Khumarinskoye gorodishche (Russian: Хумаринское городище) or Khumar is a ruined medieval fortress on the top of Mount Kalezh above the Kuban Gorge in the Greater Caucasus, near Khumara village, Karachaevsky district, Karachay–Cherkessia, Russia. The site was investigated in 1960 and 1962 by V.A. Kuznetsov after the slabs with runic inscriptions were found, but without excavations. In 1963 and 1964 archaeological expedition of Karachaevo-Cherkessky research institute, led by E.P. Alekseeva, conducted excavations in the site. She found out that under medieval strata lay those of 8-6 centuries BC. A. Gadlo and Kh. Bidjiev discovered in 1974 remains of defense system - towers, walls. The fortress, situated downstream from

Karachaevsk Karachayevsk (russian: Карача́евск; krc, Къарачай шахар, ''Qaraçay şaxar'') is a town in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Russia, located on the Kuban River in the Caucasus Mountains The Caucasus Mountains, : prono ...

and formerly accessed only by ladder, occupies some forty hectares on top of a large plateau. The high walls, with twelve bastions, were pierced by a single 5-metre-wide gate. The fortifications are supposed to have been constructed either by the Khazars or by the

Bulgars The Bulgars (also Bulghars, Bulgari, Bolgars, Bolghars, Bolgari, Proto-Bulgarians) were Turkic semi-nomadic warrior tribes that flourished in the Pontic–Caspian steppe and the Volga region during the 7th century. They became known as nomad ...

in connection with the Khazar-Arab Wars. The site is rich in pseudo-runic inscriptions, an evidence of early medieval Turkic occupation by tribes of the

Saltovo-Mayaki Saltovo-Mayaki or Saltovo-Majaki is the name given by archaeologists to the early medieval culture of the Pontic steppe region roughly between the Don and the Dnieper Rivers, flourishing roughly between the years of 700 and 950. History Saltovo- ...

cultural group. Most of the inscriptions were heavily damaged by locals and are illegible. Among the more controversial finds from the site was a folding, modular altar unearthed in the area. Scholars at the archaeological museum in

Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don ( rus, Ростов-на-Дону, r=Rostov-na-Donu, p=rɐˈstof nə dɐˈnu) is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East Eu ...

asserted that the altar was part of a Khazar Jewish shrine built in imitation of the Biblical '' mishkan''.Brook 113. In the 9th and 10th centuries, it was the site of a populous town, mentioned in Byzantine and Georgian sources as Skhimar (Russian: Схимар). It is believed that St. Maximus the Confessor was held there during his exile to the Caucasus. Within four kilometers from the fortress stands the Shoana Church (ca. 925), first described by Abraham Firkovich in 1848. The town was destroyed by Tamerlane during his invasion of the Golden Horde in 1396.

Notes

References

* Brook, Kevin Alan. ''The Jews of Khazaria'', 2d ed. Rowman & Littlefield, Inc., 2006. * Ya'ari, Ehud. "Skeletons in the Closet." ''The Jerusalem Report''. Vol 6, No. 9, September 7, 1995. pp. 26–30.

External links

Official website of KarachaevskViews of the ruins

{{coords, 43, 52, 4.87, N, 41, 55, 26.35, E, display=title Khazar towns Forts in Russia Archaeological sites in Russia Buildings and structures in Karachay-Cherkessia History of Kuban Former populated places in the Caucasus Saltovo-Mayaki culture