On the 150th anniversary of the discovery of Voennyi Gospital site: Chapter II. The results of investigation from the middle of the XX to the beginning of the XXI century
The second chapter of the project examines the results of archaeological research from the middle of the XX to the beginning of the XXI centuries on the area of Voennyi Gospital (Military Hospital) site. Numerous excavations showing the multilayered occurrence of Paleolithic culture aged from the Middle Pleistocene to the Final Holocene have been carried out on this territory. The main part of the finds is confined to the deposits of the Early Sartan solifluxium. This paper summarizes and analyzes the results of these works. The materials of excavations in 2013 and 2021 are published for the first time. The results of research on the territory of the Kosovich brick sheds, where the excavations of the XIX century were located in one version, are given. Based on the Cherskii and Chekanovskii's descriptions of the stratigraphy and archaeological material, cultural and chronological definitions of the original site are proposed; the paper attempts to correlate it with nearby locations in terms of stratigraphy. The paper also hypothesizes about the natural genesis of the «pottery shards», discovered by I. D. Chersky. The unique stratigraphic conditions of the Voennyi Gospital site result from the geomorphological features of the flat headland surface, where the hospital building and the first pits are located. Moreover, that is why there is no direct analogies of the original site at the surrounding area. A further step of investigations will see in the excavation work in the courtyard of the hospital, as well as the publication of the results of other excavations at the Maratovskaya Gora (Shchapovo 2 and Generalov Site).