Golden hill

Cities of Khazaria. Kromos Estatium
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     The khazar cities here include not only those cities that were built by the khazar architects, but also those that were built before the arrival of the khazars, were used by the khazars for their needs and tasks for a long time.
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Golden hill **
     The city is known only from the materials of archeology, which date the beginning of urban development in this settlement to the end of the 7th century, when the savir-bulgars, who represented the Khazarus state, began to establish themselves here.
     Before the khazars, the huns were present here, and even earlier, the late sarmatians were noted, which in the late alan format can be considered an autochthonous population that managed to fit into the new turkic basis of the population of the Don steppes and the Golden city.
     The city was located on the high right bank of the Aksai river in one horse crossing from Novocherkassk in the Rostov region. Here, traditionally, there were always thickets of reeds, and along the banks there were a lot of willows.
     There were traces of towers on the settlement, presumably up to 6 meters high, from where, taking into account the location of the town on a hill, it was possible to notice the approach of steppe cavalry from afar and prepare for a repulse in advance.
     The city lived a well-fed life, there was a steppe around, a free zone for cattle breeders. Apparently, the city was often visited by nobles of the Khazar Khaganate. There were handicraft workshops, residential buildings did not look like the lands of the poor, there were many outbuildings, buildings of public use. People were engaged in making dishes from clay, products for performing ritual actions.
     From the very beginning, ceramic production was basically related to the saltov-mayatsk culture, which was carried by the khazars. Clay for production was used in different colors, but mostly yellow.
     In the workshops that were formed next to the homes of artisans, there were kilns, pottery wheels, and utility rooms. Some courtyards were paved with stone, emphasizing the social significance of the people who lived here. There were no such houses in the area, although there were many settlements, which indicates the importance of the city itself. Raw brick and limestone stone were used for the construction of dwellings and public buildings.
     There were mainly bulgars and alans living here. What the culture of performance of ceramic products shows. Somewhere near the city there was a trade route, because the archaeological material contains the remains of amphorae and other products that were not produced here. Amphorae were used to transport wine, since there was no viticulture at the initial stage of the city's life.
     The name of the area comes from the vegetation, which gives off a bright yellow color, which can be caused by soils with a large amount of loam and yellow clay.
     The naming of the city could also be influenced by the fact that since the end of the 8th century, yellow grapes were grown here.
     Thus, the name of the city in khazar times can be found in the turkic vocabulary among the words meaning yellow colors.
     There is another variant of naming, based on the fact that the khazar nobility, who arrived here regularly, was engaged in hunting in these places. The Soviet party and economic bonzes were doing the same here.
     The name of the city could also come from the sign of mena, which could be wine or grapes. Wine production in those days was associated with the possession of complex technology, so that wine was often used as a monetary sign.
     The khazar name may have come from the natural views that were discovered here, although the khazars were not particularly lyrical.
     Around the city there were not only steppe spaces, the steppe here, as now, and one and a half thousand years ago, was interspersed with broad-leaved forests on the slopes of numerous bayraks, that is, gullies.
     The pridnestrovian forest-steppe pastoral beauty is suddenly interrupted by gullies, where you can see outcrops of mixed limestone, in which there is a lot of shell rock. And at the bottom of such a beam you can see a source of pure water. Around the beams with water grows a wild vineyard of yellowish color, preserved from the khazar times.
     The area is characterized by frequent morning fogs, very thick, although there are no wetlands here, which indicates the presence of underwater lakes and caves, where according to legend the majority of the khazars went with their harems, and they left access codes to their underground spaces, independent of natural disasters, only to a few of the people, among whom was Pavich.
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