Yagorlyk mounds near the Dniester: history of exploration, cartography and topography

Abstract

The article is devoted to the barrows located on the cape up to 45 km long, formed by the valleys of the Yagorlyk and Sukhoy Yagorlyk rivers, which merge at the left bank of the Dniester. These burial mounds were mentioned and even sketched by J.A. Münz (1781), and then described and mapped by A.K. Meyer and F.P. de Volan (1791). In total, in this local region topographers and archaeologists have noted up to 120 mounds reaching a height of 8-9 m. Most of them are spread along the top of the watershed, some groups are arranged in two parallel lines, a number of chains are oriented across the general line. In general, they mark the site of the ancient trade route, along which it was possible travelling from the Dniester northward to the forest-steppe, eastward to the Dnieper region and in the southeast direction to the mouth of the Bug and to the Black Sea.

Keywords

• the Dniester
• the Yagorlyk
• the Sukhoy Yagorlyk
• watershed cape
• local region
• barrows
• the history of exploration
• cartography
• topography
• trade routes
• roads