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1. SINTASHTA is the largest archaeological monument of the Bronze Age (3rd – 2nd millennia BC). It was the cultural and spiritual center of the Arkaim Land of Cities. The site includes a fortified town, a burial ground, the temple complex Big Sintashta Barrow and lots of small barrows. It is located 50 km to the south of Arkaim, on the left bank of River Sintashta. 2 km away from the Rymniksky Settlement of the Bredinsky District to the right of the river one can see low hills. The size of the Sintashta ancient site is twice bigger than Arkaim.
As far as its size is concerned, the big barrow of Sintashta is one-of-a-kind for the ancient world of that time. It can be compared to pyramids only. Its outer circle on the ditch is 100 meters in diameter, whereas the barrow itself is about 60-70 meters in diameter. According to various calculations the original height of the bulk barrow is more than 30 meters.
* LAND of CITIES is a conventional name of the area in the South Ural, within which the ancient cities and fortified towns of Sintashta culture of the Middle Bronze Age (~ 2000 B.C.) were found. The Land of Cities incorporates at least 22 ancient cities and towns altogether.
2. ARKAIM was a fortified town of the Middle Bronze Age (the 3rd – 2nd millennium BC). A part of the Land of Cities, this famous archeological site is located on a high cape at the confluence of Bolshaya Karaganka and Utyaganka Rivers, 8 km to the north of the Amursky Settlement of the Bredinsky District and 2 km to the southeast of the Aleksandrovsky Settlement in the Kizil District of the Chelyabinsk Region.
The town of radial scheme is about 170 meters in diameter and consists of two circle walls, one around the other. Both the ring walls have attached premises in the shape of a circle sector. In fact, the town is a fortress consisting of two apartment houses.
Arkaim is often called Swastika City due to the site’s floor shape, which is similar to the rounded Swastika symbol. It may be no accident that enigmatic Arkaim site is very popular among esoteric teachings and is considered to be one of the anomalous zones of Russia and the place of power. Some researchers assume it to be the ancestral homeland of the Slavs, the Aryans or Indo-Europeans, and even “a cradle of human civilization”.
The skulls found in burial grounds made it possible to reconstruct the the appearance of Arkaim dwellers, who turned to be of the Caucasian race.
3. TANAIS was an antique city (3rd century BC — 5th century AD) in the mouth of the Don River. In the first centuries AD it was part of the Bosporus Kingdom. The site is located approximately 30 km to the west of Rostov-on-Don, near Nedvigovka Village.
Tanais was founded by Greeks, natives of the Bosporus Kingdom in the 3rd century BC. It was placed on the right bank of the main branch of the estuary river Tanais (nowadays Don).
Throughout many centuries Tanais was a large economic, political and cultural center of the Don and Azov area. The Greek geographer Strabon called it the biggest trading centre of barbarians, second to Panticapaeum (the capital of the Bosporus Kingdom in the area of present Kerch) only.
It was from Tanais that ancient geographers and historians drew the line between Europe and Asia. Tanais struggled for independence from the Bosporus governors. In 237 it was destroyed by the Ghoths. Reconstructed by the Sarmatians 140 years later, Tanais gradually turned into the agriculture and crafts center, and in the early 5th century AD fell to desolation.
Author: Vera Ivanova
