by Olga BAZANOVA, journalist
On the steep right bank of the river Kama at its confluence with the Toima there stands Yelabuga--one of the most beautiful towns of Russia and second largest in the Republic of Tatarstan (after its capital Kazan), rich in unique historic and cultural monuments. This town celebrated its millennial birthday in 2007.
The scientific exploration of the history of this area was begun in the mid-19th century by a group of local enthusiasts--Kapiton Nevostruev (corresponding member of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences), an archaeologist, bibliographer and lawyer;
Ivan Shishkin, a merchant, talented self-taught engineer and ardent patriot of Yelabuga; and Pyotr Alabin, a government official, State Councilor and a passionate historian. In 1858, Alabin made the first official excavations in an ancient settlement well known to denizens of the place
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at the village of Ananyino not far from Yelabuga. Two years later he published the results of his work in the "Bulletin of HM Russian Geographical Society".
Here are some excerpts from the article. "A Mound of about 7 ft high (just over 2 meters.--Ed.) and 219 paces in circumference, surrounded by 'dry', that is joined without mortar, of rough stone plates only... On a burial bed made of coal, burned logs and large pieces of wood set upright, lay a skeleton facing the north. Found on the bed and on its surface were different things, particularly pots, filled with earthy mass and small charred bones... There were also decorations of clay glazed beads placed by the head, and bronze plaques and bronze necklaces placed by the feet."
The oldest finds of the Alabin burial grounds that are dated around the 8th-3rd centuries B.C. caught scientists' attention. Thus it became possible to identify the archaeological culture named after the place of its discovery--Ananyino. This culture spread all over the Middle Volga in the Kama river basin. It was characte ...
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