EXCAVATION OF THE DERBENT SETTLEMENT IN 2016

The article is devoted to the results of the Derbent archaeological expedition, conducted in the season of 2016 within the framework of the scientific project under the Russian Humanitarian Scientific Foundation. The settlement preceded the erection of the Derbent defensive complex in the late 560’s and was gradually abandoned after the construction of a new city, renamed Derbent (Darband). The works were carried out in the southern sector of the excavation XXV, where the cultural layers, construction (rooms 6, 7, 8) and economic remains dating from the 4th-6th centuries, medieval Muslim burials, dug into the cultural layer of the settlement, were opened. The open complex of residential structures and outbuildings, including 8 rooms, dates from the first half - the middle of the 5th century AD on the basis of chronological indicators (bronze belt buckles) and other archaeological finds (including Sasanian pottery). The authors believe that this complex ceased to exist during the turbulent military-political events of the mid-450s, namely the anti-Sasanian insurrection of the 450 - 451 years. The authors tend to associate the fact of the termination of the complex with the capture of the Derbent fortifications by rebels in 450 AD, or rather, the Huns, who, after the defeat of the insurrection in 451, committed a ruinous invasion to Albania through the Derbent passage. The obtained material (fragments of pottery, ceramics, bone, bronze, iron, stone) characterize the culture and life of the population of the Derbent settlement, identified with the city-fortress Chor/Chol, known to ancient Armenian, Georgian, Syrian, early Byzantine and Arab authors and speakers and being an important administrative, political and religious center of the Eastern Caucasus.