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extended abstracts - Geomorphic Processes and Geoarchaeology

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<strong>Geomorphic</strong> processes <strong>and</strong> geoarchaeology<br />

gently sloping basic surfaces of the remnant of moraine-fluvioglacial watershed plain <strong>and</strong><br />

high <strong>and</strong> low valley outwash.<br />

During that historical period of time natural territorial complexes of the high<br />

floodplain were most likely used for haymaking <strong>and</strong> cattle grazing. Cultivation of the<br />

floodplain was hampered by long spring flooding or water-logging, <strong>and</strong> in its rear part<br />

also by additional inflow <strong>and</strong> stagnation of snow melt water from overlying slopes.<br />

Sloping shorelines <strong>and</strong> deluvium-proluvium aprons, as well as similar areas of the<br />

first river terrace, covered with alder thickets, elm-tree <strong>and</strong> oak groves <strong>and</strong> bird cherry<br />

st<strong>and</strong>s were probably used for permanent grazing or keeping livestock, in particular pigs.<br />

Unloading of confined strongly mineralized ground water, input of fine particles <strong>and</strong><br />

nutrients by the surface runoff from slopes <strong>and</strong> by watercourses of small erosion forms<br />

have supported the megatrophic <strong>and</strong> large plants in the ground cover of those natural<br />

territorial complexes, thus producing plentiful forage for pigs.<br />

Natural territorial complexes of steep slopes of the valley <strong>and</strong> small erosion forms<br />

have been probably occupied by forest l<strong>and</strong>s. The sections of less steep slopes (no more<br />

than 20°) were probably used as cattle tracks or for the limited grazing of small cattle,<br />

especially in the spring during the early vegetation of grasses. To a greater extent these<br />

natural territorial complexes were used for the limited forestry <strong>and</strong>, probably, apiculture.<br />

Steep slopes of the valleys oriented to the north were evidently covered by forests with<br />

significant share of lime-tree.<br />

Thus, the natural features <strong>and</strong> long history of man-nature interaction, as well as the<br />

centuries-old forms <strong>and</strong> territorial structure of economy, are among the factors of<br />

integrity of the monuments of spiritual <strong>and</strong> material culture with their natural<br />

environment. Archeological monuments <strong>and</strong> their natural environment form l<strong>and</strong>scapehistorical<br />

complexes, thus making the area unique <strong>and</strong> extremely valuable for the whole<br />

territory of Moscow suburbs. However making it officially an «area of special protection»<br />

would require a lot of actions: legislative, organizational, economic, including education<br />

<strong>and</strong> ecological instruction.<br />

LAND BRIDGE PROBLEM FOR THE EARLY MEDIEVAL ISLAND<br />

FORTRESS OF POR-BAJIN, THE TERE-KHOL LAKE, SOUTHERN SIBERIA<br />

Panin A.V. 1 , Bronnikova M.A. 2 , Fuzeina Y.N. 1 , Sheremetskaya E.D. 1 ,<br />

Uspenskaya O.N. 3<br />

1<br />

Faculty of Geography, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow,<br />

Russia, a.v.panin@y<strong>and</strong>ex.ru<br />

2<br />

Institute of Geography, RAS, Moscow, Russia, mbmsh@mail.ru<br />

3<br />

Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Vereya, Moscow Region,<br />

Russia, usp-olga@y<strong>and</strong>ex.ru<br />

Fortress Por-Bajin is a 220 × 160-m rectangular architectural complex located on a<br />

6-ha isl<strong>and</strong> in the Tere-Khol Lake, south-eastern Sayan-Tuvan Upl<strong>and</strong>, 50.615° N,<br />

97.385° E, 1300 m a.m.s.l. (fig. 1). The lake occupies the south-western edge of the<br />

Terekhol Basin, a tectonic depression in the south-western corner of the Baikal rift zone.<br />

The fortress is known since early XVIII c., but was first visited by professional scholar<br />

only in 1891 [1]. The next archaeologist to study Por-Bajin in late 1950 th – early 1960 th<br />

212

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