Dated Muslim epigraphic monuments of the Solkhat/Kirim city and its environs

Abstract

Purpose of the study: Identification of patterns and heterogeneities in the chronological distribution of epigraphic monuments. An attempt to correlate dated material with certain events in the life of the medieval city of Solkhat/Kirim. Detection of chronological markers in the typology and design of lapidary monuments, on the basis of which it will be possible to give a chronological reference for monuments without dating. Research materials: The article contains information about more than a hundred dated epigraphic monuments with Arabic inscriptions found at different times on the territory of the Golden Horde city of Solkhat/Kirim and in its environs. The data was collected on the basis of lapidary material stored in museum and private collections, including 26 monuments that are being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. The information mentioned in the works of Evliya Celebi, domestic researchers of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century was taken into account, the studies of O.N. Akchokrakly, diaries and drawings of U. Bodaninsky, and photographic materials of archaeological expeditions of the 1920s. Research results: The work presents the distribution of dated monuments over the time period from the second half of the 13th century to the last quarter of the 15th century. Also presented are the results of the chronological distribution for some subtypes of grave monuments and the time frame for the use of the Turkic language on the epigraphic monuments of Solkhat/Kirim.

Keywords

• golden horde
• solkhat
• kirim city
• stary krym city
• arabic epigraphy
• muslim gravestones