Medieval Clayware as a Determinant of the Ethnic-Cultural Composition of the Population

Abstract

The paper concerns the medieval ware discovered in the territory of the medieval towns of Volga Bolgaria. Technical and technological analysis and comparative characteristics of the ethnic-cultural types of ware are provided, and a statistical table indicating the presence of each type of ceramics at each site is included. Based on the analysis of material items, interrelation of the ethnic-cultural groups is established by the author, and their interaction and influence on the local Bolgar population is outlined. The study of this issue is of great ur­gency in view of the discussion in the scientific world regarding the ethnocultural composition of the region’s population in the Pre-Mongol and Golden Horde periods. The scarcity of written sources related to the issue is largely compensated by archaeological material, the most substantial and informative of which are ceramic complexes. The ceramics of the Kama-Ural population whose waves penetrated the territory of Volga Bolgaria from the East since the mid-10th century was determined by T.A. Khlebnikova as belonging groups VII and VIII according to the researcher’s classification. It should be noted that this population’s ware is present at all sites of the Lower Kama region of the Pre-Mongol period. But it is most vividly present in the medieval hill- forts Alabuga, Kirmen, Chally and Staroe Romashkino.

Keywords

• archaeology
• volga bolgaria
• middle ages
• hillfort
• ceramic group
• ornament
• molding