RESQUE EXCAVATIONS AT THE ARKABASH FORTRESS

Authors

  • Murtazali S. Gadzhiev Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography, Daghestan Federal Research Center of RAS 0000-0002-4592-0527 (unauthenticated)
  • Abdula M. Abdulaev Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography, Daghestan Federal Research Center of RAS
  • Arsen L. Budaichiev Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography, Daghestan Federal Research Center of RAS
  • Artur I. Taymazov Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography, Daghestan Federal Research Center of RAS

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32653/CH222%25p

Keywords:

Dagestan, rescue excavations, Arkabash fortress, fortification, moat, Sarmatian period

Abstract

In 2024, rescue excavations were conducted at the Arkabash Fortress as part of the Caucasus Highway construction and reconstruction project. The site is situated in the eponymous tract south of Khasavyurt, on the elevated foothills of the eastern spurs of the Salatau Range. Originally discovered in the late 1970s and initially dated to the early medieval period, a 2009 survey recorded the fortress as a subsquare structure measuring 70 × 70 m with rounded corners, enclosed by a flooded moat and a rampart up to 2.5 m high. However, both the rampart and the cultural layer were illegally destroyed in 2013. A complete clearing of the fortress territory down to the subsoil revealed no surviving remnants of the cultural layer, utility pits, or other archaeological features. Given this severe state of degradation, research focused primarily on investigating the ditch surrounding the fortress. Six stratigraphic trenches were excavated across the defensive ditch: two each on the eastern and western flanks, and one each on the southern and northern sections. All trenches exhibited a uniform stratigraphic fill consisting of medium-density gray and dark-gray loam with carbonate inclusions. The ditch depth varied from 0.85 to 2.0 m, while its width ranged from 5.9 to 12 m. The ditch fill yielded only 21 fragments of ceramic vessels. Among these, fragments of dense, well-burnished gray-ware pottery with no visible inclusions allow for a tentative redating of the monument to the Albanian-Sarmatian period (the turn of the era to the first centuries AD).

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Author Biographies

  • Murtazali S. Gadzhiev, Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography, Daghestan Federal Research Center of RAS

    Dr. Sci., Prof., Chief Researcher

  • Abdula M. Abdulaev, Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography, Daghestan Federal Research Center of RAS
    Researcher
  • Arsen L. Budaichiev, Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography, Daghestan Federal Research Center of RAS
    Researcher
  • Artur I. Taymazov, Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography, Daghestan Federal Research Center of RAS

    Cand. Sci., Senior Researcher

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Published

2026-06-30

How to Cite

1.
Gadzhiev MS, Abdulaev AM, Budaichiev AL, Taymazov AI. RESQUE EXCAVATIONS AT THE ARKABASH FORTRESS. ИАЭК. 2026;22(2):431-453. doi:10.32653/CH222%p