The second group of KBSU students went to excavate the burial ground «Upper Kurkuzhin» today

August 15 is the Day of the Archaeologist in Russia and some CIS countries. Just in time for the holiday, today the second group of first-year students of the Kabardino-Balkarian State University named after Kh.M. Berbekov went to excavate the burial ground «Upper Kurkuzhin», dating back to the 7th — 4th centuries BC.

This is an archaeological expedition of the State Hermitage.

The ground burial ground «Upper Kurkuzhin» belongs to the western version of the Koban culture (early Iron Age), and by studying it we will be able to learn more about the people who lived in the territory of Kabardino-Balkaria two and a half millennia ago, learn about their culture, burial rite.

Thanks to the agreement signed in 2016 with the Hermitage, it was possible to restore archaeological practice for history students. By helping scientists, they gain full-fledged practice and invaluable experience. Students are supervised by employees of the cultural and educational center of KBSU «Hermitage — Caucasus» Beslan Makoyev and Astemir Guchayev.

By the way, they recently received open sheets for archaeological work. This document signed by the deputy minister of culture of Russia gives them the right to conduct official excavations at 2 historical sites in the territory of Kabardino-Balkaria.

Expeditions allow testing the latest equipment of KBSU. Not every university in the country can boast of having a powerful ground penetrating radar and a 3D scanner, which allows for a deep study of artifacts and their reconstruction. Also, students use a quadcopter and a metal detector during excavations, which the university purchased as part of the «Priority 2030» project.

Employees of the cultural and educational center of KBSU «Hermitage — Caucasus» make a lot of efforts to preserve our unique historical and cultural heritage.

Last winter, the project «Digital Encyclopedia of Dolmens of the Caucasus» was presented. They are the most ancient objects of cultural heritage of Russia. With the help of digital technologies, a full-size copy of the dolmen, which is located in the valley of the Pshada River near Gelendzhik, was made. It took 3 months.

Director of the cultural and educational center of the KBSU «Hermitage — Caucasus» Albert Saralp suggests modeling 10 digital copies of dolmens from different regions of the Caucasus and putting them on display for tourists.

At the same time, he expresses regret that dolmens are also disappearing with catastrophic speed.

Albert Saralp calls on residents of Kabardino-Balkaria to take care of the historical and cultural heritage, otherwise in 15-20 years there will be nothing left of these unique monuments. And with proper care and design, they will attract tourists from all over the world.

For example, we can excavate the largest burial mounds, cover them with domes and make open-air museums out of them. This will be interesting for students, scientists and tourists,

— Saralp emphasized.

The director of the cultural and educational center of the KBSU «Hermitage-Caucasus» congratulates scientists and researchers who excavate and study historical artifacts, as well as those who are related to archaeology, on Archaeologist’s Day.

There are 417 cultural heritage sites on the territory of Kabardino-Balkaria, of which 114 are federal and 303 are regional. In fact, there are thousands of monuments, but not all of them have been identified. Only specialists who have the right to conduct archaeological field work can identify a cultural heritage site.