Evolution of V. F. Gening’s and other researcher’s views regarding the Mazunino culture

Abstract

The history of studies of the Mazunino culture (3rd -5th centuries AD) located in the Middle Kama region is traced. Vladimir Fyodorovich Gening, a prominent Soviet archaeologist, was the first to start research on this culture and offer its theoretical substantiation. As a result of surveys and excavations conducted in Udmurtia and Bashkiria starting 1954, he accumulated a vast archaeological material related to the culture. A thorough analysis of V.F. Gening’s publications and essays on the Mazunino culture sites is provided. The evolution of the scholar’s views regarding the culture basic elements (territory, implements, burial rite, dating, origin, cultural ties and further fate) are traced in the article. Later on, the study of new, previously unknown monuments made it possible to expand the knowledge of quite a number of problems related to the early Middle Ages in the Middle Kama River region, including those regarding the Mazunino culture. This resulted in the formation of differing viewpoints concerning the culture among both V.F. Gening’s contemporaries and further generation of researchers, and their views are also discussed and analyzed.

Keywords

• the Kama River region
• the early Middle Ages
• the Mazunino culture
• V.F. Gening
• territory
• implements
• burial rite
• ethnogenesis
• discussions