The Government has reported on the implementation of Presidential Instruction No. Pr-967 of April 29, 2013 (Clause 5) on providing an opinion on the historical value of burial graves discovered in the city of Derbent.
In particular, the Government reports that an object of archaeological heritage was discovered at a depth of between 1.8 and 4.5 metres during the construction of utility lines by Gazinzhseti Co. Ltd. in Mamedbekov Street on April 18, 2013.
A report provided by the Russian Academy of Sciences states that the discovered object of archaeological heritage is a necropolis dating back to the 11th to 12th century AD, which was located on the medieval municipal cemetery near the defensive wall of Derbent. According to preliminary calculations, the monument occupies an area of about 400 square metres.
The Russian Academy of Sciences believes that the object is of scientific, historical and cultural value and therefore requires that archaeological rescue works be performed on it, which the Derbent Archaeological Expedition under the Dagestan Scientific Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences is planning to conduct between June 2013 and September 2014.
Under Article 37 of Federal Law No. 73-FZ dated June 25, 2002, On Objects of Cultural Heritage (Monuments of History and Culture) of the Peoples of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Dagestan ordered Gazinzhseti Co. Ltd. to suspend construction work on the site of the discovered cultural heritage object and to amend its design documentation so the construction of the utility lines can be continued in circumvention of the site.
In order to preserve the monument, the Ministry of Culture and the Russian Academy of Sciences have been instructed to organise a study of the discovered object of archaeological heritage.
The Ministry of Culture will in accordance with established procedure issue a permit for conducting archaeological field work and will study the possibility of co-financing this work in 2014 under the federal targeted programme Culture of Russia (2012 – 2018).
