Monument boundary definition and exploration pits at the Krasnyy Vostok site in the river Kuma basin

The article presents the results of instrumental surveys and pitting at an early medieval site, identified in the early 1970s by Kh.Kh. Bidzhiev. The investigated site and the settlement associated with it occupy a high cape plateau above the canyon of the left bank of the river Kuma in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic. The object of study is located in 2.4 km south-west of the southern outskirts of the village Krasnovostochny. The area of the fortified site is 4 hectares, the area of the settlement is slightly less. On three sides, this site is absolutely impregnable. On the forth western side, on its western slope, it is reliably protected by a rampart of up to 6 to 7 m high and a moat of 1 to 2 m deep. On the outside of the southern part of the rampart, a small outcrop of masonry constructed of the large blocks of limestone formed in the dry stone wall was discovered. The gates to the site were most likely located on the northern side of the rampart, in the place where a slight decrease was discovered, not at the southern end of the rampart (according to Bidzhiev) because no sign of an entrance was found there. The site revealed several shallow depressions of a sub-square, sub-rectangular or oval shape with a noticeable roller along the contour. There are at least 7 such depressions in the sectional area from 8 to 15 m. Probably, these depressions are the overgrown remains of the foundations of some buildings in the central part of the site. The content of 6 pits made on the territory of the site and the settlement are stone remains of the foundations (?) of ancient buildings and fragments of vessels. The collection of ceramics consists of medium-sized fragments of the walls of pottery (?) vessels, or vessels that are corrected on a wheel. The ceramics are diverse in the color of clay, density of the paste, firing, and impurities. According to the character, paste and collar shapes, ceramics can be dated to the last third of the 1st millennium AD, which does not contradict the opinion of the site’s discoverer on this issue (7th to 10th cent. AD). The examined site was one of the links in the main chain of fairly widely known (several dozen) fortified stone fortresses of this time in the foothills and mountains of the North Caucasus. Specialists know more than 130 similar stone sites, sometimes located in groups in the foothills and mountainous regions: settlements with defensive stone walls. Such small fortresses were built every 2 to 3 km along the tip of the cape above the river. The construction of a network of complex defensive structures indicates a high building culture and a social differentiation of society at the time.