Abstract
Salgir retrenchment dated from the time of the campaign of Prince V.M. Dolgoruky in 1771, a detailed plan of which is included in the ‘Atlas of Plans and Profi les of Field Fortifi cations (Feldshans) in the Crimea and Their Environs’ (1778), RSMHA, is located in one of the many bends of the Salgir River. The proposal location of the fortress was determined by local historians to the south of the center of the village of Muskatnoye (Krasnogvardeysky district, Crimea) due to the study of ancient plans and maps and frequent fi nds on a plowed fi eld of fragments of cannonballs, parts of cannons, buttons from uniforms, ceramic vessels and other artefacts of the 18th century. The surface of the retrenchment is completely leveled and plowed up by deep plantation plowing, which destroyed all the structures of the fortress. A more accurate localization of the fortress on the left bank of the Salgir River, in the western part of its bend, was carried out using a detailed magnetic survey carried out on an area of 8 hectares. Based on the results of magnetometry, archaeological excavations revealed an arsenal of a fortress, consisting of a large number of cannonballs and grenades. Thus, the location of the first Russian fortress in the Crimea, built in 1772–1773, was exactly established. This fortress was of great strategic importance, protecting the cross of two main roads of the northeastern Crimea, from Perekop to Kafa (modern Feodosia) and along the entire left bank of the Salgir River to Ak-Mechet (Simferopol). The retrenchment’s life was lasted until the annexation of the Crimea to Russia in 1784 and was abolished by the decree of Catherine II, according to which the cannons were ordered to be taken out of the fortresses, including the Salgir retrenchment, and the fortresses themselves were henceforth not to be considered as such.
Keywords
Archaeology, magnetic survey, Crimea, Salgir retrenchment, campaigns of Prince Dolgoruky.
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