“Ancient” history of the Tatar villages and the problem of establishing the time of their foundation

Abstract

Over recent years, studying the history of rural settlements of Tatarstan has ceased to be the lot of amateur historians and increasingly attracts the attention of professional historians. Scientific approaches and methods of work are being actively introduced in this area; attempts are being made to overcome the existing methodological problems. The article examines the issues related to the content of the concept of “ancient” history of Tatar settlements, shows the role of different historical disciplines in estab-lishing of the time of their foundation.

Keywords

• history of villages
• archeology
• epigraphic monuments
• written sources.