"An interesting historical place is located at the entrance to the village of Zolotarevka in the Penza region.
Leaving the highway, winding a little along a forest road and we are all there, signs will tell you how to go.
Mysterious nature surrounds this place, a deep ravine or ditch surrounds this place, the organizers of course do not have enough money to recreate this city, of course if the buildings were restored, this would be a very popular place."

Юрий Богомолов

"On the land of ancestors: Zolotarevskoye settlement

Zolotarevskoye settlement is a unique archaeological monument dating back to the 3rd-4th and 8th-13th centuries AD. The settlement is located 30 km southeast of Penza before reaching the village of Zolotarevka in a dense forest, along the Kudeyarov ravine, at the bottom of which the Medoevka River flows. According to modern ideas, the oldest period of the settlement's existence dates back to the 3rd - 4th centuries, as evidenced by the found molded "rogozhny" ceramics of the Gorodets culture. More diverse in archaeological finds is the material of the 8th - 10th centuries, which scientists associate with the Mordvin tribes. This is crockery, jewelry, tools, weapons. It is believed that during this period, Zolotarevskoye settlement had extensive connections with the southern and eastern tribes. In the 10th century, the settlement was conquered by the Burtases (ancestors of the modern Mishars), who in turn submitted to the Volga Bulgaria in the 11th century. For the Bulgar state, the settlement played an important role, it controlled the crossing on the Sura River on the way from Bulgar to Kyiv. In fact, one of the roads of the Great Silk Road passed through here. The real name of the settlement is unknown, neither about it, nor about the battle, written references have been found. But in oral legends associated with the Zolotarevskoye settlement, there is a Mordvin word "Sernya", which means "gold". Why gold? Apparently, it was connected with the production and sale of jewelry, which is found in abundance by archaeologists. Or, perhaps, because the fortress brought in good profit.

It was a fairly large settlement with a powerful fortress in the center and a large settlement around it. The fortress itself was located on a steep cape up to 20 m high, formed by two ravines, and was surrounded on all sides by a rampart and a deep ditch. Four more ramparts with moats were built across the cape. The moats were filled to the brim with water. Behind the outer rampart, a wide strip of land was dotted with many round pits with stakes at the bottom, 1 m deep. It is believed that the walls were up to 10 m high. The total area of ​​the Zolotarevskoye settlement was 14 hectares, which is comparable to the cities of Ancient Rus. The area of ​​the fortress is about 2.5 hectares. From the 11th to the 13th centuries, Burtases, Bulgars, Mordvins, and Russians lived here. And from the 12th century, representatives of the Askiz culture from Altai appeared, who served here as military mercenaries, as evidenced by the iron overlays of horse harnesses covered in gold (Fig. 14). Almost 800 years ago, a grand battle took place here. Having defeated the Volga Bulgaria a year earlier, Batu's army moved west and in 1237 they ended up here. The residents, of course, knew about the impending disaster, so they prepared in advance, strengthened the fortifications, dug traps, hid treasures. They thought to defend. But the forces were not equal and the Mongols completely captured the city in a few days. Since the residents did not want to surrender voluntarily, the entire settlement was burned down, and its two thousand population was slaughtered. The city was never restored. Moreover, the dead bodies remained lying on the ground, no one buried them, no one wrote about them. People called these places cursed and avoided them. Over time, thick grass covered the remains and a forest grew. The Zolotarevskoye settlement remained in the form in which the Mongols left it, until in 1882, archaeologists accidentally discovered it. But at first they decided that it was a fortress of the abatis line of the 17th century, so they did not study it much, but new archaeological work from 1952-78 determined the true time of the settlement's existence and its true cultural affiliation. A huge battlefield opened up before the researchers, on which more than 15 thousand arrowheads alone were found! Even in the whole of Volga Bulgaria, perhaps, there are not so many arrowheads found over many years of archaeological research. And here in one place there are more than 15 thousand!

You can get here only through a muddy area along a bumpy forest clearing about 2 km from the asphalt, where there is a sign."

Аркадий Жаринов

"In my opinion, we need to reconstruct the ancient city that was there; the landscape is well preserved for that. Right now, it looks like a mound in the forest."

Mikhail