Nikolske Settlement Hromada

The Stone Graves

Granite ridges rising out of the flat Azov steppe like an island. By one account the Battle of the Kalka was fought here in 1223, and three captured princes were laid under a platform on which the Mongols feasted until they suffocated. The steppe around was for centuries set with stone women — Cuman figures raised over graves, of which only a fraction survives.