Rostislavl-Ryazan is an ancient Russian city founded in 1153 by Prince Rostislav Yaroslavich of Murom, located in the south of the Moscow region. It flourished in the XIII-XIV centuries, but in the XVII century it was no longer called a city. These times are well studied, but the purpose of the ramparts that surrounded the settlement in the history of Rostislavl, archaeologists could not decipher for many years. The discovery happened several years ago.
Several hundred years before the arrival of the Slavs and the founding of the city, Finno-Ugric tribes lived here, who created a culture that archaeologists call Dyakovo. They were engaged in hunting, cattle breeding, agriculture, and surrounded by dwellings with low ramparts, according to the RIA Novosti website. Archaeologists were lost in conjectures: similar ramparts (by location), and even with a height of 3-4 m, were hardly erected for the defense of the city. Different versions were put forward about their appointment. But the rampart near Rostislavl-Ryazansky is generally unique: its height reaches 9 m, but it has nothing to do with defense facilities.
A team of scientists from the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences decided to investigate it. The very first samples of soil caused surprise: in addition to silicified plant cells, a high concentration of phosphorus, a lot of fragments of bones and ceramics were found. All this was atypical for a fortification. Archaeologists cut trenches and took more samples. And the guess was confirmed: the shaft was made of debris. Now scientists are generalizing data from other settlements of the Dyakovo culture, and it seems that the ramparts of some of them are ancient dumps.
And there was a logical explanation for this. The tribes settled along the high banks of the rivers, which are rocky ledges, so it is impossible to bury the waste. They did not throw them into the water (!) - the river fed, they fished there. All that remained was to build compost heaps around the dwellings. Before the onset of cold weather, the tribes arranged something like subbotniks, when all the garbage and manure were raked out, and the adults carried it to the ramparts. There, the waste was poured with layers of sand, and during the winter the garbage was mineralized.