This article is devoted to the one of the most significant moments of the beginning of the history of discovery and study of the archaeological monuments and artifacts on the territory of Grozny and its suburbs in the end of the 1880-th, correlated with wide spread of illegal excavations on the territory of the Terek district (Terskaya) and visiting this site by the directors of the main archaeological structures of Russia - count A.A. Bobrinsky (Imperial Archaeological Commission, St. Petersburg) and countess P.S. Uvarova (Imperial Moscow Archaeological Society (Moscow). The immediate reason for such attention was the rumors that reached the center about a find of the golden "crown" by treasure hunters in one of the mound near the village of Kulary on the river Sunzha. The Terek regional and district administrations of Grozny actively participated in the search. One of the officials, Yu.K. Churakovsky, also took active part in the research of local archaeological sites carried out by the Imperial Archaeological Commission and the Imperial Moscow Archaeological Society, as well as in the collection of numerous artifacts recovered by robbers from the mounds on the Chechen Plain in 1887-1888. In the end, the «crown», having become the necklace of Early Sarmatian period (E.I. Krupnov, V.B. Vinogradov, M.P. Abramova) came to P.S. Uvarova and was later transferred to the State Historical Museum. Twists and turns of the story are preserved in the correspondence of P.S. Uvarova to Yu.K. Churakovsky, once again confirming the importance of the epistolary heritage in the study of the process of the formation of archeology in Russia.
Pages: 18 - 26
Date: 20.05.2021