There are several large reserves on the territory of the Rostov region, and we visited one of them. This is an almost perfectly preserved archaeological museum of Tanais, an ancient ancient settlement, excavations of which are carried out to this day. And our trip to this place made an indelible impression on us. And not only because this place is very significant in historical and cultural terms, but also because we had a wonderful opportunity to talk a little there with an amazing person Valery Fedorovich Garnok, whose reflections and generally life position made us look differently at many of those we are interested in. questions.
The route of our trip and its concept can be seen here: We are participating in the project «Russia in 365 days»
We stopped at an archaeological camp
Night flying worms
The content of the article
- one Tanais Rostov region
- 2 Tanais - a developing structure
- 3 We are all one
- 4 Traveling as knowledge of the truth
- five Information to visit
- 6 Video
Tanais Rostov region
To appreciate the importance of Tanais, you need to read historical references and walk around museums (after all, many museums around the world keep exhibits from these excavations), but for us this settlement turned out to be significant for its symbolism. And the former director of the archaeological museum Valery Fedorovich Garnok, who worked here for 30 years, helped us understand this. He gave us a short tour of the museums of the ancient settlement and the excavation sites themselves. He said that the first buildings date back to the 3rd century BC. This city stood at the same time at the mouth of the river and on the shores of the Sea of Azov, was a major economic and commercial center and port. Tanais existed for about 8 centuries, but due to the fact that the sea began to grow shallow and recede, trade died out, and the city, accordingly, slowly died.
How Tanais looked many years ago
Excursion to the Tanais Museum
Entrance to the archaeological reserve
Tanais - ancient amphora
Signs on the territory of the archaeological reserve
Tanais Museum
Ancient amphorae in the museum
Demonstration of Arrowhead's work
Tanaite skeleton
Terracotta figurine of a goddess
Ancient woman - before going to war you need to touch your chest
Ancient amphorae in the museum
Paper figurines
Ancient settlement Tanais
Once a deep moat around the fortress wall
Ancient settlement Tanais
Cyclists from Rostov
Reconstruction of the hut of those times
Ruins of the ancient city of Tanais
Ancient wells
Walking through the ruins
Walking through the ruins
Remains of the fortress wall
Remains of the city of Tanais
Former Sea of Azov
Dead Donets River and Taganrog Bay in the distance
Tanais - a developing structure
Valery Fedorovich has repeatedly emphasized that Tanais is a developing structure, and not just an open-air museum. Here, circles for children are organized, and theatrical holidays are held, and a major reconstruction of the city is planned, and new excursion routes will be developed. For example, the Olympic route Tanais-Sochi, in which we were also invited to participate.
Children's Corner
Children's creative corner
House of the poet Zhukov on the territory of the reserve
We are all one
But what attracted our attention most of all in the stories of Valery Fedorovich was the fact that, ethnically, Tanais is a very complex monument. This is not just a Greek city, it is a Greco-Scythian-Sarmatian-Miot monument, and it turned out that its inhabitants formed their own community, a special ethnos - the Tanaites. And it was here that the most fascinating thing for Oleg and me began in the narration of our interesting interlocutor. If you express this idea of Valery Fedorovich in a nutshell, then in the historical space we are all mixed, in history there are a lot of moments that united different nationalities and ethnic groups. And if you can really feel it, then all sorts of modern sores of society, such as chauvinism, nationalism, etc., begin to seem ridiculous and useless. Did you know, for example, that an entire ancient settlement of Sungir was found in the Vladimir region, and from the remains you noticed that the settlers who lived there had pronounced black facial features? It turns out that we are all a little bit negroids, somewhere Mongoloids, some Asians ... And how many excavations have not yet been carried out, how much more we have yet to find and what unexpected discoveries about ourselves we have yet to learn! Maybe archeology will be able to reconcile us all and prove clearly that we are all brothers and sisters, the same blood flows in all of us.
Valery Fedorovich and I Garlic in the Museum
Guided tour of the Tanais Museum Reserve
Traveling as knowledge of the truth
I have never in my life compared archeology and travel, I never thought how much in common these two phenomena. And Valery Fedorovich, a well-known and respected archaeologist, easily draws analogies between them, telling us how important it is to travel, to see life, the customs of other people to penetrate into another culture. And not only because «everything is relative», but also because other peoples always have something to learn, there is something to learn from them. And it may not be worth worrying so much that we adopt the peculiarities of the culture of some other countries, that we consider fashionable something that was not inherent in us before: «Close the doors to delusion. - But how does the truth enter?»
Information to visit
Tanais is located in the Rostov region on the outskirts of the Nedvigovka farm, 30 km from Rostov-on-Don.
Tanais working hours: from 9 to 17 hours without days off and breaks.
The cost of visiting the museum-reserve: depends on whether you will visit museums or just walk around the settlement (the photo shows all the prices).
How to get to Tanais: by train Rostov-Taganrog to Tanais station, by buses 158 and 158A from Rostov (central market).
Tanais Museum Entrance Fees
Map of modern Tanais
