Gamsutl (russian: Гамсутль, Gamsutl'; av, Гъамсукь, Ghamsuk) is a
ghost town
Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to:
* Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned
Film and television
* Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser
* Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...
in the Gunibsky district of
Dagestan
Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North C ...
, Russia, that lies on Mount Gamsutlmeer at an altitude of roughly 1,400 meters above sea level.
History
'Gamsutl' in
Avar language
Avar (, , "language of the mountains" or , , "Avar language"), also known as Avaric, is a Northeast Caucasian language of the Avar–Andic subgroup that is spoken by Avars, primarily in Dagestan. In 2010, there were approximately 1 million ...
means "at the foot of the khan's fortress".
The exact age of the village is unknown,
but it is considered to be one of the oldest settlements in Dagestan, being 2,000 to 5,000 years old.
In its peak, the village consisted of 300 homes
with up to 3,000 inhabitants.
In the 20th century the village had shops, a post office, and a hospital.
In the late 1950s people began to leave the village; the number of inhabitants fell to 200 in 1970 and to 17 in 2002.
In 2015, the village's last resident, Abdulzhalil Abdulzhalilov, died.
He called himself mayor and became quite famous after a series of television reports.
Now Gamsutl is uninhabited and visited only by tourists.
References
{{reflist
Cities and towns in Dagestan
Archaeological sites in Dagestan
Defunct towns in Russia