The Necropolis of the Intractable

Vitaliy E. MEDVEDEV

Isle Bolshoi Ussuriiskii extends along the Amur for miles and miles. It is unique both because of its length and due to the cultural layer discovered by archaeologists at the depth of a meter and a half. The Jurchens buried their dead there. Priamurye and Primorye were the homeland for that people, the people that expanded southward and made the present-day Peking one of the capitals of their Golden Empire.

The Jurchens of the epoch of developed democracy and victorious campaigns instilled terror into their neighbors, the peoples who earlier had encroached upon their lands. Actually, the defense of the native land passed into the offensive. Then there was the Empire. After that the warriors of Genghis Khan came laying everything waste with fire and sword. All of this lasted a mere two hundred years, but this brief, from a historical point, period became a subject for serious research in China, Mongolia, and Russia in the subsequent centuries.

In the previous issue of the magazine, we began to acquaint the reader with the Jurchen collection archaeologist Vitaliy Medvedev presented to us. The amazing discoveries resulting from archaeological excavations helped restore the picture of this people’s past life. Now, as we promised, the story is continued…

More information on these and other subjects you can find in the printed version of our journal.