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The archeological excavations of the walled towns dated back to the period of the Jurchens’ State — the Eastern Xia (1215—1233) — have been conducted on the territory of Primorye for about fifty years. Archeologists have already found more than five hundreds of different types of buildings, including living units, household buildings, administrative and palatial constructions. The Jurchen people used three architectural technologies: column-frame technique, pillar-supported system and a column method. The construction technology helps to determine type and functions of the building. Column-supported buildings with tiled roof were classified as palaces. Some of the palatial residential premises that were excavated on the territory of the Upper Capital City of the Eastern Xia State (Krasny Yar fort) were constructed with use of column and pillars — this type of architectural technology was previously unknown for the researchers. Although the Jurchen architecture was developing within the mainstream Far Eastern architectural tradition, it had their own specific architectural style within the framework of that tradition.
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The article deals with the history of the origin and the main stages of development of celadon what is one of the most remarkable inventions of mankind in the field of ceramic production. The path to the highest heyday of this sort of high-firing ceramics took about 2000 years. Kilns and workshops for their production functioned in North and South China, as well as in the Korean Peninsula. Special raw materials became a necessary condition for their appearance, and potter’s craftsmanship, experience and technical thought turned them into real masterpieces in the 8th—13th c.Ceramic wares with green glaze were spreading along the trade routes to the countries of East and South-East Asia, through Central Asia and the Middle East reached Africa during the Middle Ages. New archaeological discoveries in different regions of Eurasia are constantly expanding the geography of their distribution. After the discovery of celadons in Europe in the 17th c. interest in the technology of their production is constantly growing, and research methods are being improved.
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The author analyzes materials of Jurchen forts in the mountains of Eastern Xia (1215—1234), and settlements and industrial complexes of Jin Empire (1115—1234). The study aims to discover whether they could function during the Mongol time, i.e. after the official defeat of these states by the Mongols. The Mongol time is defined by such archaeological indicators as innovative artisan artefacts and technologies, which appear on archaeological sites in Primorye after the fall of Jurchen states, but are typical for the Karakorum craft centers. One of such indicators is a glass-blowing production of the Eastern Xia state. Works were conducted on imported raw materials, whose chemical composition fully coincides with the raw materials from Karakorum. Due to the difficulties in Jurchen-Mongol relations, trade and economic contacts between them practically did not exist. Therefore, the emergence of traditional Karakoram artisan materials could arise only after the defeat of Jurchen Jin Empire in 1234 by the Mongols. At the same time, as the research showed, the craft centers of mountain forts in Eastern Xia continued to function also during the Mongol time, which is also confirmed by radiocarbon data. These facts made serious corrections to the military, political and economic history of the Far Eastern region during the Mongol time.
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The cemetery Okoshki 1 is located in South-Eastern Transbaikalia, in the valley of the Urulyunguy river. Majority of these burials belong to the middle of the 13th — the beginning of the 15th centuries. The Khirkhira town, located at the distance of 1.5 km to the south-east of the cemetery Okoshki 1, is dated by the same time. For several decades, Okoshki 1 was the cemetery for the residents of this ancient town founded by Yesünggü, a nephew of Genghis Khan. The people buried on the cemetery belong to different social groups. Their burials differ by the form of tumulus, grave chambers and sizes of grave pits. The largest funerary structures are found in the south-western part of the burial ground and are represented by ground barrows with a diameter of 11—14 m and 0.7—1.2 m high. Stone barrows with a diameter of 4.7—6.0 m and 0.3—0.4 m high are localized in south-western and central parts of the burial ground. Flat stone structures, 2—8 m in diameter, are located in the central and south-eastern parts of the necropolis. So far, Okoshki 1 yielded 14 Mongol burials of the imperial period. All examined skulls typically belong to the Central Asian anthropological type. Judging by features of the funerary ritual and anthropological data, the people of lower social status, those who worked hard, were buried in the north-eastern part of the cemetery, while the south-western part of the necropolis was reserved for the elite.
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Khirkhira site is a town of Mongol Empire period, located in Transbaikalia. It was used as a residence for Yesünggü, a nephew of Genghis Khan. It was a real town with a palace, elite homesteads, over a hundred dwellings, but without fortifications. This site was excavated by S. Kiselev in 1957—1959 and A. Artemjev in 1997—2005. The article discusses the results of excavations on one of the homesteads. The wooden pillars of the building rested on stone bases. There was a kang (heating system) inside of the building with traces of reconstructions. The kang was heated by two hearths situated in northern and western parts of the excavated area. Our studies on Khirkhira allowed revisiting the chronology of the site. Porcelain found there makes it possible to date this site not only by the time of its founder Yesünggü Khan’s life, but also by the period of Yuan Dynasty (1206—1368) in 14th century. Besides, Khitan ceramics found in lower horizons of the unearthed homestead makes us conclude that this territory was inhabited already at the time of Liao dynasty (907—1125).
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The paper presents the results of the data analysis related to arrowheads from the High Middle Ages found in the Lower Angara region. Arrowheads made of iron or, sometimes, horn were classified into 25 types, with bigger and flatter objects being prevalent. Other types include those widely spread in Eurasian Steppe during the Mongol and Pre-Mongol time (flat rhombic, oval- winged arrowheads, cutaways). Several types of the arrowheads from the Lower Angara region are similar to those found in the Taiga Zone of the Western Siberia (bifurcate, cutaways in the form of a shovel, chisel and tetrahedral objects, warheads). Archers from the Lower Angara region used arrowheads with tenons, large armor-piercing objects and arrowheads with decor. The arrowheads represent taiga forms and steppe types. All the objects were used by the same community and belong to Lesosibirsk archaeological culture of the High Middle Ages.
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The study of the archaeological sites of Mongol time in the south of Western Siberia has its long history. By now, almost all previously received materials have been offered for scientific discussion. However, they are not yet widely in demand by specialists researching the period of the developed Middle Ages in Russia and abroad. This situation can be explained, to a certain extent, by the fact that the region in question was far from the places of the most important historical events described in written sources. At the same time, archaeological sites studied in the Upper Ob area and Altai reflect many processes of military, political and cultural interaction of different population groups in the 13th—14th centuries and form the information field for understanding the ethnogenesis of modern Siberian peoples. The article describes the experience of studies and interpretation of all archaeological data obtained in the south of Western Siberia and related to a difficult period in the medieval history of Asia, known as the Mongol time. Particularly, it concerns the reconstruction of the ethno-cultural situation, which is demonstrated in this article for the first time.
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In this work we are talking about the Russian town of Tara founded at the Irtysh River in 1594, and its role in the fate of the Siberian Tatars, who were citizens of the Siberian Khanate and at the end of the 16th century became citizens of the Russian state. The town, established only to ensure the ultimate defeat of Kuchum Khan, began to play a very significant role in consolidation of the Siberian Tatars, unexpectedly for the Tara voivodes. The Muslim community, which emerged under the leadership of one of the first Islamic preachers in Siberia — Din-aul-khojah, turned into the center disseminating Islam among all Turkic-speaking population of the Western Siberia. Trade ways, passing through the Irtysh region near Tara, were not closed upon the emergence of the Russian town, and, what is more, they turned it into a key point in Siberian trade with Central Asia, and later with China. For a long time, the Irtysh area near Tara remained a stronghold of Kuchum Khan and his successors and, contrary to all actions of the local Russian administration, the town of Tara became a source for the replenishment of weapons and supplies for the Kuchum’s troops. These interesting pages in the history of one of the first Russian towns in Siberia are addressed in this article.
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In 1885, two Christian medieval cemeteries were opened in the north of present-day Kyrgyzstan, in the Chuy Valley. They were identified from the finds of gravestones with Syrian epitaphs. Soon the epitaphs were translated and published by D. Khvolson and S. Slutsky. Archaeological excavations were carried out on the necropolis of Buranа town, in 1885—1886, but the data from these studies were not published. They are stored in the Archive of the RAS Institute of History of Material Culture, among documents of the Imperial Archaeological Committee.Data on the excavations in late 19th century on the medieval cemetery near the settlement of Burana are cited and analyzed in this article. Most of the burials were made in pits. The second largest group is the burial in the pits with niches. All the deceased lay stretched on their backs heading west. The burials contained no grave goods, but sometimes they contain personal adornments or wearable crosses.At the end of the article, the burials from Burana Christian cemetery are compared with the burials from the necropolises of Ak-Beshim, Krasnaya Rechka and Belovodskaya fortresses, also located in the Chuy Valley. By comparing them, we come to conclusion about a break in development of Christianity in the Chuy Valley, and emergence of a new cultural tradition, associated with gravestones with epitaphs, at the beginning of 13th century.
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The author reviews the current state of studies into Western Kazakhstan sites dated by 13th—14th centuries. The area under research is predominantly represented by sites belonging to the nomadic population of the Golden Horde. The paper describes features of historical and geographical location of funerary sites in Western Kazakhstan. Overall, the archaeological sites identified in Western Kazakhstan are a reflection of some general processes in Eurasian steppes generated by appearance of the consolidated Mongol state, and later by the Golden Horde, and manifested in the uniformity of features of material culture.
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The authors present a discussion on medieval settlements located in Western Kazakhstan: Kyzylkala, Ketikkala, Saraishyk, Aktobe-Laeti and Zhaiyk towns. They relate in general to the period of the 10th—14th centuries, although some of them also existed later (Saraishyk). Problems of historiography and formation of medieval urban culture, economic ties with other regions, as well as historical topography of sites based on archaeological research are discussed. Fortification of settlements, residential and farm buildings, main features of funerary rite practiced on the associated necropolises are considered.
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The article deals with the results of work on the ancient towns of Zhaiyk and Zhalpaktal in Western Kazakhstan. The ancient settlement of Zhaiyk is located not far from the city of Uralsk. Since 2000, there have been studied large estates, a public bath with underground heating and production complexes: an oven for baking brick and a furnace for calcining lime. Two large mausoleums of burnt bricks, decorated with glazed tiles, were found on the necropolis. In 2013, a funerary complex consisting of a tower mausoleum and small funerary structures were excavated on the necropolis.A small rural mosque with a minaret was investigated at the settlement of Zhalpaktal. Excavations of a large farmstead showed that life on the settlement lasted long enough. First, pit-houses were used for dwelling. Later, a large house with many rooms and walls of raw brick was built in their place.
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Now one of the main directions of the national historical science is a detailed study of the history of individual regions, suburbs, territories of the Russian-Horde border. Some of the areas are of particular interest to any student of the Russian-Golden Horde borderlands: these areas can be called buffer zones. They are described by travelers, recorded in chronicles and confirmed by archaeological materials. The Chuvash-Mari area of the Volga region played the role of such “buffer zone” at the Russian-Golden Horde border in 14th—15th centuries. The archaeological material accumulated to date (the results of exploration and excavations in the territory of the Mari-Chuvash Volga region) not only confirms the process of expanding the territory of the influence of the Golden Horde state over the studied territory, but also allows us to consistently trace this process, highlighting several conventional regions with concentrations of archaeological sites dated by the studied period. In this regard, the purpose of the article is to consider the presence of buffer zones at the Russian — Golden Horde border in the Mari-Chuvash Volga region on the basis of archaeological data.
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Long-term complex archaeological work allowed to study a considerable area (2516 sq. m) in the central part of the Bolgar town of the Golden Horde period (100—160 m to the south-east from the Cathedral Mosque). Here, the remains of the unique monumental structure of the city bazaar (the middle of the 14th century) were discovered and studied. An important result of the work was the allocation of additional horizons in the strata of the Golden Horde layer of the 14th century, which makes it possible to date the objects associated with them with an accuracy of up to 30 years. Based on the analysis of the location of synchronous ground and buried objects, an attempt has been made to determine the boundaries of individual homesteads. The nature of the finds from the territory of the investigated complex of homesteads testifies that during the entire 14th century, an active handicraft activity was carried out related to copper-foundry, glass-working, jewelry, and also accompanying bone-carving production. During the existence of a city bazaar in the given territory (50—70s years of the 14th century), the activities of the inhabitants of the homesteads under consideration could be connected with the implementation of trade, as indicated by the numerous finds of merchandise inventory: plummets, elements of weights. An analysis of the density of buildings and the size of the established estates suggests that the area of the estates in the central part of the Golden Horde Bolgar decreased during the first half of the 14th century, and only the destructive events of the feudal war period stopped this trend.
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The article reviews published materials and hypotheses concerning the fortification of Bolgar town in the 14th century, in the era of its heyday and reaching the maximum area. The hypotheses were verified based on the data obtained during excavations in 2014—2015. It is shown that the archaeological realities documented in the excavation reports do not match with O. Khovanskaya and Yu. Krasnov’s hypotheses on a buttress wall (or a cellular wall, ‘tarasa’) placed on the crest of the rampart and existence of pillar-basedtowers. In reality, during the excavations of 1946, 1953 and 1967, only irregular traces of pillar pits of different depths were discovered. Such traces could be left by a light fence supported by some separate pillars. Pillar-based towers in the Russian medieval fortifications are not known, because they would represent very fragile structures, vulnerable to stone-hurling artillery. It was suggested that the found pillar pits could be traces of some household structures of a Russian village dated by 17th—20th centuries. Defensive structures on the top of the rampart could consist of a light wooden fence without any towers. Some attempts are made to explain the difference between the Russian and Bolgar urban defense strategies. While the Russian strategy was based on use of vertical barriers (wood-earth walls), the Bolgar strategy was based on the construction of ramparts to prevent cavalry attacks on the town. Such ramparts were defended by cavalry detachments moving inside the town walls.
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The paper discusses peoples who lived on the territory of Bulgar Ulus of the Golden Horde in 13th—14th centuries, which can be proven by archaeological sources. Thus, these data suggest that along with the Bulgar this territory was populated by the Russians, Mordvins, Mari, Armenians, and part of this territory was occupied by the Kipchaks and, probably, by the Mongols, who settled there after their military raids. All these peoples closely interacted between themselves. At the same time, there were also some small local ethnic groups, such as the Permians and the Udmurts, who managed to preserve their identity. As a whole, Bulgar Ulus of the Golden Horde was multiethnic, which continued the tradition formed before the Mongol invasion.
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The excavation process of a unique medieval burial containing mercury in one of the kurgans of the Shumaevo burial ground was conducted with a number of methodological and analytical errors, that resulted in an incorrect attribution of the complex to the period of the Golden Horde. “Technical details” that were taken for granted without any critical examination were reproduced in a number of publications and engendered a number of invalid conclusions regarding the origin, social station and spiritual habits of the Shumaevo warrior. New data obtained from studying textiles from the burial indicate the mistaken dating of the burial and the premature nature of the conclusions regarding the complex’s connection with the political and cultural history of the Mongols. The burial was made by the early medieval nomads that were dominant in Central Asia long before the arrival of the Mongols.
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The question of Tinibek’s regiment is ambiguously considered in historiography. Russian, Western European and Arab sources, which cover the problem of devolution after Uzbek khan’s death, have been analyzed in this research. These documents let us think that Tinibek wasn’t a khan of Sarai. That point is also confirmed by the absence of silver coins minted on behalf of Tinibek. Benedict Pope’s letters represent some interesting information, according to which Janibek could become a heir in the lifetime of his father. However, Tinibek’s actions after Uzbek’s death show that he wished for occupying Sarai’s throne and did not intend to stay as a regent in Sygnak.
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Novgorod and Pskov, medieval cities of the Russian North-West, are known for concentrations of bones dated by the early 16th century. These “bone pavements” consisted of the remains of meat trade, which were used within the urban space as a sealing layer under wooden structures, that is, for the site improvement.The article analyzes species and anatomical set of bone concentrations found in another cultural-landscape space of medieval Eastern Europe — in three cities of the Golden Horde: Azak, Majar and Bolgar. Within these concentrations, the usual taxonomic set of animal bone remains is recorded, but somewhat depleted. Shares of bones of birds and fish, as well as wild mammals and domestic animals are significantly less numerous than in ordinary household accumulations. In some concentrations, the share of horse bones is sharply reduced. Basically, the osteological range in these concentrations includes the remains of cattle, with a particularly high share of small cattle, which can exceed the share of big cattle by 2—5 and even 8 times. An analysis of the anatomical collection of bones from the concentrations revealed two sets of cattle remains. The first set, consisting of the remains of the heads and lower parts of the limbs of animals, we associate with industrial waste from large-scale slaughter of livestock for their hides. The second set: scapular, radial, femoral and tibial bones of cattle, shoulder blades and tibial bones of small cattle are interpreted as blanks of bone material for the production of products. Thus, bone accumulations in the cities of the Golden Horde have a “production” origin. All such concentrations were found in the the craft quarters of cities, and in case the respective anatomical set of bone remains is documented by archeozoological study can serve as a marker for existence of craft activities, aimed at production of articles from raw animal material.
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