Abstract
The article discusses the results of excavations at the 1772–1784 Salgir field fortification, the first Russian fortress on the Salgir River, northeastern Crimea. Two artillery cellars are indicated on the plan of the fortress in the “Atlas of plans and profiles of field fortifications (feldshans) in the Crimea and their environs” (1778) (Russian State Historical Archive). One of them was recently found using magnetic surveys based on a powerful magnetic anomaly on the surface of the site. Excavations revealed the outline of an artillery magazine and 516 cast iron cannonballs of four calibres (4 three-pounder cannonballs, 216 six-pounder grenades and 8 six-pounder allmetal cannonballs, 286 twelve-pounder cannonballs and 2 twenty-pounder cannonballs) located in it and nearby. After the annexation of Crimea to Russia in 1784, Catherine II signed a Decree according to which it was ordered that the guns from Russian fortresses, including the Salgir feldshans, be removed, and the fortresses themselves from now on “not be considered as such.” However, for some reason, her order regarding the removal of the cannonballs was not carried out, and they lay in the fortress for 240 years. The second artillery magazine, even if it existed in the fortress, does not contain shells, otherwise they would appear on the magnetic field map.
Keywords
Natural science in archaeology, magnetic survey, Salgir feldshans, 18th century, artillery cellar, cast iron cannonballs and grenades.
Atlas planov i profiley polevykh ukrepleniy (fel’dshantsev) v Krymu i ikh okrestnostey. 33 l. v kraskakh, razmer do 37x50 sm, masshtab ot 1:1680 do 1:240. Podpisali inzhener-poruchiki Aleksandr Kempen i Mikhail Bashalzin [Atlas of Plans and Profiles of Field Fortifications (Feldshans) in the Crimea and Their Environs. 33 Color Sheets by Size up to 37x50 cm, Scale from 1:1680 to 1:240. Signed by Engineer Lieutenants Alexander Kempen and Mikhail Bashalzin]. Russian State Military Historical Archive. Moscow. Collection 418. Inventory 1. Folder 716.
Perechen’ artilleriyskogo vooruzheniya ukrepleniy v Krymu [List of Artillery Armament Fortifications in the Crimea]. Russian State Military Historical Archive. Moscow. Collection VUA. Folder 208. Sheets 68–75.
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