The beginning of the study of Budjak burial mounds: historiography and cartography

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the history of the description and study of the Budjak burial mounds, which originates from the Tomb of the Cimmerian kings on the Dniester mentioned by Herodotus. Mapping of the kurgans of the region dates back to the 18th century, with the map of the Swedish King Charles XII’s camp near Bender (1711) and the 1789-1790 maps of the time of the second Russian-Turkish war. The history of their study passed a predatory period, recorded from the 1810s. The first successful scientific excavation of these sites was conducted in 1888 by Prof. F.I.Knauer. From that time until 1917, almost 30 mounds were explored in Budjak, as well as places of findings in the barrows of the Borodino hoard and a number of ancient tombs near the city of Tyras and Kartal.

Keywords

• Budjak
• Tomb of Cimmerian kings
• burial mounds
• history of exploration
• treasure hunting
• cartography
• excavations
• stone crypts
• burials
• Borodino hoard
• Tyras
• Kartal