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In 1998–2002, field studies of the Karshi-Bair necropolis, located near the village of Verkhne-Sadovoye, were conducted. The burial structures are represented by vaults, undercut and underground graves, dug in dense soil. Many materials have been published (so far only in a preliminary plan) and entered the arsenal of historiography. A variety of inventory – red lacquer and hand-made pottery, glassware, beads, metal fibulas, buckles, mirrors, pendants, toilet set, etc. It was possible to determine these artefacts, belonging to the Alans, and to establish the chronological framework of burials within the V – beginning of the VII centuries. Its consideration makes it possible to correct the ethnopolitical situation in the Southwestern Crimea. The population that left it, during the era of the Hunnic campaigns, did not moved deep into the peninsula, but remained in the foothill part, experiencing a strong influence Chersonese – Kherson as the most important center of late Antique culture. Part of the inventory is related to the era of the First Turkic Khaganate. It is planned to publish all the materials of the excavations and discuss them in a broad context antiquities of the western part of Eurasia. As a result, the Karshi-Bair necropolis should take its original place among the sites of the Migration period.

Статья посвящена типологическому и хронологическому анализу предметов, обнаруженных в 1999 г. в пещере в северной части седловины горы Развалки (район Кавказских Минеральных Вод). Всего обнаружено около 20 предметов, в числе которых: фрагменты железного меча, включая ромбическое перекрестие; фрагменты железного кинжала; серебряная Г-образная скоба от устья ножен меча; железный топор с узким, слегка выгнутым лезвием и невыделенным обухом (втулка выступает ниже края лезвия); несколько пряжек, в т.ч. серебряные с треугольным щитком, с округлым щитком и со щитком в форме трилистника, украшенным накладкой из тонкого золотого листа с кабошонами из граната (альмандина?); серебряное блюдо на поддоне, украшенное чеканным растительным орнаментом; бронзовая полусферическая чаша; медный клёпанный котел; фрагменты железной очажной цепи из восьмёрковидных звеньев с крюками; фрагменты крюка для вытаскивания мяса и черпака. Большинство предметов дают широкие даты комплекса в пределах IV—VI вв. Ряд предметов имеет достаточно узкие датировки: топор (IV — первая половина V в.), детали поясной гарнитуры (пряжки с треугольным и округлым щитками — вторая половина IV — вторая половина V в., пряжка с выступающим язычком, с альмандинами на щитке в форме трилистника — первая половина — середина V в.). Они являются маркёрами принадлежности комплекса к первой половине —середине V в. Престижный характер большинства изделий —полный набор вооружения (меч, кинжал, топор и наконечник копья с уплощенным пером, обилие предметов из драгоценных металлов (скоба от ножен, пряжки, блюдо), в т.ч. декорированных кабошонами, уникальность чаши, а также разнообразие изделий, связанных, скорее всего, с культом домашнего очага (котёл, очажная цепь и др.) позволяют относить данный комплекс к захоронению представителя княжеского рода.

The article summarizes the results of a comprehensive landscape-archaeological study of the dynamics of human-environmental interaction in the Middle Sura region during the first millennium AD. The data resulted from the study of the River Sura floodplain at the former confluence of the Sura and the Malaya Sarka. The analysis of the sediments and buried soils indicates that the period between the first millennium BC and the first millennium AD saw a series of climatic cycles changing each other, with the floodplain periodically being available for various types of economic development. The Early Iron Age (first millennium BC – 2nd–3rd centuries AD) saw the formation of grey forest soils in the part of the floodplain under study. During this period, the area remained uninhabited, while the population was involved in the development of the elevated terraces and riverbanks. In contrast, in the second quarter of the first millennium AD the floodplain covered at the time by broadleaf forest had the most favorable conditions for settlement; the area was developed by the population that belonged to the Middle Volga variant of the Kiev culture. Their economic activity resulted in the gradual deforestation of the floodplain, with meadow landscapes arising instead of the forest. The second half of the 5th century saw drastic intensification of the floods and an increased runoff. The sites assigned to this period represent the developed stage of the Imen´kovo culture; these were located on the elevated terraces. The new stage of low flooding dates to the medieval period (8th–13th centuries), the soils bearing traces of steppe formation and subsequent development of the floodplain. Later, in the late Middle Age and the early Modern period, tillage shifted to watersheds and intensified, while the accumulation of layered alluvial deposits on the floodplain started again, with frequent and intense floods taking place. The study of the dynamics of the moistening of the Sura floodplain is asynchronous with the data of other studied regions of the Russian Plain, which raises the question of a relationship between the availability of floodplains for economic development and migration processes.

The article examines the materials of the beginning of the Migration period from the Biklyan’ settlement, located in the Lower Kama region. The area of 100 m2 was excavated in 2018, where a rectangular structure slightly deepened into subsoil loam with a large pit in the central part was revealed. The finds are mainly represented by fragments of ceramics, as well as an iron sickle, spinning whorls, a fragment of a crucible and ceramic objects of unknown purpose. The artifacts from the Biklyan’ settlement have close analogies in the materials of the sites dated to the beginning of the Migration period in the Middle Volga region (3rd–4th centuries CE) and reflect the traditions of several different population groups. The bulk of the ceramics collection is similar to the vessels of the Middle Volga variant of the Kiev culture; there are also fragments that find analogies in the assemblages of the forest-steppe peripheral sites of the Late Sarmatian world and in the simultaneous cultures of the Kama region. Stratigraphic records and radiocarbon dating testify in favor of the relatively short-term functioning of the site in the late 3rd – early 4th centuries.

The paper discusses chain mail fragments in the female burial equipment of the Mazunino Culture (or Mazunino stage of the Cheganda culture of the Piany Bor cultural–historical community by R.D. Goldina) in the Middle Kama Region. The items in question are an example of the reuse and creative reinterpretation of military protective equipment, such as the lorica hamata chain mail. A total of 97 burials with woven iron rings from 12 necropolises of the Mazunino culture have been examined. Anthropological data and grave inventory indicate that this category of equipment was used exclusively by women. They were arranged in burials according to the traditions of Mazunino burial rite: such items have been found in “sacrificial” sets or as part of a costume. In general, chain mail fragments were used in women`s attire as hair or breast jewelry. The available woven iron rings from the women's graves are noticeably inferior in terms of characteristics to the chain mail shirts of the Mazunino and Azelino warriors with imported weapons. The majority of these items have been found in closed complexes dated the 4th century AD (probably the second quarter of the 4th – the early 5th century AD). Close parallels in the use of chain mail fragments can be traced in the German cultures.

Changes in the territorial extension of the Mordovians over the millennial period (the 3rd to the 13th centuries) are discussed, and causes of the displacement are determined in the article. The three major periods are identified in the process: the 3rd to the 7th, the 8th to the 11th, and the 11th to the 13th centuries. The 3rd century marked the appearance of ancient burial grounds containing decorations that are ethnically typical of the Mordovians. The heyday of the ancient Mordovian culture in the late 3rd and first half of the 5th centuries was accompanied by the expansion of its territory to the north. By the late 7th – first half of the 8th century, two options of the ancient Mordovian culture were formed: the Erzya in the north and the Moksha in the south. In the 8th–11th centuries, the Moksha Mordvins settlement territory shifted to the north-west, which could be associated with the danger from the Khazar Khanate. The territory of the Erzya Mordvins settlement did not change in the period. In the 11th-13th centuries, and the Mordovian population fell into the spheres of influence of Kievan Rus and Volga Bulgaria. The struggle between these states, and later the princely strife in Russia, led to the resettlement of the Mordovians to safer areas: the Moksha moved to the Moksha-Vad river interfluve, while the Erzya relocated to the Tyosha river basin