HISTORY OF THE STUDY OF THE GOLDEN HORDE TIME ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IN THE PENZA REGION

Abstract

The history of the rise, prosperity, decline and heritage of the Golden Horde has been in the center of attention of Russian and foreign specialists for many decades. In the XIV century the power of the khans of the Golden Horde covered the territory of a large part of modern Russia (except for Eastern Siberia, the Far East and the Far North), northern and western Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Moldova, part of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. The modern Penza region territory was part of the Mukhsha Ulus, the northwestern district of the Golden Horde, bordering the Principality of Ryazan. Trade caravans to Rus and back from Bolgar, the Lower Volga cities and Khwarazm moved through the region. The study of archaeological sites of the Golden Horde period in the Penza Oblast began in the late XIX and continued in the early XX century. V.M. Teryokhin, A.A. Spitsyn, I.F. Sadin and A.A. Krotkov were the fi rst to identify the scientific potential of the Narovchat settlement and the nearby burial grounds for future generations of archaeologists and historians. Later, new settlements of the Golden Horde period, trade routes were found, and artifacts – jewelry, ceramics, numismatic finds were studied. Research results over the past thirty years were presented in scientifi c articles by G.N. Belorybkin, V.A. Vinnichek and K.M. Vinnichek, O.V. Golubev, Yu.A. Zeleneyev, E.D. Zilivinskaya, and O.V. Melnichenko. The study of already discovered and the search for new Golden Horde archaeological sites continues.

Keywords

• archaeological excavations
• golden horde
• narovchat settlement
• mukhsha
• nikolskoye settlement
• burial ground
• mausoleums
• architectural structures
• numismatics
• trade route