Burial mounds museifying experiences and prospects for creating burial mound museum in Kabardino-Balkarian Republic

I.Kh. Gukemukh

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Abstract. This article examines the prospects for converting burial mounds in Kabardino-Balkaria into open-air archaeological museums. The importance of this topic stems from the need to protect and preserve
archaeological sites in the region, which are rapidly being destroyed by natural and human-made factors.
Aim. The study is to examine the prospects for transforming one of the Bronze Age burial mounds in the rural settlement of Aushiger (Chereksky district of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic) into an object of historical and ethnographic tourism, taking into account European and domestic experience.
Materials and methods. The author used a comparative analytical method. The research draws on publications in the scientific and periodical press and data obtained during fieldwork in the Cherek District of Kabardino-Balkaria.
Results. Factors determining the attractiveness of burial mound museums for the tourism industry were identified.
Conclusions. The in-situ museumification of individual archaeological sites in historical sites such as the Cherek Gorge appears to be the most promising direction for the development of historical and ethnographic tourism in Kabardino-Balkaria.

Keywords: museumification, burial mound museum, Kabardino-Balkaria, Cherek Gorge, archaeologica sites, attendance, tourism industry

For citation. Gukemukh I.Kh. Burial mounds museifying experiences and prospects for creating burial mound museum in Kabardino-Balkarian Republic. News of the Kabardino-Balkarian Scientific Center of RAS. 2025. Vol. No. 6. Pp. 406–425. DOI: 10.35330/1991-6639-2025-27-6-406-425

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Information about the authors

Ibragim Kh. Gukemukh, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Senior Researcher, Center for Natural Science Methods in Archaeology, Anthropology and Archeography, Kabardino-Balkarian Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences;
2, Balkarov street, Nalchik, 360010, Russia;
IBRAGUK22@gmail.com, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-7908-6463, SPIN-code: 2415-2346