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Reflections at the end of the school year about “the well-forgotten old things. Main characters

The total number of researchers, students and attracted specialists is 140 people
Base camp - 108 people
Moscow - 27 people
Kuban - 31 people (KubSU - 13 people; Slavic-on-Kuban Pedagogical Institute - 8 people; Temryuk district - 10 people)
Magnitogorsk - 30 people
Samara -20 people
Underwater camp (Moscow) - 20 people
Underwater camp (Novorossiysk) - 12 people

Research staff:

Doctors of Science - 5,
candidates of science - 16
Architects: 4 people

Excavations are underway:

excavation "Upper City" - 1750 sq.m.
excavation "Necropolis" - 300 sq.m.
Underwater excavation - 150 sq.m.

Conducted:

GIS - research of rural areas (choirs)
Office processing of ceramics
Archaeozoological research
Numismatic research
Epigraphic studies

The expedition is conducting a comprehensive study of the largest archaeological monument of the ancient era in Russia - the ancient city of Phanagoria (the monument is located on the picturesque shore of the Taman Bay, in the vicinity of the village of Sennaya, Temryuk district, Krasnodar region).

Main characters:

Kuznetsov Vladimir Dmitrievich (IA RAS) - head of the expedition (appearance is not subject to discussion, is responsible for everything that happens on the expedition, has two telephones, rights and responsibilities, lives in a trailer).
Gaibov Vasif Abidovich (IA RAS) - deputy head of the expedition (outwardly similar to Vasif Abidovich, is responsible for maintaining documentation, for the good spirits of the head of the expedition, examines the excavation on the acropolis with a metal detector, douses himself with water in the morning and snorts loudly).
Zavoykin Alexey Andreevich (IA RAS) - deputy head of the expedition for scientific work, head of the main excavation site on the acropolis (outwardly he looks like a scientist of the pre-revolutionary type, intelligent, smokes a pipe, puts on a warm oriental robe in the evenings).
Evdokimov Pavel Andreevich - head of the "prirezka" excavation (outwardly he looks very much like an archaeologist, wears a beard and field clothes, knows hundreds of quotes from feature films, sometimes speaks human language).
Olkhovsky Sergey Valerievich (Institute of Archaeological Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences) - head of the underwater excavation site - (28 years old, looks like a kind uncle two meters tall, is suspected of having gills, spends a lot of time underwater, understands computers).
Garbuzov Gennady Pavlovich - (Rostov-on-Don) specialist in GIS technologies (outwardly he looks like a researcher at some physical institute of the Soviet period, is modest, explores the near and far surroundings of Phanagoria, and then sits at his laptop until late at night) .
Tatyana Georgievna Shavyrina (PFUR named after Patrice Lumumba) - a specialist in necropolis excavations (her appearance is emphasized by elements of clothing, beads and bracelets, stylized in the ancient era, a veteran of the expedition).
Kolychev Sergey Viktorovich (BF Volnoe Delo) - expedition commandant and public relations specialist - (31 years old, ordinary appearance, wears a wide-brimmed hat, the most commonly used expression is “Dear colleagues”).
Yakovlev Mikhail Sergeevich (Kolomna) - volunteer (short, tightly built man, about 45 years old, looks like a martial arts trainer)

This is hard to believe, but nevertheless, it is true. Summer has passed June, and in Phanagoria the grass stands like a dense wall. Usually, by the end of June it fades under the sun, and dry patches and bushes color the hills and hollows along the blue with green stripes of the bay in brown-yellow or straw colors. This year there was a rainy spring, which replaced the faded colors on the palette of the Taman coastal steppe with lush greens. And this is the landscape that appeared before the eyes of our lodgers who came to set up the camp on June 26 of this year, 2008.

Bright palette of the Taman steppe

The very first members of the expedition arrive in an open field. True, by this day, the Cossacks from the monument protection service had mowed down with a powerful lawn mower the areas where the tents of the archaeological town are set up, the paths to the sea, to the excavation site and to other places in Phanagoria (the total area of the monument is 65 hectares). The guys (several boys and girls from Samara Pedagogical University) just had to rake the hay and get to work. To begin with, a staff trailer and more than 2 tons of various equipment and tools were transported from a warehouse in the village: levels, theodolites, tables, benches, shovels, hammers, axes, wheelbarrows, awnings, tents, lumber, awnings, flasks, gas stoves, dishes and much more. Everything that is very difficult to do without on such a large expedition as ours. The trailer, as usual, was pulled by a tractor, and as usual, on a small hill between the gas station and the camp territory, a hitch arose, which I, who arrived a few days later, guessed about from the traces of a shovel on the road, hard from almost petrified sand...

Part of the cargo and materials needed to install the equipment

How does the expedition begin? In general, it’s straightforward. Piles of transported cargo rise on the “main” square of the camp. Initially, the cargo undergoes primary sorting. The girls begin to wash water barrels and dishes. The guys build a table, rinse the blankets in the bay, shake out the awnings, and cover their most valuable things in case of rain. Backpacks and bags stand forlornly under the famous cherry plum tree (its celebrity will be discussed later). As a rule, lodgers are very unpretentious guys, and when they go to set up a camp, they understand perfectly well that the hardest work will fall to their lot. But they are coming. They suffer from long working hours, the first mosquitoes, dust, breakfasts and lunches under the scorching sun, and dinners in the darkness of the rapidly approaching southern night. At the same time, the leaders of the expedition - doctors and candidates of science - work side by side with them, today's or yesterday's students. Later, when the camp is filled with dozens of researchers, experienced excavators and trainees, when events are unfolding so quickly that you don’t have time to look back, there is simply no time left for such communication.

Assignment to work (early morning)

The residential town and production sites of the Taman expedition are built in strict order, like a camp of Roman legionnaires. Here you will not see tents set up randomly, as if scattered here and there, and in general, you will not see any disorder here. The tents are lined up like the ranks of the already mentioned legionnaires, the awnings flap elastically in the wind - everything is strengthened, arranged, marked. Identical washbasins, standard, but hand-made tables are covered with beautiful oilcloth, the columns are painted green. Shovels are stored in a toolbox (4 posts, canopy, cross ties).

Location of the camp of the Taman expedition of the Institute of Archives of the Russian Academy of Sciences

The archaeological town is located in a hollow between 3 hills, forming a kind of “tick”, the tip of which looks towards the vineyards behind the Sennovsky winery, the end of the short crossbar (closest to the sea) - towards the sea, and the long one - towards the “acropolis” excavation. Main facilities: staff trailer, canteen, camera room, utility tent. The staff trailer used to be painted a cheerful blue color, and on the end of the trailer was painted the cunning face of a smiling man, wearing glasses and a pith helmet on his head. This face resembled a man whose appearance is not discussed. Over time, the paint faded and peeled off, and the trailer was ordered to be repainted in the now traditional (corporate) green color.

Installation of a canopy over the staff trailer (crucial moment)

The expedition kitchen is built near a large spreading tree of a species unknown to me (the locals call this tree an olive) from strong 5X5 timber and covered with fiberboard sheets. Neat shelves are attached along its walls, and on them cook Sergei places bags of sugar, salt, cereal, seasoning, tea, and coffee. The kitchen takes on a cozy look in a matter of days, and all day long borscht, compote and porridge are boiling and gurgling in large tanks on three gas stoves. On a flat area near the food distribution, a metal frame is placed, which is covered with a large awning made of dense waterproof material. The “walls” are covered with army camouflage netting, and large tables and benches are placed inside. There are sets for salt, pepper, and napkins on the tables. This is where we eat, but more on that later. The story about our meals will be juicier and more colorful when the famous Taman watermelons and melons ripen and the grapes ripen. So, wait.

Breakfast. At the distribution, student of the Slavyansk-on-Kuban Pedagogical Institute Olga Reznichenko

What is a "camera"? The purpose of this very interesting structure raises many questions among tourists who often wander into our camp. Kameralka (another name for ceramics) is a production site for processing ceramics. Imagine another perfectly leveled area of 96 square meters. m. on one of the central places in the camp, divided using pegs and nylon ropes into 32 identical squares. A lightweight mesh (provides shade and withstands wind loads), which in Europe is used to protect orchards from insect invasion, is mounted on an ingenious frame structure. The squares on the camera correspond to the number of squares (large in size, of course) into which the excavations on the ground and under water are divided. Accordingly, all the finds found during excavations (and with the beginning of the season, the number of ceramic fragments alone amounts to many tens of thousands of pieces) are taken to the camp and end up - each in its own clearly defined place. And the girls working on ceramics wash this entire pile with ordinary, and often specially purchased, toothbrushes. Profile (necks, bottoms, etc.), painted parts, as well as other fragments of ancient vessels that for some reason interested scientists, are encrypted by applying numbers in ink. A piece of ceramics is sketched (drawing) and photographed. Why is this necessary, what can some broken shards tell about this, and why do the best minds of Russian archeology devote their entire scientific lives to the study of pieces of baked clay? Read our diary!

Camera

On the sides of the camera room there are 2 spacious rectangular tents (green, of course). They contain plastic tables and chairs, sheets of paper, laptops, cups with feathers and pencils, glued jugs, small boxes of cookies and chocolates. Ask me, who lives in the tower?

Kitchen (left) and utility room (right)

Utility tent! This is a place for initiates, only a few people can enter here. Food and other equally important expedition supplies are stored here. There's stew, condensed milk and toilet paper. Each archaeological camp has a utility tent. This could be an old tarpaulin tent attached to buried tree branches, a deep and cool dugout, a secluded corner in the home of the expedition leader. It all depends on the scale and capabilities. Our capabilities, thanks to the support of the Volnoe Delo Charitable Foundation, are enough for a lot. We have, as we say: “For a big ship, a long voyage.” And this year, Vladimir Dmitrievich decided to build a real farm shed: roomy, solid and wooden. His location changed. Previously, our utility tent was adjacent to the trailer, but now it was placed on the terrace of the hillside directly behind the kitchen. This terrace is under the architectural supervision of A.A. Zavoykin was surrounded with stones brought from the excavation site. And our camp has become even more fundamental...

Two camps of the expedition's underwater detachment were made up of groups from the Geophysical Research Foundation (Moscow) and PASF "South - Vympel". Our submariners have their own way of life and routine, their own routines. We'll tell you more about this later.

At the entrance to the camp of the Taman expedition of the Institute of Archives of the Russian Academy of Sciences

What else can you tell us? In general, about a lot, but about everything little by little and, as they say, the main plots and their other participants will be revealed as the play progresses. A wondrous and wonderful play that we, employees of the Taman expedition of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, experience every field season. The name you ask?

PHANAGORIA

We are engaged in a business that began in the 19th century, continued in the 20s of the 20th century, acquired academic status in 1936 and continues to this day. The expedition diary will reflect the main events of the 2008 field season. Sometimes the actions will be scheduled by day, sometimes there will be distant and not quite excursions into the history of Phanagoria and expeditions.

Summer has come, and many young people are thinking about how to spend it interesting and useful. One of the ways to spend time in the summer is an archaeological expedition. Our correspondent Alexander FILIPOV participated in excavations in Crimea for several years. He preceded his photo story about this with an interview with PSTGU teacher Nikita GAIDUKOV. At the end - recommendations on how to get on the expedition yourself.

Nikita Evgenievich Gaidukov Born in 1967 in Moscow. In 1991 he graduated from the Faculty of Geology of Moscow State University. Lomonosov. In 1996-1997 he worked as a teacher at the Department of General Pedagogy at Moscow State Pedagogical Institute. From 1998 to the present, he has been working as a teacher at the Saransk Theological School (Republic of Mordovia). From 2000 to the present, he has been working as a teacher at the Orthodox St. Tikhon’s Theological Institute; since 2004 - teacher at the Department of Liturgical Theology of PSTGU. For many years he has been a participant in several archaeological expeditions, specializing in the field of church archeology. Author of 30 articles on Crimea, a guide to cave monasteries and temples of Crimea.

- Nikita Evgenievich, what is the importance of church archeology in the study of liturgics?

Archeology is the history of material culture, history written by material monuments.

- But how can frescoes and inscriptions in the catacombs help us understand what the worship was like?

When talking about such early monuments, one must be very careful about whether they reflect liturgical or private life. This is especially true of the catacombs, which became liturgical objects very late, only at the end of the 3rd century, and before that they were simply large underground burial places.

Drawings, frescoes, inscriptions are the most important historical source. For example, when the tombstones of popes with the dates of their lives were found, they became a significant source of history of the time.

The inscriptions talk about the interaction between Christians and the outside world, the Roman Empire, which is extremely interesting. For example, coins have been found with chrisms in the inscriptions (a symbol of the name of Jesus Christ, consisting of the Greek letters X and P stylized in the form of a cross). Christian images were found in the most unexpected places, for example, images of chrism or drawings of a dove, cross, on coins, utensils, which indicate that Christians in any, most ordinary thing, tried to bear witness to their faith in Christ.

There is also the book “Underground Rome” by De Rossi, two huge volumes of wall inscriptions, drawings, and descriptions. When I looked at it in the library of Moscow State University, I saw that it had not even been cut, that is, no one had read it for a hundred years, since it was published. This suggests that there is no interest in liturgical inscriptions. This is bad. You must have accurate knowledge about this subject, because it is truly the most important historical source.

In Ukraine, in Crimea, there are also such monuments. We came across quite long liturgical inscriptions in the Kerch catacombs, 4th century, this is the text of the Trisagion, the text of Psalm 50.

Among the monuments of early times it is very difficult to separate Christian monuments from non-Christian ones. Christians prayed, of course, not to pagan gods, but to Jesus Christ, but in the rest of their lives their life was no different from paganism. A turning point in the funeral rite, for example, occurred in the 8th century; before that it was pagan. Christian material, crosses, and at the same time a plate of porridge are found in the crypts. But don’t think that they were stupid and we were smart. When people now leave food on graves, it’s the same plate of porridge; the idea that life in the afterlife is the same as here has not gone away.

- Tell us about the excavations taking place in Chersonesos.

Several painted crypts were recently discovered in Chersonesos... open at the end of the 19th century. These are Christian crypts, the material that was found in them does not go beyond the 4th century. There are coins, jewelry, ceramics, glass, there are ampoules in which they stored either water or oil, or shrines and relics unknown to us. They are made of lead, glass, copper or other materials. Clay ampoules are very interesting - they are a little larger and look like pots. This suggests that at this time a powerful Christian community appeared in Chersonesus, which, in particular, buried its dead in crypts. There was not just one body, but dozens buried there! Paintings were made on the walls - doves, wreaths, chrisms in a wreath, ships, inscriptions that testified to their hope. All this testifies specifically to Christian burials. Pagan burials are characterized by their own images.

- How did it happen that crypts that have already been found once have to be opened again?

They were found before the revolution, then they were preserved. Unfortunately, it was not the first time they were found either... They were first “discovered” and robbed in the Middle Ages.

- Which of the Christian monuments, in your opinion, is the most interesting in Chersonesos?

The most interesting objects in Chersonesos are the earliest temples. For example, a cruciform temple on the site of a necropolis, its name “Blachernae Temple” was coined later. It is very interesting, it has a cruciform shape, originally there was an entrance on each side, and in the center there was something, maybe a throne with a ciborium. Then the eastern branch of the cross was laid and began to be used as an altar. The floor was covered with mosaics. This mosaic has survived. It represents complex images of a peacock and a bowl. The mosaic was removed from the floor in the 60s; this was necessary for its preservation.

A Polish expedition excavated the Five-apse Temple. In terms of its structure, it stands between the basilica and the cross-domed structure. They date it to the first quarter of the 10th century.

The “Basilica Kruse” is being excavated under the leadership of S. Ushakov. The basilica is interesting because it is shortened, and the eastern part was rebuilt in the form of a trifolium - a clover petal. This form came into “fashion” after it was first used in the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem (perestroika in the 6th century), and the same is true in the Basilica of Cruz! At first the altar was “simple”, and in the VI-VII centuries. has been replaced by a shamrock!

There were clearly several thrones, probably at least four, one might say, a throne sitting on a throne. That is, the temple was restored several times.

- Tell us about the excavations in which you are participating.

I am working on excavations in the cave city of Bakla, which is located in the Bakhchisarai region, on an expedition of the Crimean branch of the Institute of Archeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
This is a curious city. City life began there in the 4th century, and its heyday began in the 10th century. It is located on the gentle slope of a cuesta - a mountain ledge. Fortress walls, several temples, and crypts have been excavated there. We found painted crypts, this is the first time in the mountains of Crimea!

The most interesting thing is that this is the only settlement in which a large temple has not been found. Small temples were found, temples at the foot were found, but the large basilica, which most likely should have been there, was not found. Finding it is one of the tasks of our expedition.

It would be very good to create a base for practice, for a theological university or for students from other universities interested in Christianity. These are mountains, there is inexpensive housing, and in addition, this is an opportunity to work on a Christian monument.

The fact is that in most other cases it is not possible to dig a Christian monument. First, you will need to dig the garbage dump that was on this site, then the 18th century cemetery, then the monument itself, then it will need to be demolished in order to dig for antiquity.

- So, are the Christian monuments of Crimea doomed, will they all be demolished?

The people who dig and preserve monuments are different people. There are special monument protection services. They come from this service and the archaeologist asks: “What would you like to have as a result?” And there they already make decisions in each specific case on the basis of international conventions. But an archaeologist has the right to demolish the entire monument, dig a pit and see what’s underneath, and then put everything back together. Or not collect it.

A. Filipov. Archaeologist's Diary

Malakhov Kurgan

The station in Sevastopol is located near Malakhov Kurgan. This is a large hill about 30 meters high with steep, almost vertical slopes. Once upon a time, terrible battles took place here, but now it is very beautiful: the mound is covered with lavender, almond trees grow nearby, and there is a view of the whole of Sevastopol, spread out on the hills and surrounded by gardens. From here, it seems to me, the city is similar to Constantinople, which is two hours away and one and a half thousand years away.

We live on an archaeological base. Within a few days, several more students from other institutes arrived. It was built in the 70s for archaeological expeditions of Moscow State University. Nikita Evgenievich said that the leader was a certain Belyaev. When the construction was finished, he did not want to pay the workers, and they hung him up by his legs and began hitting him in the stomach with shelves until he agreed to pay.

History of Chersonesus

In the evening we talk about the history of Chersonesos.

The city was the closest northern colony for the southern Black Sea coastal cities, Asia Minor regions and Hellas proper. But due to the remoteness from the producers of raw materials located in the Don region, the Dnieper region, etc., Chersonesus could develop less intensively than its rivals: from the north-west Olbia (on the Bug, at its confluence with the Dnieper estuary) and Panticapaeum (now Kerch). Chersonesus is located on the very isthmus of the peninsula; it was formerly called Megarika. The harbor on which the city was located was called Beautiful. Its walls are 5000 steps in circumference. The author of the "Description of the Earth" (De Chorographia), Pomponius Mela (about 40 BC), speaks of a citadel located in the middle of the city. The squares and streets of the city are distinguished by their regularity, beautiful buildings with a lot of decorations. The excavations are well represented by water supply and sewerage with laid pottery pipes and channels. There was a shortage of water in the city at all times of its existence; to eliminate it, water intake wells were made, drilled into almost solid limestone rock (the subsoil of the entire city), into which rainwater flowed; There are a huge number of such wells; almost every large house had one. They also used a water supply system that supplied water from outside the city walls. In quiet times, the outskirts of the city were filled with blooming gardens and vineyards.

There is an interesting story about Emperor Justinian II (reigned 685-695 and 705-711). He was dethroned and sent with his nose and tongue cut off to Chersonesos. Here he was greeted by the townspeople with ridicule, and Justinian fled to the Khazar Khagan in Dori, where he married his daughter, and, after many adventures, with the help of the Bulgarian king Tarbelia, he regained his throne (705), not forgetting the inhospitability of Chersonese. In 710, an expedition led by Vardan was sent with the aim of punishing the Chersonesians, who fulfilled the order in the most cruel way, ravaging the city and killing the inhabitants. The second punitive expedition was unsuccessful and ended with the commander Vardan, with the support of the Khazars, overthrowing Justinian and taking his throne under the name Philippic (711-713), and Chersonesos received the same rights of liberty, but with a Khazar protectorate.

The narrowness of the territory forced Chersonesos to rely on trade and, despite all the political turmoil and constraints, until the 10th century. retains the appearance of ancient public institutions and the independence of civil administration and even soon, under the protectorate of the Khazars, “is freed from the supremacy of Byzantium and becomes a free city.” During the iconoclastic unrest of the 8th century. Chersonesus zealously stands on the side of icon veneration and serves as a place of refuge for the faithful. The origin of cave monasteries with temples (Inkerman, Assumption Skete, Mangup-Kale, Tepe-Kermen, Kachi-Kalen, etc.) is attributed to this era.

At the beginning of the second quarter of the 9th century, according to the story of the life of St. Stephen, Archbishop of Sourozh, there was an invasion of the “Russian (?) Army” on Chersonesus and Sourozh under the command of Prince Bravalin (Bravlin) (“the prince is brawling and very strong”).

Cyril and Methodius came here. They studied the now unknown “Russian books”, creating the Slavic alphabet to educate the Slavs, so that they could communicate with God and learn the Holy Gospel in the Slavic language they understood.

Prince Vladimir was baptized here.

Excavations

We had to excavate a small Byzantine temple, presumably from the 10th century. The dating is controversial. Excavations are taking place outside the territory of Chersonesus, in the necropolis at the top of the Maiden Mountain, near Quarantine Bay. In ancient times there was a crypt there, in early Christian times there was a martyrium, the tomb of a martyr, then a temple was created there. Fragments of frescoes have been preserved. We must excavate the altar apse: the roof of the temple has collapsed - two pieces of rock with a volume of several cubic meters. You need to take out these pieces, several cubic meters of soil, and have time to do it in one season.

The fact is that the excavations are taking place on private property. If you meet the deadline, the temple will be given the status of a monument, and the landowner will not be able to destroy it. Alas, the Roman citizens who created the monuments of Chersonesus are the ancestors of Ukrainians, but modern citizens of Ukraine, who bought land here for a lot of money, can fill it all with earth and build, for example, a villa. Then there will be no excavations here for another hundred years.

Chersonesos

I'm going for a walk around Chersonesos. Now it represents the ruins of an ancient city - blocks separated by straight streets. There was a large temple on every street and, in addition, almost every courtyard had its own small temple.

The house in ancient Chersonesus looked like a modern villa. The houses were built of stone, 2-3 floors, surrounded by a stone fence. In the courtyard there were several buildings, a well and, as already mentioned, very often a temple.

The temple was built instead of an ancient theater; perhaps executions took place here. It consists of stone benches located in a semicircle around the arena. There is a stage behind the arena. The theater was built around the third century BC. e. The original stones are only two steps near the temple, the rest was rebuilt in the 50s.

In the left apse there is a stone ark. It looks like a large stone box, made from a single piece of limestone, with a cross and two poplars on the front wall. Some call it baptism. But it is too small for a person to fit here; an apse was specially created for it. Perhaps the relics were kept here.

We broke pieces of rock with sledgehammers and took them out. Fragments of paintings appeared.

Little Rome
I walked around Chersonesos again. I tried to imagine how the Chersoensids lived, how they defended themselves from the troops of Prince Vladimir. Were they happy from their communication with Saints Cyril and Methodius? I approach the inscription on the foundation of the house, near which there is a sign: “DOMUS URBANUS” city house, 3rd century AD. e. And here lived orratores, bellores and laborratores, praying, fighting and working.

I like the inscription on the wall: “Chersonese, little Rome.”

Tepe-Kerman

On Sunday we went to service not at the Vladimir Assembly, but at the Church of All Saints. This is the only temple in which worship was held during Soviet times.

After the liturgy we go to Tepe-Kermen.

"Tepe-Kermen" means "lonely fortress" in Tatar. It stands on the top of a mountain and is an ensemble consisting of several caves, several buildings and a cave temple. The fortress was part of the system of Greek defensive structures, and each fortress on its own, without connection with other fortresses, had no defensive significance. If Eski-Kermen fell, this fortress also fell.

The famous Crimean cave cities were actually the basement floors of ordinary cities that once stood on the tops of mountains

Eski-Kermen

The city is also located on the top of a mountain. There were several streets here, we walk along the main one. Now all that remains are mounds that formed when the city was destroyed - the walls fell into the streets. Then everything became overgrown with grass.

Nikita Evgenievich: - There were about thirty thousand inhabitants here. The city was destroyed during the assault by Nogai. He massacred or captured the inhabitants and burned the city.

With shield

We spent about two weeks excavating. During this time, soil was removed from the altar, several coins were found, from which the dating could be determined, measurements were taken, and the results were recorded. It is very important that the monument will be given official status, so it will be preserved and can be studied.

How can an ordinary person take part in an archaeological expedition?
Nikita Evgenievich Gaidukov is a teacher of church archeology at the Department of Liturgics at PSTGU.

Currently there is no centralized system that would coordinate the work of archaeological expeditions. There are sites, for example the Institute of Archeology, where there is a message board. You can contact the expedition leader personally.

But it’s best to simply negotiate with someone you know and who has already been on an expedition. For the first time it is better to go with a person you know. It’s better not to go with strangers for the first time, because it rarely happens that a person immediately finds an archaeological expedition that he likes. It usually happens that after visiting once, a person develops a persistent aversion to archeology. Therefore, it is better that this be an internship, either at your university, or at a university where you have student friends or know teachers. It’s better not to go on an expedition where you don’t know anyone just like that.

As for such qualities as physical strength and endurance, this is not the main thing. Both at the excavation site and at home, there will be something for a person to do, even if he cannot hold anything heavier than a pencil. If only he wanted to do something. There is no such case when a person does not find use for his outstanding talents at an excavation site. It's a matter of labor organization. With well-organized work, everything works out.

Elena Yurievna Klenina, scientific secretary of the Chersonesos Museum-Reserve:

Almost anyone can take part in excavations. We pay for the work and therefore a lot depends on funding. We prefer not to deal with volunteers. A worker receives a salary and works, but a volunteer is here today and gone tomorrow. Students? I don’t like working with students, because there are a lot of problems with them - you need to organize their work, then you need to organize their accommodation, then you need to organize their entertainment. Then they get drunk.
Even the threat of not receiving an internship credit has almost no effect on the student. Our practice is poorly organized. The organizer of the excavation should be engaged in the excavation, and the organization of the practice should be carried out by the organizer of the practice. He must keep an eye on them - bring them to work, monitor how they work, take them away from work, organize their lives. It's a lot of work. I have a lot of scientific tasks and I can't supervise students. The organizer sometimes does a good job and sometimes doesn't follow up. But there are exceptions.

-What should a person do if he wants to take part in excavations?

He should either contact the excavation organizer in advance or simply come up and talk while working.

Natalya Valerievna Eniosova, head of the Smolensk expedition of the Department of Archeology, Faculty of History, Moscow State University:

Our first-year students take part in expeditions without fail, and from other courses - at will. There are old expeditions of the University, where trips have been made for many decades, such as Novgorod or Crimean. But in general there are several dozen trips every year. Excavations are being carried out in the mentioned Novgorod and Crimea (Chersonese, Evpatoria, cave cities), in Smolensk, Rostov-on-Don, Stavropol. The time of monuments is the entire history of mankind: the Stone, Bronze Ages, antiquity, medieval cities. Before the trip, usually in May, there are meetings of leaders and future participants, where.

There are no special requirements for participants. It all depends on the leader of the expedition and the person himself. True, there should not be any whims in the field, regarding food, accommodation, etc. You need to be ready to endure difficulties.

To take part in the expedition, you need to come to a meeting where they talk about the excavations, explain what you need to take with you, and resolve issues related to the trip. There it will be clear what the need for people is, the conditions of the trip, and a decision will be made about the expedition participants. You can find out about the times of these meetings from the announcement in the University building or by calling the Department of Archeology at 939-19-38.

Petr Grigorievich GAIDUKOV, employee of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, head of the Novgorod expedition.

Unfortunately, we do not accept single people. We take either organized groups of students with their own leader or hire workers at the excavation site. It’s difficult to take people, they need to be accommodated, fed, and the group leader is responsible for the students. Many institutions that do not organize expeditions themselves participate in joint expeditions with us. After all, they need to come for summer internship, they get credit for it. So in Novgorod the main expedition is ours jointly with Moscow State University and the Novgorod Museum. There are also the St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg expeditions, students of Novgorod University, of course.

To get to other places, you need to agree in advance with the leader of the expedition where you want to go. To do this, you need to go to our website http://www.archaeolog.ru/?id=9 to see the schedule of meetings dedicated to trips or contact the leader at the coordinates left there.

http://www.nsad.ru/index.php?issue=13§ion=15&article=943

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An archaeological expedition is not only an option for a budget trip, but also a great opportunity to learn more about history, see firsthand how archaeological research is carried out, and meet interesting people.

You don’t have to be a professional archaeologist or historian to do this. It’s enough just to have the desire to work in the field for several weeks, live in a tent (or maybe not in a tent, but in a completely comfortable home) and soak in the romance of the expedition. The fact is that archaeological excavations always require working hands - the same hands that will dig the ground and clean artifacts. Often schoolchildren, students, etc. are invited for these purposes. The costs of food and accommodation for participants are usually covered by the organizers. You will only need to pay for travel. Moreover, many expeditions are even willing to pay for the work - not much, but enough to cover the costs of travel, souvenirs and beer and ice cream. Although some people manage to earn quite good money during the season, it’s all a matter of qualifications and work experience. In addition, such expeditions usually organize various lectures, excursions, and trips for their participants. So you can not only work in the fresh air, but also see a lot of interesting things, as well as change your field of activity.

How to find a suitable expedition for yourself? Very simple. It is enough to enter the words “work on an archaeological expedition” or something similar in any search engine, and you will receive an impressive list of archaeological exchanges, websites and expedition blogs. For those who are friends with the VKontakte service, you can look for archaeological groups - there are many of them, and links to other groups are usually indicated there. Well, then it’s a matter of choice. I’ll say right away: there are not just many offers, but a lot.

Here is a list of some sites and groups that will help you in your search:

VKontakte groups:

Archeology Foundation

(You may know other sites or groups. Write to me and I will put them on this list).

I'll tell you about my experience. At some point, I realized that I was tired of being an “armchair scientist”; I needed real practice, I needed to understand how archaeological material is generally mined and processed. There weren’t any particular ideas; a friend who worked at the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences was not eager to help, and then I turned to the Internet. Within a few minutes I was entering contact information about myself in one of the exchanges. A day later, an invitation came to excavations in the Rostov region. You could go digging on or on. All I was required to do was purchase a ticket to my destination and back. All other expenses were covered by the organizers. In addition, the program included various educational trips and excursions around the Rostov region: to Novocherkassk, Rostov-on-Don, Belaya Kalitva, as well as recreation on the river and other delights of field life.

We worked from 6 to 8 hours a day, depending on the weather and the pace of work. There were 10-minute breaks every hour and one half-hour break in the middle. The rest of the time was at our disposal. In addition, during work we constantly talked and played some games. I remember once we were faced with an incredibly difficult area: the stone was small and constantly crumbled, cleaning was difficult. The head of the expedition “threw” about 8 people into this square. We honestly tried to work, but the work went on with difficulty. And it’s not clear for what reason, a conversation started among us about God. As you know, this is where the hottest debates arise. It seems that our screams were heard on the Don. But imagine our surprise when an hour and a half later the boss came up and announced that we had done the job brilliantly!

That year I worked on the expedition all summer. It was not only a luxurious holiday, but also a very educational trip. During the excursions we were told and shown much more than ordinary tourists. We then traveled around a significant part of the Rostov region. In addition, it’s one thing when you study history from textbooks, and quite another when you clear the skeletons, foundations of houses with your own hands, see how mounds were built and much, much more.

Two years later I went on an expedition to the ancient capital of Rus'. It was there that Rurik first came to reign. This time I no longer had to look for where to go - invitations began to come on their own, I just had to choose. A completely different style of work, a different material with which we had to work - if in the Rostov region there was stone, then here it was wood. The work was led by Professor Kirpichnikov from St. Petersburg, one of the leading specialists in this region. Again there were various lectures and trips. Well, of course.

It is difficult to convey the feeling when a piece of shard or bone, beads or bead appears from the ground. Sometimes more significant finds were found. Contrary to popular belief, gold-silver-diamonds come across very rarely, it is truly luck. But during excavations you are overcome with excitement, you rejoice at every little discovery. And there is also a very strange feeling when you touch those things that belonged to people who lived a long time ago, when you touch their culture and way of life. And you begin to understand life and history a little better, and look at what is happening a little differently.

So a trip to an archaeological excavation is not only a wonderful vacation, not only learning new things, but also comprehending oneself.

Nikita Evgenievich, what is the importance of church archeology in the study of liturgics?
--Archaeology is the history of material culture, history written by material monuments.

By studying them, we create ideas about history. It happens that a written source lies, tells something that did not happen, it happens that a monument of material culture lies, an example is fakes that are sold in markets; there is a huge market for fake things. The historian’s task is to compare them, distinguish genuine monuments from fakes and, based on verification, that is, mutual verification, create an idea of history. Why is archeology important to historical liturgy? Because there are few early manuscripts, but we have, for example, the most ancient proto-temples, from which the modern temple grew. By studying these monuments, we can draw conclusions about worship.

- But how can frescoes and inscriptions in the catacombs help us understand what the worship was like?
- When talking about such early monuments, one must be very careful about whether they reflect liturgical or private life. This is especially true of the catacombs, which became liturgical objects very late, only at the end of the 3rd century, and before that they were simply large underground burial places.

As for the frescoes, we don’t understand them at all. We understand that these are Christian images, but we do not know what thoughts were put into them... The images are very different. For example, an orant or oranta is a man or woman with their hands raised up, with the inscription “such and such lies in the world.” This is a universal appeal to God, that is, a pagan symbol. That is, the means of depiction are pagan, but the meaning is already Christian. And, since we do not really understand pagan worship, we do not really understand the early Christian images created before the time when the iconographic canon was developed, which already corresponded to Christian worship.

- How great is the interest in church archeology in the professional community?
- There is also the book “Underground Rome” by De Rossi, two huge volumes of wall inscriptions, drawings, descriptions. When I looked at it in the library of Moscow State University, I saw that it had not even been cut, that is, no one had read it for a hundred years, since it was published. This suggests that there is no interest in liturgical inscriptions. This is bad. You must have accurate knowledge about this subject, because it is truly the most important historical source.

In Ukraine, in Crimea, there are also such monuments. We came across quite long liturgical inscriptions in the Kerch catacombs, 4th century, this is the text of the Trisagion, the text of Psalm 50.

Crypt near Chersonesus, entrance: view from outside and inside

The dead were placed here

Wall painting of crypts. The crypts date back to the 3rd-4th centuries, i.e. there is a possibility that they were used by Christians even before the edict of Constantine, which put an end to the persecution of Christianity

- Tell us about the excavations taking place in Chersonesos.
- Several painted crypts were recently found in Chersonesos... open at the end of the 19th century. These are Christian crypts, the material that was found in them does not go beyond the 4th century. There are coins, jewelry, ceramics, glass, there are ampoules in which they stored either water or oil, or shrines and relics unknown to us. They are made of lead, glass, copper or other materials. Clay ampoules are very interesting - they are a little larger and look like pots. This suggests that at this time a powerful Christian community appeared in Chersonesus, which, in particular, buried its dead in crypts. There was not just one body, but dozens buried there! Paintings were made on the walls - doves, wreaths, chrisms in a wreath, ships, inscriptions that testified to their hope. All this testifies specifically to Christian burials. Pagan burials are characterized by their own images.

- How did it happen that crypts that have already been found once have to be opened again?
- They were found before the revolution, then they were preserved. Unfortunately, it was not the first time they were found either... They were first “discovered” and robbed in the Middle Ages.

- Which of the Christian monuments, in your opinion, is the most interesting in Chersonesos?
- The most interesting objects in Chersonesos are the earliest temples. For example, a cruciform temple on the site of a necropolis, its name “Blachernae Temple” was coined later. It is very interesting, it has a cruciform shape, originally there was an entrance on each side, and in the center there was something, maybe a throne with a ciborium. Then the eastern branch of the cross was laid and began to be used as an altar. The floor was covered with mosaics. This mosaic has survived. It represents complex images of a peacock and a bowl. The mosaic was removed from the floor in the 60s; this was necessary for its preservation.

A Polish expedition excavated the Five-apse Temple. In terms of its structure, it stands between the basilica and the cross-domed structure. They date it to the first quarter of the 10th century.

The “Basilica Kruse” is being excavated under the leadership of S. Ushakov. The basilica is interesting because it is shortened, and the eastern part was rebuilt in the form of a trifolium - a clover petal. This form came into “fashion” after it was first used in the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem (perestroika in the 6th century), and the same thing in the Basilica of Cruz! At first the altar was “simple”, but in the VI-VII centuries. has been replaced by a shamrock!

There were clearly several thrones, probably at least four, one might say, a throne sitting on a throne. That is, the temple was restored several times.

- Tell us about the excavations in which you are participating.
- I am working on excavations in the cave city of Bakla, which is located in the Bakhchisarai region, on an expedition of the Crimean branch of the Institute of Archeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
This is a curious city. City life began there in the 4th century, and its heyday began in the 10th century. It is located on the gentle slope of a cuesta - a mountain ledge. Fortress walls, several temples, and crypts have been excavated there. We found painted crypts, this is the first time in the mountains of Crimea!

- So, are the Christian monuments of Crimea doomed, will they all be demolished?
- People who dig and preserve monuments are different people. There are special monument protection services. They come from this service and the archaeologist asks: “What would you like to have as a result?” And there they already make decisions in each specific case on the basis of international conventions. But an archaeologist has the right to demolish the entire monument, dig a pit and see what’s underneath, and then put everything back together. Or not collect it.

A. Filipov. Archaeologist's Diary

Malakhov Kurgan
The station in Sevastopol is located near Malakhov Kurgan. This is a large hill about 30 meters high with steep, almost vertical slopes. Once upon a time, terrible battles took place here, but now it is very beautiful: the mound is covered with lavender, almond trees grow nearby, and there is a view of the whole of Sevastopol, spread out on the hills and surrounded by gardens. From here, it seems to me, the city is similar to Constantinople, which is two hours away and one and a half thousand years away.

Base
We live on an archaeological base. Within a few days, several more students from other institutes arrived. It was built in the 70s for archaeological expeditions of Moscow State University. Nikita Evgenievich said that the leader was a certain Belyaev. When the construction was finished, he did not want to pay the workers, and they hung him up by his legs and began hitting him in the stomach with shelves until he agreed to pay.

History of Chersonesus
In the evening we talk about the history of Chersonesos.
The city was the closest northern colony for the southern Black Sea coastal cities, Asia Minor regions and Hellas proper. But due to the remoteness from the producers of raw materials located in the Don region, the Dnieper region, etc., Chersonesus could develop less intensively than its rivals: from the north-west Olbia (on the Bug, at its confluence with the Dnieper estuary) and Panticapaeum (now Kerch). Chersonesus is located on the very isthmus of the peninsula; it was formerly called Megarika. The harbor on which the city was located was called Beautiful. Its walls are 5000 steps in circumference. The author of the "Description of the Earth" (De Chorographia), Pomponius Mela (about 40 BC), speaks of a citadel located in the middle of the city. The squares and streets of the city are distinguished by their regularity, beautiful buildings with a lot of decorations. The excavations are well represented by water supply and sewerage with laid pottery pipes and channels. There was a shortage of water in the city at all times of its existence; to eliminate it, water intake wells were made, drilled into almost solid limestone rock (the subsoil of the entire city), into which rainwater flowed; There are a huge number of such wells; almost every large house had one. They also used a water supply system that supplied water from outside the city walls. In quiet times, the outskirts of the city were filled with blooming gardens and vineyards.

Prince Vladimir was baptized here.

Chersonesus is now a place in the suburbs of Sevastopol. It is surrounded by a fence, like a nature reserve, and inside there are traces of ancient buildings, often completed in later times

Archaeologists, tourists, vacationers and local residents all strive to leave their mark on historical stones

Ruins of the baptismal church, where, according to legend, Prince Vladimir was baptized

Excavations
We had to excavate a small Byzantine temple, presumably from the 10th century. The dating is controversial. Excavations are taking place outside the territory of Chersonesus, in the necropolis at the top of the Maiden Mountain, near Quarantine Bay. In ancient times there was a crypt there, in early Christian times there was a martyrium, the tomb of a martyr, then a temple was created there. Fragments of frescoes have been preserved. We must excavate the altar apse: the roof of the temple has collapsed - two pieces of rock with a volume of several cubic meters. You need to take out these pieces, several cubic meters of soil, and have time to do it in one season.

Chersonesos
I'm going for a walk around Chersonesos. Now it represents the ruins of an ancient city - blocks separated by straight streets. There was a large temple on every street and, in addition, almost every courtyard had its own small temple.

Excavations in Chersonesos

Temple instead of theater
After work, Nikita Evgenievich gives a tour of Chersonesos. We go to the ruins of the temple in the theater. “The dating is controversial. Kosciuszko, who excavated it in 1905, found on the site of the throne an ark with relics from the time of Justinian. It is now kept in the Hermitage.”
The temple was built instead of an ancient theater; perhaps executions took place here. It consists of stone benches located in a semicircle around the arena. There is a stage behind the arena. The theater was built around the third century BC. e. The original stones are only two steps near the temple, the rest was rebuilt in the 50s.

***
We broke pieces of rock with sledgehammers and took them out. Fragments of paintings appeared.

Tepe-Kerman
On Sunday we went to service not at the Vladimir Assembly, but at the Church of All Saints. This is the only temple in which worship was held during Soviet times.
After the liturgy we go to Tepe-Kermen.

Tepe-Kerman

The famous Crimean cave cities were actually the basement floors of ordinary cities that once stood on the tops of mountains

Temple

Eski–Kermen
The city is also located on the top of a mountain. There were several streets here, we walk along the main one. Now all that remains are mounds that formed when the city was destroyed - the walls fell into the streets. Then everything became overgrown with grass.

Nikita Evgenievich: - There were about thirty thousand inhabitants here. The city was destroyed during the assault by Nogai. He massacred or captured the inhabitants and burned the city.

Some more Crimean archaeological photographs:

Beshik-tau

Zander

Boyko Settlement

With shield
We spent about two weeks excavating. During this time, soil was removed from the altar, several coins were found, from which the dating could be determined, measurements were taken, and the results were recorded. It is very important that the monument will be given official status, so it will be preserved and can be studied.

How can an ordinary person take part in an archaeological expedition?
Nikita Evgenievich Gaidukov is a teacher of church archeology at the Department of Liturgics at PSTGU.
Currently there is no centralized system that would coordinate the work of archaeological expeditions. There are sites, for example the Institute of Archeology, where there is a message board. You can contact the expedition leader personally.

And one more thing: sad experience shows that in order for a person to be taken on an expedition, he needs to have two qualities - minimal sociability so that he can somehow communicate with other people and not disgust. For example, if they said that you need to wash the floor, you need to wash the floor, if you cook compote, cook compote. If he can step over himself and say that “I don’t want to do this, but it is necessary, and I will do it,” then they will take him. Archaeological excavations may be associated with burials, and someone may say: “I won’t dig blind man’s buff.” Then it's better not to go. You have to imagine what awaits you and calculate your strength.
As for such qualities as physical strength and endurance, this is not the main thing. Both at the excavation site and at home, there will be something for a person to do, even if he cannot hold anything heavier than a pencil. If only he wanted to do something. There is no such case when a person does not find use for his outstanding talents at an excavation site. It's a matter of labor organization. With well-organized work, everything works out.

Elena Yurievna Klenina, scientific secretary of the Chersonesos Museum-Reserve:
- Almost anyone can take part in excavations. We pay for the work and therefore a lot depends on funding. We prefer not to deal with volunteers. A worker receives a salary and works, but a volunteer is here today and gone tomorrow. Students? I don’t like working with students, because there are a lot of problems with them - you need to organize their work, then you need to organize their accommodation, then you need to organize their entertainment. Then they get drunk.
Even the threat of not receiving an internship credit has almost no effect on the student. Our practice is poorly organized. The organizer of the excavation should be engaged in the excavation, and the organization of the practice should be carried out by the organizer of the practice. He must keep an eye on them - bring them to work, monitor how they work, take them away from work, organize their lives. It's a lot of work. I have a lot of scientific tasks and I can't supervise students. The organizer sometimes does a good job and sometimes doesn't follow up. But there are exceptions.

-What should a person do if he wants to take part in excavations?
- He should either contact the excavation organizer in advance or simply come up and talk while working.

Natalya Valerievna Eniosova, head of the Smolensk expedition of the Department of Archeology, Faculty of History, Moscow State University:
- Our first-year students take part in expeditions without fail, and from other courses - at will. There are old expeditions of the University, where trips have been made for many decades, such as Novgorod or Crimean. But in general there are several dozen trips every year. Excavations are being carried out in the mentioned Novgorod and Crimea (Chersonese, Evpatoria, cave cities), in Smolensk, Rostov-on-Don, Stavropol. The time of monuments is the entire history of mankind: the Stone, Bronze Ages, antiquity, medieval cities. Before the trip, usually in May, there are meetings of leaders and future participants, where.

We welcome any participant and accept everyone, but we cannot pay for trips for non-students. The road to Smolensk costs about 500 rubles. Food and accommodation for 100 rubles. per day, i.e. the cost of one shift every two weeks costs about 3500 rubles.
There are no special requirements for participants. It all depends on the leader of the expedition and the person himself. True, there should not be any whims in the field, regarding food, accommodation, etc. You need to be ready to endure difficulties.
To take part in the expedition, you need to come to a meeting where they talk about the excavations, explain what you need to take with you, and resolve issues related to the trip. There it will be clear what the need for people is, the conditions of the trip, and a decision will be made about the expedition participants. You can find out about the times of these meetings from the announcement in the University building or by calling the Department of Archeology at 939-19-38.

Petr Grigorievich GAIDUKOV, employee of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, head of the Novgorod expedition.
Unfortunately, we do not accept single people. We take either organized groups of students with their own leader or hire workers at the excavation site. It’s difficult to take people, they need to be accommodated, fed, and the group leader is responsible for the students. Many institutions that do not organize expeditions themselves participate in joint expeditions with us. After all, they need to come for summer internship, they get credit for it. So in Novgorod the main expedition is ours jointly with Moscow State University and the Novgorod Museum. There are also the St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg expeditions, students of Novgorod University, of course.
To get to other places, you need to agree in advance with the leader of the expedition where you want to go. To do this, you need to go to our website http://www.archaeolog.ru/?id=9 to see the schedule of meetings dedicated to trips or contact the leader at the coordinates left there.