Balymery V Settlement: study results of 2019

Abstract

The publication deals with the results of archaeological studies at Balymery V settlement in 2019. The work was carried out in relation to the destruction of the site’s cultural layer by the branched ravine network of the left bank of the Volga river. The first archaeological excavations at Balymery V settlement were carried out in 1955 under the supervision of A.M. Efimova by the Kuibyshev archaeological expedition. Two excavations by A.M. Efimova allowed to identify hearths, economic, residential and “sacrificial” pits, and establish the existence of the settlement in the Imenkovo and Bolgar Pre-Mongol periods. In her opinion, settlement of the Volga Bolgars ceases to exist by the end of the 11th – early 12th centuries. The studies of 2019 made it possible to clarify the dating of the site. Based on study results, the development of the territory of Balymery V settlement began in the Imenkovo period (4th–7th cc.). In the Volga Bolgaria period, the territory of the Imenkovo settlement was developed as a result of economic activity and plowing. The existence period of the Volga Bolgars settlement was determined as the interval from the 11th (most likely, its second half) – mid-13th centuries as a result of the studies. After the Mongol conquest, the settlement continued to exist in the Ulus of Jochi’s formation period, as evidenced by the coins of the 1240s discovered both in the cultural layer and in one of the objects.

Keywords

• archaeology
• middle volga region
• balymery v settlement
• middle ages
• imenkovo culture
• bolgar pre-mongol period
• early golden horde period
• stratigraphy
• finds
• coins