South Ural State University took part in the press conference held by the “Granada Press” Press Centre dedicated to the archaeological discoveries in the South Ural region in 2021. Andrey Epimakhov, Deputy Director for Research at the SUSU Institute of Media, Social Sciences and Humanities, Doctor of Sciences (History), spoke about the excavations in the Varnensky District and the work on the map for diagnosing the mobility of ancient individuals.
Andrey Epimakhov noted that the past summer was more of a time not for excavations, but rather for exploration for SUSU specialists. Much time and effort was devoted to the study of mobility and migration. SUSU employees have been working on this project for about two years.
"Throughout the history, mankind has been moving in space in different ways − in one direction or cyclically, in groups or individually, but we are moving constantly," explains Andrey Epimakhov. "There are still many guesses and hypotheses on this issue, but we want to create a "tool" for studying the phenomenon of mobility. The result of the work should be a basemap that will provide information on how and where ancient people and animals moved."
SUSU's ambitious project was supported by the Russian Science Foundation. Andrey Epimakhov noted that today the methodology of archaeological research is changing, and one of the main trends is cooperation with representatives of other disciplines. For example, to study the mobility phenomenon, archaeologists resorted to natural scientific research methods, in particular, to geochemistry and isotope analysis, paleogenomics, etc.
"I will present the results of my work at a scientific conference in the near future. Our project is a pilot one, and we are sure that all important breakthrough discoveries are still ahead. We hope that the results will be useful to the entire archaeological community," says Andrey Epimakhov.
He also spoke about exploration studies in the Varnensky District. There is a burial mound near the village of Vladimirovka. According to Andrey Epimakhov, this place is rich in rare finds, including those related to chariot complexes.
Andrey Epimakhov during excavations of the Vladimirovka burial ground
"The chariot is a symbol of the South Ural region of the Bronze Age. The world's first war chariots, the remains of which have been repeatedly found by archaeologists, were created in the South Ural region at the turn of the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC," says Andrey Epimakhov.
Unfortunately, today, according to the expert, the burial ground is in a deplorable state, which is getting worse from year to year. The historical monument suffers from anthropogenic and natural factors.
Andrey Epimakhov is a leading archaeologist not only in Russia, but also abroad. The SUSU scientist is the author of scientific works, in which he shares unique discoveries of the largest historical periods of the Bronze and Iron Ages, which laid the foundations of the development of modern civilization. You can get acquainted with the works of Andrey Epimakhov on a special resource.