GOLDEN HORDE: TWO WORLDS, TWO CULTURES

Abstract

The article deals with the further development of G.A. Fyodorov-Davydov’s thesis about the dual nature of the Golden Horde state culture (which some modern researchers nominate as “imperial”), consisting of both the culture of cities and the culture of steppe nomads. The results of the analysis of the geographical ratio of the largest cities of the Volga region of the Golden Horde period – Bolgar, Uvek, Tsarev (Gulistan), Selitrennoye (Sarai-al-Makhrusa) and Krasny Yar (Sarai-Batu) – and nomadic burial grounds and single burials that were part of the economic district (according to L.F. Nedashkovsky) of these cities show the following. The presence or absence of nomads within the boundaries of the economic district of the Golden Horde cities (according to L.F. Nedashkovsky), outlined within a radius of 30 km (one day of horse riding), was determined by the natural and climatic conditions of the Volga region in the XIII–XIV centuries – period of climatic optimum. In the forest steppe regions of the Ulus of Bolgar, nomadic sites are represented by single burials; around of Sarai-al-Makhrusa and Sarai-Batu (Caspian Depression) there are none at all. Whereas in the Uvek and Sarai al-Makhrusa districts, several fairly large barrow fields and single burials are identifi ed. We can’t say that this very population, which left these monuments, experienced the strongest infl uence of the urban “imperial” culture: the bulk of the objects, included in this category, appear to be scattered over the Volga-Ural steppe. This definitely indicates that the relationship between the Golden Horde nomads and the city was built on the principle – the steppe orders, the city produces. Not vice versa. The fact that some items of "imperial culture" (mirrors in particular) are found in cities is explained by the fact that they were produced there. And their use in everyday life of city-dwellers and nomads has different contexts. Thus, G.A. Fyudorov-Davydov's thesis becomes a methodological basis for studying the history of the Golden Horde.

Keywords

• archaeology
• golden horde
• nomads
• “imperial culture”
• urban districts
• golden horde civilization