Stock in Trade Items from the Bolgar Fortified Site

Abstract

During the excavations on the Bolgar fortified site (the area to the south-west of the Cathedral mosque), conducted in 1989-1993 and from 2011 to the present, the finds have been discovered that serve as evidence of the trade and craft specialization of this area in the 14th century. The items include typical remains of the glass-making, jewelry, bone-carving crafts, traces of amber processing and a large number of objects related to trade: weights of various sizes and fragments of scales. Of particular interest is the set of stock in trade items, found predominantly in the house, which had apparently belonged to a rich merchant. Many of the items discovered in the area investigated attest to the existence of intensive trade contacts of Bolgar city with different countries and regions, including Central Asia, the Caucasus, India, and China

Keywords

• the Middle Volga river region
• the Golden Horde time
• the Bolgar fortified site
• trade and craft quarter
• scales
• weights
• trade contacts