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The second part of the article deals with the issues of tracing and dating the external line of the fortifications of the city of Bolgar, which existed in pre-Mongol times. The task of this line was to defend the territory adjacent to the citadel and inhabited by craftsmen and tradesmen. Until now, it was assumed that there was only one such line. However, excavation materials indicate several lines (at least two). The problem is aggravated by very approximate dating of the ditches discovered during excavations and the absence (or extremely low degree of preservation) of embankments, which are no longer visible in the relief. Lack of reliable information about the fortification of the Bolgar at the beginning of the 13thcentury casts doubt on the catastrophic destruction of the city by the Mongols in 1236.

The article deals with the problematic issues of tracing and dating the fortifications of the city of Bolgar in pre-Mongol times (from the end of the 9th to the beginning of the 13th centuries). On the basis of topographic referencing of the excavations, in which the filled ditches were discovered, all the data available on the placement of the defense lines of the early Bolgar are systematized. There is not enough data to exactly date them, therefore, the sequence of appearance of these lines is not obvious. The ditches indicate that there were ramparts next to them, the earth of which was used for the subsequent filling of ditches. Interesting tracks, on which, immediately after filling the earlier ditch, a new one was pulled out, with an indent to the outside. The task of new studies of the early fortifications of Bolgar will be to clarify the dates of their creation and spatial distribution.