Prospecting Archaeological Works at the Northern Defensive Wall in the Seaside Part of Derbent

The article presents some results of an archaeological researches conducted at the northern city wall in the seaside part of Derbent outside the medieval shakhristan. The soundings (No. 26–29) revealed layers of various geneses and provided new data on the historical topography of the medieval town. The obtained data point at some cultural layers of Pre-Mongol period (X – early XIII century) outside the shakhristan (soundings No. 26–28). It was period of flourishing for the medieval Derbent when the city occupied the territory of architecturally allocated shakhristan and when the near and far agricultural areas was actively used. These materials also confirm the earlier obtained data that the active life of the city ceased in the second quarter of the XIII century due to Mongol invasions. At the same time, excavations revealed some layers related to the late Sasanian period and connected with the large-scale construction of a stone defensive wall in the middle of the VI century (soundings No. 26, 27) and an adobe defensive wall built in the middle of the V century (sounding No. 27), which completely closed the Derbent pass.

On the western border of the surveyed site, six Muslim stone sarcophagus-shaped sepulchral monuments of the XI–XII centuries were found in the modern ditch, as well as some stone plates from the destroyed cists. The sarcophagi are the most extreme east monuments within the medieval necropolis of Derbent, and they act as evident confirmation to Adam Olearius’ engraving (1637 AD) that depicted Derbent and its extensive northern cemetery with such monuments. 

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