Dyakovo Hillfort

This unique archeological site gave its name to an entire archeological culture. The early Iron Age Dyakovo culture existed on the upper Volga and Oka rivers between the VIII century BC and the VII AD.

Archeologists state that the first ‘Dyakovians’ were Finno-Ugric people. They lived in oblong houses divided into several sections, each one centered on a hearth. Their main occupation was agriculture, but they also kept livestock, practiced hunting and fishing. The settlement’s disappearance still remains a mystery for scientists.

And the mystery is not unique: in the XVIII century, the locals would find here the so-called ‘devil’s fingers’ – fossil shellfish (belemnites). That is why they nicknamed the locality the Devil’s Town.

We advise you to…

• visit the Milestones in the History of Kolomenskoe permanent exhibition to see the archeological findings from the Dyakovo Hillfort;
• take a walk through the site itself and look for a ‘devil’s finger’