Pages: 133-140

The territory of the South-Eastern Rus’, i. e. the border between Chernigov and Ryazan Principalities, is known for a number of finds of leather strap garments belonging to a South Siberian Askizian Culture. The finds include strap onlays, strap tips and a sultan. Such artefacts are typical for the settlements related to some large trade and crafts centers involved in transit Don River and on-land trade on the route from Kiev to Bolgar. They landed on this settlement in the middle — second half of the thirteenth century and are associated with the military elite of the Mongol state, which organized restoration of trade routes. It is important that in the second half of the thirteenth and in the fourteenth centuries, the settlements yield some strap onlays that are local imitations of the Askizian onlays and find analogies in the Volga basin. They are accompanied by some rare weaponry items and imported ware. We believe that these things belonged to the military guards of merchants’ caravans, who thus contributed to a symbiosis of Rus’ and eastern cultures.

Keywords: Mongol state, elite, Askizian culture, Upper Don region, border of Chernigov and Ryazan principalities, South-Eastern lands of Rus’, transit trade, belt onlays.

Information about author:

Nikolai Тropin (Yelets, Russian Federation). Doctor of Historical Sciences. I. A. Bunin State University in Yelets. Communarov St., 28, Elets, 399770, Lipetsk Region, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]