THE RESULTS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH AT THE BOLGAR FORTIFIED SETTLEMENT IN 2017 (CXCII EXCAVATION)

Abstract

In 2017, the CXCII excavation continued the study of one of the sections of the central part of the Bolgar fortifi ed settlement (10–15 cc.), located 80 meters to the south-west of the Cathedral Mosque. The investigated area was 304 m², on which 190 objects were investigated. The collected collection of individual fi nds and mass material includes numerous household items, glass ornaments,
coins, fragments of irrigation utensils, entirely preserved ceramics, iron, non-ferrous metals. Of particular interest are 20 valves of stone molds of varying degrees of preservation, as well as items for trade: folding scales and weights, including the eastern type. From the layer of the Golden Horde time, there is a signifi cant amount of amber raw amber, fragments, semis and products – beads
and pendants, which indicates the presence of a workshop for processing amber. The new data allow us to speak about the existence in the Golden Horde time in the territory to the southwest of the Cathedral Mosque of a vast trade and craft quarter, where jewelers, bone carvers, glass craftsmen, ambers and traders lived. In the pre-Mongol period (10–12 cc.), there were estates specializing in iron production in this sector, as evidenced by the complex of metallurgical furnaces and the accumulation of crushed iron ore (over 50 kg).