Localization of the Settlement of the Hillfort of Madjary and Its Topography Based on Archival Materials of the XVIII–XIX Centuries

Abstract

The paper analyses information about historic topography of the hillfort of Madjary taken from the research works of the first explorers of that unique historic monument. The information of S.G. Gmelin about the location of the settlement on the site between the mouths of the Mokry Buyvola River and the Tomuzlovka River makes it possible to clarify the localization of the monument. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries the hillfort suffered serious damage. Therefore, the topographic maps of Madjary which were completed by A. Golokhvostov in 1742, I.A. Gildenstedt and K. Gaisler in the second half of the 18th century enable to identify the topography of the left-bank part of the hillfort, where the local necropolis was situated. The topographic maps also enable to determine landmarks on the territory for the localization of some sections of the necropolis. These materials also show that processes of rising of the Kuma riverbed level as well as the flooding of the right-bank part of the settlement of Madjary took place as early as in the 18th century.

Keywords

• hillfort
• madjar
• historic topography
• cartographic sources
• visual sources
• mausoleums
• relief