STAROKALMASHEVO GRAVESTONE AND THE ISSUES OF THE ETHNIC INTERPRETATION OF PRE-URAL POPULATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Abstract

The fact that the ethnic history of the Western Urals, especially that of the medieval period, is understudied, poses an increasingly large number of challenges for its researchers. Firstly, the resolution of these problems requires the initiation of the archaeological study of the region. The study and interpretation of the inscriptions on Starokalmashevsky gravestone demonstrate the complexity of ethnic processes in the territory. In this regard, in the opinion of the author, changes in the ethnic composition of the region, particularly in the period associated with the Mongol conquests in the 13th century, are far from being thoroughly studied. The Eastern Hungarians – the Magyars (Chiyaliktsy) encountered and described in detail Julian were deported and scattered across the vast territories of the Mongol Empire. The ethnic map of the Urals significantly changed after the turbulent events of the 1230s.
The author raises the question of the extent to which the territory remained conditionally Ugric in the 13th–14th centuries.
Another question raised concerns the identity of the archaeological “Seleuktses” who erected the unstudied monuments. According to the author, the archaeological study of the medieval Urals should be conducted on the basis of historical facts withdue account of the fact that according to the archaeological findings after the deportation of the Magyars these territories were inhabited by the Muslim population, and considering the scarce information on the language of the epitaphs their population was Tatar-speaking. The territory itself was originally included in the Bolgar vilayet of the Golden Horde, and subsequently became part of Kazan Khanate.