Pages: 201-203

A previously unknown burial ground of the Middle Ages in the Volga Samara region is studied. The analysis of the grave goods from 16 burials allowed their dating by the late 13th to mid-14th century. The funerary rite and the items from the burials find analogies with the Muransky, Barbashinsky, Usinsky burial ground sites excavated in the region, that are associated mainly with the Mordovian groups. The emergence of large Mordovian burial grounds in the Middle Volga region was conditioned by the economic development policy pursued by the Golden Horde administration in the Volga region. The chronological framework of the sites with the Mordva ethno-cultural component studied in the region encompasses the late 13th — mid-14th centuries. Reliable evidence of their existence in the region following the 1360s (the start of the internecine dissention wars known as the “Great Zamyatnya” in the Golden Horde) is absent.

Keywords: Lower Volga region, Golden Horde, archaeology, the Mordvins, burial ground, funerary rite, resettlement

Information about author:

Dmitry A. Stashenkov. Candidate of Historical Sciences. Samara Museum for History and Regional Studies named after P. V. Alabin. Address: Leninskaya St., 142, Samara, 443041, Russian Federation 
E-mail: [email protected]