Results of 20-Years Research on the Samosdelka Settlement and New Perspectives

Abstract

Twenty years have passed since the beginning of excavations at the Samosdelka settlement in the Volga delta. The author summarizes the work of the Samosdelka expedition on the site, which is associated with the remains of the medieval trading city of Saksin, which until now was known only from separate mentions in medieval written sources. In addition, the settlement became known due to the assumption of the localization of the remains of the last capital of Khazaria – the city of Itil. The author examines the "pro" and "contra" arguments according to this version, as well as a comparison with archaeological realities. In particular, the settlement consists of three parts – on the two banks of the Volga and on the island, which coincides with the descriptions of Itil. In the lower layers of the settlement were found traces of a total fire, which was associated with the time of the Khazar city destruction. However, in the course of research, this layer was re-dated to the 11th – early 12th centuries. The remains of fortress walls and two towers with gates, found in the lower layers, suggest that fortification was created in the Khazar period, at the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries. So far, there are no sufficiently clear grounds for such a statement, except for the assumption that the construction of a brick fortress could be carried out only under the control of a strong state power. This could have happened either during the existence of the Khazar state, where there was a royal monopoly on brick construction or during the formation of the city of Saksin. In this case, Saksin appears before us in the form of a sufficiently developed state formation, in which there was a strong central authority. This issue needs further elaboration, as it is known that the city was under the rule of the nomadic Oguzes, who could not allow the townspeople to build fortress walls so as not to weaken control over Saksin.