Ananyino Settlement on the Kremlin Headland in the Sity of Kazan

Abstract

The first finds of the Early Iron Age on the territory of the Kazan Kremlin were found in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Analysis of excavation collections of the end of the 20th century allowed to determine that pottery and individual finds of that time are fixed on the north-western end of the Kremlin headland on the square of 14487 m2. Reconstruction of the Early Iron Age topographic situation has revealed the reason for the settling on this area. The north-western part of the Kremlin headland in the Early Iron Age was divided by a hollow and its eastern side had an elevated and uneven surface that predetermined the choice of the western end as the location of the Ananyino cultural-historical area settlement. The Early Iron Age pottery assemblage, received during archaeological works at the Kazan Kremlin, refers mainly to the post-Maklasheyevka culture, there is also textile ceramics of the Akozino-Akhmylovo culture in this complex. The analysis of the ceramic assemblage and individual finds made it possible to make a conclusion that a permanent settlement of the post-Maklasheyevka culture ACHA existed on the site of the north-western end of the Kazan Kremlin for a long time in the IX–IV centuries BC.

Keywords

• archaeology
• early iron age
• ananyino cultural-historical area
• kazan kremlin
• settlement
• post-maklasheyevka culture
• akozino-akhmylovo culture
• topographic situation