Medieval Archaeological Sites of Semenovsky Island in Tatarstan: history of study and some results of research

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the medieval sites of the 10th – beginning of the 15th centuries, located on Semenovsky Island in the Spassk district of Tatarstan. These are 5 burial grounds and 4 ancient settlements. Semyonovka I settlement was one of the early settlements of the Volga Bolgars in the Kazan Volga region and founded in the second half of the 10th century. At present, the cultural layer of the ancient settlements on Semenovsky Island is completely eroded by the waters of the Kuibyshev reservoir, as well as the necropolises belonging to them. A significant part of the materials from these sites has been published, except for ceramics. The researchers paid special attention to coins and items, made of non-ferrous metal. The analysis of the finds allowed us to assume that the settlement structure on Semenovsky Island developed without significant interruptions from the second half of the 10th century to the beginning of the 15th century, having undergone several crisis transformations at the end of the 11th – the first half of the 12th and the first third of the 13th centuries, connected in the first case with the invasions of the Kipchaks and in the second case with the Mongol conquest.

Keywords

• archaeology
• volga bolgaria
• bolgar region of the golden horde
• semenovsky island
• settlements
• trade
• arab dirhams
• medieval glass beads