Samosdelka (Russian:Самосделка) is a fishing village in theAstrakhan Oblast ofsouthern Russia, approximately 40 km south-southwest of the city ofAstrakhan, in theVolga Riverdelta area of theCaspian Depressionmarshlands. In September 2008, Russianarchaeologists excavating in Samosdelka announced their discovery of what they claimed were the remains ofAtil, the capital of the medievalKhazar kingdom. The claim was considered sensational and, owing to the absence of archaeological evidence, did not meet with widespread acceptance. A 2020 assessment by theRussian Geographic Society concluded that Atil had not been found in Samosdelka, and announced that new excavations were underway at another site.
Head archaeologist Dmitry Vasilyev ofAstrakhan State University and his team began excavations at the site in 1999. The research was sponsored in part by theSimon Dubnow Higher Humanitarian School (called the "Jewish University in Moscow" until 2003)[1] and by theRussian Jewish Congress, a Russian nonprofit. In 2008 Vasilyev publicly announced that his team had unearthed the foundations of a triangular fortress of firedbrick and had discovered the remains ofyurt-like dwellings. Vasilyev claimed that the findings were the remains of Atil. A major indication that led him to his conclusion, Vasilyev said, was the presence ofkiln-fired (as opposed todried-mud) bricks, as Khazar law restricted the use of fired bricks to the capital.[2]
In his announcement to theAssociated Press (AP), Vasilyev heralded the "great significance" of his team's "discovery of the capital" of Khazaria. Vasilyev told the AP that "we should view [the purported discovery] as part ofRussian history," and that "in many ways, Russia is asuccessor of the Khazar state".[2]
Vasilyev claimed that the excavations conformed to written sources. In an item on Vasilyev's announcement,Hadassah Magazine reported that in an interview with Russian news agencyRIA Novosti, Russian Jewish Congress spokesperson Evgeniy Satanovsky professed his view that the Khazars, "with theirfederated structure and peacefully coexisting religions," were to be understood as a "model for modern Russia."[3]
In a 2003 paper, Vasilyev remarked that the central portion of Samosdelka was situated on an island between dryriverbeds, and that historical documents locate Atil'scastle on an island in the center of the city. He noted that the fortress at Samosdelka was said to have a triangular shape and was made from "limestone bricks", and that written sources say that the Khazarkhagan had a monopoly on brick buildings.[4]
Vasilyev said that traces of a widespread fire were found at Samosdelka in an Atillayer, and that the fire was probably set during the conquest of Atil byKievan Rus' princeSviatoslav I in 968 or 969 CE. Layers dated to the 11th-12th centuries haveOghuz artifacts; these layers are associated with the medieval city ofSaqsin, also in the Volga delta.[citation needed]
Following Vasilyev's announcement, researcher Kevin Alan Brook[5] wrote that he was "confident" that the team found Atil, even as he acknowledged that the site has yielded no Jewish artifacts.[2]
Dr. Simon Kraiz, an expert onEastern European Jewry atHaifa University, was more cautious, remarking that only if the team has discoveredKhazar writings would the findings "be very important."[2]
Vasilyev's claim was labelled "premature" in a 2018 publication byGeorgetown University Professor ofAnthropology Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer.[6]
On its website dated July 2020, theRussian Geographical Society stated that while "many scholars" identified Samosdelka with Atil, artifacts of theSaltovo-Mayaki culture inherent to the Khazar Khaganate "were not found". The Society announced that it was on "the threshold of the great discovery" of Atil, this time in the nearby village ofSemibugry.[7]
Professor Alex Feldman of theUniversity of Birmingham wrote that "textual and archaeological evidence provides some support" for identifying the site with Atil but noted some objections to the idea, including that none of the coins uncovered there date back "as early as the tenth century".[8]
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