Hajji-Tarkhan (Astrakhan) | archaeological site, interesting place, historic site

 archaeological site, interesting place, historical layer / disappeared object, historic site

 Upload a photo

Hajji-Tarkhan or Ashtarkhan was a Mongol center on the lower Volga that rose to prominence in the 15th century with the decline of Sarai and the fragmentation of the Golden Horde. Already a politically important regional center in the 14th century, it became the capital of the Astrakhan Khanate, a splinter of the Golden Horde, in the 15th century. It was located around the group of three hills known as Sharenyy (wrongly Zharenyy) Bugor ("Colorful Hill," wrongly "Burnt Hill") on the right bank of the Volga upstream from its successor, the Russian town of Astrakhan. After the latter's foundation in 1556, the original city was abandoned and turned into ruins. Parts of the site were washed away by the current of the Volga, while most others are now almost completely built over by the modern settlements of Streletskoe, Novolesnoe, and the ATsKK complex. Thousands of objects recovered by explorers and archaeologists from the site are housed in museums in Astrakhan, Moscow, St Petersburg, Saratov, Volgograd, and others.