Archaeological research in the territory of the Karachev fortress of the 12th-17th centuries (2012)

In 2012 an expedition from the Department for Rescue Archaeology of the Institute of Archaeology, the Russian Academy of Sciences, oarried out arohiteotural and archaeologrnal investigations within the territory of the Ka^hev Fortress dating from the 12 th-17 th сс. The main aim of the excavations was to pinpoint the remains of a stone ohuroh of the late 12 th сєпШгу, of the pre-Mongol time, whrnh were unearthed during constmction work. The territory around the existing early 18 th сєпШгу ohuroh was investigated and the position of the earlier ohuroh at the site was determined. The саката! layer was investigated, its lowest part dating from the first half of the 12 th с. In the test pits the stratigraphy of the спЬт^ deposits was t^ed, whrnh for the most part was of a single type. Under a layer of turf, brown sandy loam with high humus content was found, containing broken plinths and mortar. Beneath that, a layer of grey sandy loam with oharooals and burnt day was t^ed. Down white and yellow sand was reoorded with indusions of pale-grey sandy loam and oharooals, whrnh lay immediately above the sandy subsoil. Ten archaeologrnal ob^ts were reoorded in the natural soil and partially studied: remains of dwellings, rubbish pits and the narrow diteh for a palisade. The data presented in this artide on the newly disooyered monument of medieval Russian arohiteotтre are far from condтsive and require further investigation.