The City of the Dead Dargavs is one of the most famous historical sights of North Ossetia. It is located in the gorge of the Giseldon River. Tombs of the 14th-18th centuries can be seen in various places in the mountainous regions of the Caucasus, however, Dargavs is the largest necropolis of the Middle Ages in the Caucasus. About 95 aboveground and underground crypts have been erected here on the slope of the small Raminyrag Mountain.
Historians date the first tombs of the City of the Dead Dargavs to the 14th century. This was the period when the state of the Alans was destroyed under the onslaught of the Mongol-Tatar army and the surviving Alans moved to the high mountain gorges. They became the progenitors of the Ossetian people who live on these lands now.
The place on the small Ramnyrag mountain was chosen quite successfully, as it is blown by the winds in the river valley. This allowed the remains of the deceased to be mummified, not decomposed. The dead were brought into the crypts through holes and left inside. The holes were closed with stones or boards to block access to the crypt for wild animals. There are deep pits under the crypts. When the space in the crypt was filled, the remains descended into the pit, freeing up space for new burials. So up to a hundred bodies could fit in one crypt.
Some scientists suggest that this method of burial has roots in the religion of Zoroastrianism, where it was forbidden to desecrate the earth with burials. Others suggest why this method of burial Alans used, displaced from the plains to the mountain gorges, lacked fertile land. They decided not to use plots of land suitable for agriculture for burials, but to bury the dead in the City of the Dead Dargavs. There is access to it from different gorges where the Alans lived.
Some sources say that the city of the Dead Dargavs is included in the UNESCO Cultural Heritage lists. Alas, this is not true. However, in Russia Dargavs is a cultural monument of all-Russian significance. Other necropolises of this type can be seen in the Village of Tsmiti, which is located in the Kurtatinsky gorge (15 kilometers from Dargavs), as well as in the Village of Eltyubyu in the Chegem gorge.
