Pottery of the Southern Aral Region in the Golden Horde Period

Abstract

The article presents the results of long-term archaeological studies on pottery in the Southern Aral region. The author mainly discuss the pottery quarter of the Mizdakhkan settlement in the Golden Horde period. Certainly, separate districts producing ceramics began to appear in Central Asia before the Mongol campaigns. But in the Golden Horde period it stands out clearly as a separately located production zone in the Southern Aral settlements. Judging by numerous archaeological findings, the organization of pottery production in the Southern Aral region reaches its peak during this period. Medieval potters of the Southern Aral region not only produced high-quality ceramic products, but also influenced the emergence of local ceramic schools in the Golden Horde Volga region. This is evidenced by written sources and archaeological data. In the Southern Aral region, furnaces for producing pottery in the Golden Horde period are divided into three types. The last of them indicates that a pottery association of the “Korkhana” type operated here.

Keywords

• archaeology
• ceramics
• production
• quarters
• pottery kilns
• southern aral region
• medieval khwarazm
• mizdakhkan
• ceramic import and export