (when analyzing aerial photography made in 1955 and 1956). Shape: square. Dimensions: 165 × 165 m.
• The fortified settlement Zhurumbay - Kartalinsky district (Chelyabinsk region), on the right bank of the Karagayly-Ayat river (on the cape formed by the Karagayly-Ayat river and its tributary - the Zhurumbay stream). Found in 1987 when analyzing aerial photographs.
• The complex of fortified settlements Ishiney - Varna region (Chelyabinsk region), on the right bank of the Karagayly-Ayat river. Found in 1991 when analyzing aerial photographs.
• The fortified settlement Kamenny Barn (Olginsky) - Kartalinsky district (Chelyabinsk region), on the right bank of the Karagayly-Ayat river. It was discovered in 1982 during the analysis of aerial photography.
• The fortified settlement of Kamysty is Northern Kazakhstan , on the left bank of the Kamysty-Ayat River . Found in 1991 when analyzing aerial photographs. The monument is heavily destroyed, located under outbuildings.
• The fortified settlement Kizilskoye - Kizilsky district (Chelyabinsk region), on the right bank of the Ural River . Discovered in 1968 (there is information about the discovery in 1948).
• The fortified settlement Konoplyanka - Kartalinsky district (Chelyabinsk region), on the right bank of the Akmulla River (the upper reaches of the Karagayly-Ayat River ). Found in 1988 when analyzing aerial photographs.
• The fortified settlement Kuysak Kizilsky District (Chelyabinsk Region), on the right bank of the Zingeyka River. Found in 1987 when analyzing aerial photographs.
• The fortified settlement Paris (Astafyevskoye) Nagaybak district (Chelyabinsk region), on the right bank of the river Kizil-Chilik . Found in 2002 when analyzing aerial photographs.
• The fortified settlement Rodniki Kartalinsky District (Chelyabinsk Region), on the right bank of the Akmulla River (the upper reaches of the Karataly-Ayat River ). Discovered in in 1987 when analyzing aerial photographs.
• The fortified settlement of Sarym-Sakly - Kizilsky District (Chelyabinsk Region), on the right bank of the Zingeyka River. Discovered in in 1987 when analyzing aerial photographs.
• The cultural and historical complex of Sintashta - Bredinsky district (Chelyabinsk region), on the left bank of the Sintashta River. Discovered in 1972 (found in 1968).
• The fortified settlement of Sintashta 2 (Left Bank) - Bredinsky district (Chelyabinsk region), on the left bank of the Sintashta River. Discovered in 1990 when analyzing aerial photography.
• The fortified settlement Stepnoye - Plastovsky District (Chelyabinsk Region), on the left bank of the Uy River. Discovered in 1987 when analyzing aerial photographs.
• The fortified settlement of Ustye - Varna district (Chelyabinsk region), on the right bank of the Nizhny Toguzak River near the mouth of the Kisinet River. Discovered in until 2004.
• The fortified settlement Chekatai - Varna district (Chelyabinsk region), on the eastern shore of Lake Chekatai. Discovered in 1991 when analyzing aerial photographs.
• The fortified settlement Chernorechye 3 - Trinity district (Chelyabinsk region), on the eastern shore of Lake Chekatai was discovered in 1977.

Others:

• Nikolskaya 1
• Petrovka 2
• Bogolyubovo 1
• Streletskoye 1 Trinity District ^[1]

At the time of the discovery of Arkaim , Perestroika was in progress in the USSR , all kinds of “spiritual quests,” such as astrology , healing , the search for extraterrestrial civilizations , witchcraft , the revision of old and the creation of new creeds, were in full swing. Appropriate literature and periodicals appeared. “Healers,” “clairvoyants,” and “telepaths” became the pepper that was lacking in previously censored news. The discovery of a valuable ancient monument of Arkaim was also non-standard news. All kinds of "new trends" began to actively use the city for their own purposes. The Bolshekaragan archaeological site became the “ Mecca ” of all kinds of curious people, including those described above. Various hypotheses were derived:

• It has been suggested that the city of Arkaim was used as an observatory ;
• Ufologists have suggested that these cities were built by aliens ;
• Psychics have suggested that a powerful flow of energy passes in the Arkaim area and began to go there to “recharge”;
• Fond of studying Indian Vedic trends suggested that Arkaim was the birthplace of Zarathustra ;
• There are also suggestions about the division of peoples in this country into separate proto- national branches.

All of these hypotheses lack an evidence base .

As a result of the development of Arkaim by the above people, installations appeared such as a spiral-shaped rock garden .

• Sikiyaz-Tamak (cave city)

• Arkaim. Through the pages of the ancient history of the Southern Urals. Chelyabinsk: Crocus Publishing House, 2004 .-- 348 p.
• Arkaim - "Country of cities." Guide to the "Bronze Ring of Russia" / M.R. Makurova, F.N. Petrov; The reserve "Arkaim". - Chelyabinsk: ABRIS, 2017 .-- 55 p.
• Arkaim: Research. Search. Discoveries / Scientific. ed. G. B. Zdanovich; Comp. N.O. Ivanova. - Chelyabinsk: Creat. Obeniya "Stone belt", 1995. - 224 p. - (According to the pages of the ancient history of the Southern Urals).
• Gening V.F., Zdanovich G. B., Gening V.V. Sintashta: Archaeological sites of the Aryan tribes of the Ural-Kazakhstan steppes. Ural Branch of RAS, Chelyab. state un-t Chelyabinsk: South Ural. Prince Publishing House, 1992 .-- 408 p. 32 l silt
• Zdanovich G. B. , Batanina I. M. Arkaim - Country of cities: Space and images: (Arkaim: horizons of research). - Chelyabinsk: South Ural Book Publishing House, Crocus Publishing House, 2007. - 260 p. - ISBN 978-5-902165-18-7 , 5-7688-0964-3
• Zdanovich D. G. Sintashta society: social foundations of the “quasi-urban” culture of the South Trans-Urals of the Middle Bronze Age / Specialty. natures. - landscape. and the source is archeol. Center "Arkaim". Chelyab. state un-t Chelyabinsk, 1997.93 s.
• Kuzmina E. E. Protogorodsky civilization of the “country of cities” // Background of the Great Silk Road: Dialogue of Europe-Asia Cultures . - M .: KomKniga, 2010 .-- S. 46–55. - 240 p. - ISBN 978-S-484-01074-5.
• Malyutina T. S., Zdanovich G. B. Aland - Arkaim: ancient heritage of the Southern Urals Popular Science Avenue. Orenburg, 2013 .

• Arkaim Center (State Cultural Institution)
• Photos on the official website