Structural studies of the brass ingots from the Shcherbet historical complex of the Lower Kama region: neutron diffraction and tomography studies

The structural characteristics and phase composition of several ancient brass ingots obtained in the archeological Shcherbet complex has been studied using neutron diffraction and tomography methods. The XRF analysis and neutron diffraction provide high zinc content up to 30 wt.%. The neutron tomog- raphy yielded 3D data of the spatial distribution of chemical elements in the brass alloy of the studied ingots, as well as inner voids and cavities as a possible result of the gas output during casting process. The patina, as a cuprite phase, occupy volumes to 8 % of the volumes of the ingots

Historical topography of the khan's capital town of kasimov

© 2020 Academy of Sciences of Tatarstan, A.Kh. Khalikov Archaeology Institute. All rights reserved. The paper addresses the historical topography of the medieval Kasimov - capital of Kasimov Khanate (mid-15th - late 17th centuries). The stages of archaeological studies are analyzed. The results of archaeological studies in 2008-2018 are presented. The historical sites of the medieval town are localized. The Stary Posad area is associated with the original location of the town of Kasimov in the Khan's period, also known as Gorodets Meshchersky of the 14th - first half of the 15th centuries. No layers or items related to the period of the reign of Qasim Khan in the mid-15th - early 16th centuries have been identified in the area of the Khan's Court. The establishment of the cultural layer in the Khan's court area occurs not earlier than the mid-16th century during the rule of Khan Shah Ali. The continuity of the development of medieval settlements is traced from the Kasimov archaeological complex (Zemlyanoy Strug settlement, Dorofeevo Pole village) to Gorodets Meshchersky (the 13th - first half of the 16th centuries) and the Khan's capital. The authors archaeologically established the time period of the establishment of the historical core of the medieval town, and the development stages of its areas

Historical studies of pesochnoe settlement in Saratov oblast (the issue of the significance of the ceramic complex in the study of the rural settlements of the golden horde)

The paper features the first results of the latest archaeological study investigations in 2020 were conducted at the Pesochnoe settlement located within the city boundaries of the Leninsky District of Saratov and was part of the medieval rural district of the Golden Horde city of Ukek. Excavation 1 (size 6×10 m) allowed to examine the cultural layer of the second half of the 13th- 14thcenturies. The collection of mass ceramic materials comprised 150 fragments of medieval ceramic vessels. It includes 5 groups of both local and imported origin (Ukek, Northern Black Sea region, Byzantium), which, in addition to import directions, mark the presence of the Russian and Mordovian components among the population of the village. The ceramic collection, despite its small size, demonstrates all archaeological markers characteristic of rural settlements in the Ukek of the Golden Horde regions

The main information about scientific activity institute of archaeology named after A.KH. Khalikov of the Tatarstan academy of sciences in 2019

© 2020 Academy of Sciences of Tatarstan, A.Kh. Khalikov Archaeology Institute. All rights reserved. The article introduces the main results of the scientifi c activity of the Institute of Archaeology named after A.Kh. Khalikov of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences in the year of its 5th anniversary. The Institute is a leading academic scientifi c institution in the fi eld of archaeology in the Volga region. In 2019, excavations were performed at 16 archaeological heritage sites in the Republic of Tatarstan, the Volga region and other regions of the Russian Federation, as well as the Republic of Mongolia. The Institute has held 14 scientifi c conferences, workshops and schools, 11 international and 3 All-Russian events. The organization publishes two academic scientifi c journals. As a result of an analysis of publishing activity completed by SCImago, the scientifi c journal The Volga River Region Archaeology published by the Institute was included in the Q2 quartile. The second scientifi c journal of the Institute of Archaeology named after A.Kh. Khalikov "The Archaeology of the Eurasian Steppes" was included in the list of peer-reviewed publications of the Higher Attestation Commission of the Russian Federation in 2019. The recognition of the Museum of Archaeology of the Republic of Tatarstan as a safekeeper of the heritage of regional academic archaeological science refl ected in the inclusion of the Museum of Archaeology of the Institute in the Register of Museums of the Russian Federation in March, 2019

4TH International congress of the medieval archaeology of eurasian steppes

© 2020 Academy of Sciences of Tatarstan, A.Kh. Khalikov Archaeology Institute. All rights reserved. The publication features a brief summary and results of the 4th International Congress on the Medieval Archaeology of Eurasian Steppes held on September 16-21, 2019 in Ulan-Ude (the Republic of Buryatia). The congress agenda included 229 reports by scientists from various countries: Russia, Kazakhstan, France, Germany, Austria, Great Britain, Canada, Switzerland, Spain, Bulgaria, Hungary, Croatia, Ukraine, Turkey, Israel, India, Kyrgyzstan, China, Japan and Mongolia. The congress participants presented reports covering a wide range of issues related to the study of the cultural and historical space of the steppe zone of Eurasia. The congress included the opening of the exhibition "The Huns. Empire of the Steppes"(The Huns. Secrets of Lost Civilizations)

Bulgar coins of khan pulad of izmery treasure

The article considers coins of the Bulgar minting of the Golden Horde Khan Pulad (1407- 1410), deposited in the Izmery treasure. The total number of dirhams with the name of this khan reaches 220 copies. When studying the weight characteristics of coins, it was found that the mode corresponds to the value of 0.73 ± 0.02 g. Having studied the elemental composition of the surface layer of coin metal 50 dirhams, the authors established the amount of silver, copper and other elements: silver - 80.8-82.7%; copper - 15.2-16.9%; gold - 0.5%, the remaining components - about 1.7%. A comparison of the weight and elemental composition of the surface layer of the coins of Pulad and the previous ruler - Khan Shadibek, helped establish a slight decrease in the weight of Bulgar coins. The authors conclude that under Pulad in the Bulgar region there were no changes in coinage in the form of reforms

Complexity of archaeological research and natural scientific studies in identifying the location of ashlama-saray, the country palace of the crimean khans

The article dwells on the results of the search for the archeological site – Ashlama-Saray – the country palace of the Crimean Khans. The palace was built in the second half of the 17th century. At the end of the 18th century, the main buildings of the palace were reconstructed. Currently, the ruins of the palace are not identified on the surface. The location of this monument was determined by a general plan of Bakhchisaray city. During the series of archaeological and natural-scientific works carried out in 2015–2016, this palace was precisely localized in the valley of Ashlama-Dere.El artículo se centra en los resultados de la búsqueda del sitio arqueológico - Ashlama-Saray - palacio de los Khans de Crimea. El palacio fue construido en la segunda mitad del siglo XVII. A finales del siglo XVIII, los principales edificios del palacio fueron reconstruidos. Actualmente, las ruinas del palacio no están identificadas en la superficie. La ubicación de este monumento fue determinada por el plan general de la ciudad de Bakhchisaray. Durante la serie de trabajos arqueológicos y científicos naturales llevados a cabo en 2015-2016, este palacio fue localizado precisamente en el valle de Ashlama-Dere

Studies of Coins of Medieval Volga Bulgaria by Neutron Diffraction and Tomography

© 2020, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd. Abstract: The phase composition and spatial distribution of chemical components in the volume of coins of medieval Volga Bulgaria are studied using the neutron-diffraction- and neutron-tomography methods. Two coins belonging to different time periods of this medieval state are studied: a Samanid multidirham dating from the first half of the 10th Century and a silver dirham dating from the period of the reign of the Bulgarian emir Bulat-Timur. It is established that both coins consist of a copper-silver alloy. In the Samanid multidirham, the average volume contents of copper and silver are found to be about 50%. Minor spatial variations in the chemical composition are found in the volume of the multidirham under study. It is established that the volume average silver content in the Bulat-Timur dirham is about 95%

Archaeomagnetic investigations in Bolgar (Tatarstan)

© 2020, The Author(s). The objective of this study is to provide a well-dated point for a future palaeosecular variation (PSV) reference curve for western Russia. For this purpose archaeomagnetic and magnetic property analyses were carried out on a pottery kiln unearthed at the UNESCO World Heritage site of ancient Bolgar, having a rather precise age dating. The archaeological context provided an age between 1340 and 1360 C.E. The characteristic remanence vector was determined through alternating field demagnetisation and Thellier-Thellier palaeointensity experiments. Some innovations were introduced regarding palaeointensity. The check testing the equality of blocking and unblocking temperature was redefined. This allowed waiving the commonly used additional zero-field cooling steps during the Thellier-Thellier experiment. Another innovation concerns the calculation of archaeointensity at structure level. A Bayesian approach was introduced for averaging individual specimen archaeointensities using a prior probability distribution of unknown uncertainties. Next, an additional prior probability distribution was used to correct for cooling rate effects. This resulted in a lower uncertainty compared to common practice and in eluding time consuming cooling rate experiments. The complex magnetic mineralogy consists of maghaemite, multi-domain haematite and Al-substituted haematite. Some samples contained also some non-stoichiometric magnetite. The magnetic mineralogy was determined through hysteresis loops, backfield and remanence decay curves, measurements of the frequency dependence of magnetic susceptibility and through low temperature magnetisation curves. Accompanying high-temperature thermomagnetic analyses revealed an excellent thermo-chemical stability of the studied specimens. Directions obtained from alternating field demagnetisation and those extracted from archaeointensity experiments are congruent and have low uncertainties. The obtained archaeomagnetic results are fairly in agreement with global geomagnetic field models and contemporary PSV data of the wider area. The geomagnetic field vector obtained for ancient Bolgar is of high quality, deserving thus its inclusion in a future PSV reference curve for European Russia