NEW DATA ON BULGARIAN HOUSES OF PRE-MONGOL TIME (ON MATERIALS OF THE OSTOLOPOVSKY SETTLEMENT IN TATARSTAN)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the publication of new materials of the Ostolopovo settlement in the Alekseevsk district of the Republic of Tatarstan. The settlement dates from the 11th - 12th centuries and existed during the heyday of the state Volga Bulgaria. In 2017, when examining the coastal part of this settlement, a construction that began to collapse was discovered in a cliff . When excavating it, interesting elements of its construction were revealed, including those made of wood, and various fi nds from iron, non-ferrous metal, stone and clay were also discovered. Among them - iron arrowheads, jewelry made of bronze, pieces of silver, a bone crest, iron plates. In addition, iron nails, staples, lock keys and other household items were found. It was possible to reconstruct several clay vessels, including pots and a mug. The author carefully analyzed fragments of ceramics from each layer at the excavation site and in the construction. He took into account the nature of the fragments, their size, color and workmanship, as well as their concentration at each site of the excavation and the level of the cultural layer. This allowed him to identify changes in the assortment of dishes at diff erent stages of the formation of the cultural layer and associate them with the chronology of the settlement as a whole. On this basis, he established that the building was destroyed at the end of the XI - beginning of the XII century, when an armed attack was committed on a settlement.