THE LOWER VOLGA CENTER OF THE JOCHI ULUS IN THE XIII-XV CENTURIES: HISTORICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECONSTRUCTION (FOR THE 770TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CITY OF SARAI)

Abstract

A large number of large settlements of the XIII–XV centuries are known in the Lower Volga region. Some of them have been identified as Golden Horde cities with names that are beyond doubt. Some of the sites have only a modern archaeological designation – ancient settlements, and the issue on their names has not been definitively resolved to date. This primarily concerns the capital cities of the Golden Horde. It is difficult to finally resolve this issue on the basis of available archaeological materials and written sources. However, the scientific information accumulated to date allows us to propose an author's historical and archaeological reconstruction of the structure of the Lower Volga center of the Golden Horde.

Keywords

• archaeology
• tsarev settlement
• selitrennoye settlement
• uvek settlement
• vodyanskoye settlement
• akhtuba settlement
• krasny yar settlement
• sarai
• gulistan
• hajjitarkhan