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The article is devoted to the problem of reconstruction of the social structure of the ancient Monrovian population that had established the 4th-5th-century Seliksa-Trofimovka burial ground in the Upper Sura river region. The materials of the male burials of the necropolis have been chosen for analysis as most socially informative. An attempt has been made to determine the relationship between the social status of the individual and its expression in ritual rites. The differences in the composition and quantity of grave goods made it possible to distinguish three groups of burials conventionally termed as "the poor", "the ordinary" and "the warriors." The latter group included three graves with swords. The necropolis has a row-based order layout; all the burials are on the ground level, with no traces of gravestones, and have the same northeast orientation. The property-based stratification in the analyzed community was apparently insignificant, while social stratification depended primarily on professional activities.

The opening of the International Center for Archaeological Research with the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan was held in Bolgar on 22 May, 2013. This important event took place in the framework of the integrated project “Cultural heritage of Tatarstan: the ancient town of Bolgar and the island-fortress of Sviyazhsk,” in force since 2010. The aim of the project is to ensure the conservation and further research of these remarkable monuments of history and culture of world importance. The main objective of the Center is to ensure the international organization level of scientific research by the Bolgar archaeological expedition and to create maximum work facilities for Russian and foreign experts. The building of the Center is equipped with laboratories in various fields for restoration and further study of materials.

In May, 2013, a Museum of Bulgar Civilization, a division of the Bolgar State Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve, was inaugurated in the city of Bolgar. The museum exposition presents authentic historical and cultural monuments of the Bulgar-Tatar population of the Volga river region, answers visitors’ questions about the origin of the Bulgars, about ethnic, political and cultural aspects of the Bulgar civilization, about historical destinies of the medieval population of Volga Bulgaria, and the role of its cultural heritage in the modern world. The basic exposition consists of three parts: “History of Bulgar civilization”, “Ancient Bolgar: the life of the city” and "Discovery of ancient Bolgar.” The internal structure of the first part is organized along chronological lines, starting from the Xiongnu Empire and the Great Migration Period to the emergence of medieval Tatar states. The second part represents various aspects of material and spiritual culture of medieval Bolgar in the period of its prosperity (13th-14th centuries). The third part is devoted to the history of the study of Bolgar and its environs starting from the 17-18th centuries up to modern integrated research.

The categories of stock-in-trade items found during excavations of the city market building on the Bolgar city of the Golden Horde period are discussed. According to the numismatic data, the bazaar was constructed in the 1340s or 1350s, and its destruction, accompanied by a strong fire, happened in the 1360s or 1370s. The stock-in-trade items include parts of scales, weights, touchstones, lead seals. The weights of copper and lead vary in weight and origin, some bearing marks, probably indicating the weight. An attempt was made to relate them to the weighing systems common in the Muslim East – the Baghdad and Khwarezm ones. Weights and seals of Western European origin are also met. There is a group of bronze weights with relief images and lead filling inside, which had been previously attributed as “seals” or “stamps”. A series of lead pendent seals from the towns of 14th-century Flanders (Tournai, Ypres, etc.), which used to be attached to rolls of fabrics, is of interest. The absence of connection between lead mushroom-shaped weights (still called “seals”) with trade is established: they were probably intended for domestic purposes.

The specific structure of animal remnants, determined on the basis of bone remains from the 2007-2008 excavations on the archaeological site of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, is presented in the article. The resulting collection of archaeozoological materials includes over 100 thousand fragments. The analysis of these data and their comparison with similar data from the excavations of other ancient Russian towns made it possible to restore the structure of meat consumption by the population of Nizhny Novgorod. Beef was obviously the main meat product. An important role was played by pork and mutton. The proportion of horse-flesh consumption was negligible. Wild hunting fauna is represented by bone remains of species such as the elk, the wild boar, the bear, the fox, the beaver, and the hare.

Reliable samplings of animal bones obtained through five chronological periods from CLXXIX excavation trench on the Bulgar fortified settlement site are examined in the article. The results have made it possible to reveal fluctuations in meat consumption characteristic of this part of the city between the pre-Mongol and the later Golden Horde periods. Throughout all the periods of the city history, beef had dominated meat consumption structure there. The role of other meat animal species underwent definite changes. In the pre-Mongol period, beef was supplemented with meat of small cattle and horses in the diet of the settled population of Bulgar; fish was apparently no less important. In the early Golden Horde period, mutton consumption increased, while the proportion of beef and horse-flesh decreased. By the later Golden Horde period, the share of mutton in meat consumption in this part of Bulgar had increased to reach 42 per cent as compared to 15 per cent in the pre-Mongol period. The surge in mutton consumption in Bulgar in the Golden Horde period apparently means a shift in economic strategies of Volga Bulgaria population and attests to the increasing role of the steppe nomadic population in the economic activity of the region.

The results of the 2010 salvage and conservation archaeological research in the territory of the Bolgar fortified site, conducted in the construction zone of the so-called "Memorial Plaque" (excavation trench CXLVIII) are presented in the article. The horizons referring to the second half of the pre-Mongol period (the 11th to first third of the 12th century); the earlier (the mid-13th through to the early 14th century), and the later (the mid-14th – early 15th cc.) Golden Horde periods have been recorded on the site. A few constructions referring to different periods have been opened, which can probably be regarded as the remnants of a 14th-century homestead. Remnants of a small production furnace for melting non-ferrous metals and a kiln have been identified. Traces of bone-carving production have been found. Numerous fragments of pottery dated to the Golden Horde period have been revealed. Of particular interest is a Celadon dish with hieroglyphic inscription, probably a Korean-made one. The finds of copper and silver coins date from the mid- to the second half of 14th century.

The article presents the results of the chemical composition analysis of the Kufic coins assemblage found on the I Semyonovo site in the lower reaches of the Kama River. 116 silver Kufic coins of the 10th century, 2 copper Oriental coins, and a Western European silver one have been studied. The oldest Oriental coin is a fragment of the Sassanian drachm dated to the 6th century. The most recent coin is a dirham of Nuh ibn Mansur of the Samanid dynasty, 366 АН (976-977 AD). The Western European coin has been identified as a denarius attributed to Svend Estridsen (Denmark). The chemical composition of 12 silver coins of the 10th century has been determined by emission spectral method. The data provided show that the silver content of the Samanid coins referring to 324-366 AH (935-977 AD) had varied between 85 and 94%, and in some cases had reduced to 60%. In one coin, silver content had been reduced practically to zero, with silver being apparently present within the surface layer of the coin only. The rest was copper, while lead, bismuth and gold have been identified as impurity elements.

Summarized research data of bird bone remains remnants from 23 archaeological sites located in the Middle Volga area and referring to the 5th–18th centuries AD are presented in the article. The material has been considered in accordance with four cultural-chronological periods: the 5th to 7th centuries AD (the Imenkovo culture); the 10th – first half of the 13th century (Volga Bulgaria); second half of the 13th to the 15th century (the Golden Horde period), and the mid-16th through 18th century (the Middle Volga river region within the Russian state). It has been found that the remains of birds from the medieval and post-medieval archaeological sites of the Middle Volga region reflect a wide specific diversity. The data about the time of domestic birds appearance in the Middle Volga region are provided. The quantitative ratio of bone remains of wild and domestic birds in the period from the Early to the Later Middle Ages and afterwards makes it possible to trace the tendency to the increase in the share of domestic birds. Bird utilization by different ethnic groups of the medieval population of the region was diverse: for food, for feathers and down, as well as in ritual and religious practice.

During the excavations on the Bolgar fortified site (the area to the south-west of the Cathedral mosque), conducted in 1989-1993 and from 2011 to the present, the finds have been discovered that serve as evidence of the trade and craft specialization of this area in the 14th century. The items include typical remains of the glass-making, jewelry, bone-carving crafts, traces of amber processing and a large number of objects related to trade: weights of various sizes and fragments of scales. Of particular interest is the set of stock in trade items, found predominantly in the house, which had apparently belonged to a rich merchant. Many of the items discovered in the area investigated attest to the existence of intensive trade contacts of Bolgar city with different countries and regions, including Central Asia, the Caucasus, India, and China

The results of a new series of investigations on the Kashan I fortified site (Laishevo district, Republic of Tatarstan), one of the understudied cities of Volga Bulgaria, are made public in the article. In 2012, excavations were conducted in the north-eastern part of the site, adjacent to the rampart. The stratigraphy of the rampart and the cultural layer has been studied; the material obtained has been instrumental in amplifying the data about the dating and material culture of the city. On the basis of numismatic finds and ceramic materials, the dating of the Kashan I fortified settlement site from the later pre-Mongol period and the earlier Golden Horde time has been confirmed.

The article is devoted to baptismal crosses, an understudied aspect of the funerary culture of the Later Middle Ages and the Modern Era. For the first time the work summarizes the material from the two Tsarevokokshaisk necropoleis (Bogoroditse-Sergievsky and Tikhvinsky) dated from the 17th to the first half of the 19th centuries, which were studied during the 2010 and 2012 conservation archaeological excavations in the territory of Yoshkar-Ola city. An integrated analysis of the baptismal crosses has made it possible to offer their detailed typological and chronological characteristics, trace the evolution of certain types of baptismal crosses, and identify their "male" and "female" varieties. The data on the role and place of baptismal crosses in the mortuary cult are analyzed.

The cultural components of the Ust-Vetluga burial ground site, which is located on the left bank of the Cheboksary water reservoir, near Yurino village, the Mari El Republic, are analyzed in the article. The burial ground refers to the Late Bronze Age, dating from the early 2nd millennium BC. The burial rite and the grave goods point out to the heterogeneity of the population that had left the burial ground. The analysis of the artifact assemblage and the existing analogies made it possible to identify two substrata. The first, and dominant, one is associated with the Seima-Turbino population groups from the Lower Kama and the Volga-Oka river regions, while the second refers to the forest-steppe Abashevo-Pokrovsk groupings. There are traces of significant cultural integration of the two heterogeneous population groups. The question of the presence of the Middle Volga Abashevo culture people in the burial ground is discussed. In general, the complexes of the Ust-Vetluga burial ground site reflect the emergence of a new syncretic population in the Mari Volga river region.

The object collection from the 17th-century Mari burial ground site near Kukshylidy village (Gornomariisky district, Mari El Republic), which was excavated in 1926 by the Middle Volga archaeological expedition led by P.P. Yefimenko, is made public for the first time. Most of the burials were executed in pits lacking additional wooden structures (Russian: grobovishche), in an extended position on the back, with a predominantly north-western orientation. The burial ground site is dated according to the numismatic material. The grave goods mainly consist of jewelry items and costume accessories; a variety of household items (knives, axes, fire lighters, etc.) are represented, and occasional arrowheads were found. The finds are described in accordance with the modern classification, and their chronological and ethno-cultural identity is attributed.

The article is devoted to the 60th birth anniversary of Yuri Anatolyevich Zeleneyev, Candidate of Historical Sciences, and Associate Professor of Mari State University. The principal spheres of his scientific interests and research activities include the archaeology of the Golden Horde period and medieval history of the peoples inhabiting the Volga region. Yu. A. Zeleneyev has coordinated research on many medieval sites, and his role in the study of the Golden Horde capital cities in the Lower Volga area should be particularly noted. Being among its founders, he headed the Center for archeological and ethnological research with Mari State University and organized rescue and salvage excavations in the Mari El Republic and adjacent territories. Yu. A. Zeleneyev is the author and coauthor of over 160 scientific and methodical works, editor of 9 collections of research papers, and deputy editor of the “Povolzhskaya Arkheologia” ("The Volga Region Archaeology") journal.

The cultural identity of the Early Neolithic assemblages of flat-bottomed stroke-ornamented pottery, discovered in the territory of the Mari Volga region is contested. A number of problems concerning the process of the Middle Volga region Neolithization are identified, namely: 1) whether the differences in the use of raw materials (silt and clay) and temper types for ceramic fabric can serve as cultural and chronological features; 2) the problem of fixing the lower chronological limit of the process of Neolithization; 3) the role of the social factor in the process of Neolithization; 4) the problem of the culture determining features identification; 5) the role of primary sources and the problem of their fully fledged use; 6) the problem of identifying the original Early Neolithic culture in the region. Based on a comprehensive analysis of the material culture of the flat-bottomed stroke-ornamented pottery people who had inhabited the Mari Depression, it is possible to identify the Dubovskoye-Otary culture that is similar with the Samara and the Upper Volga ones and genetically related to the forest-steppe Yelshanka formation.

The article is devoted to the results of conservation excavations of the Tikhvinsky necropolis, located in the territory of Yoshkar-Ola (former Tsarevokokshaisk) city, the Mari El Republic. The site dates from the late 17th to the early 20th century. In the course of the excavations, 781 burials have been studied. The majority of the burials had been executed in the Orthodox rite, containing a considerable number of Christian religion objects: baptismal crosses, medallions, and small icons. However, in many graves, objects indicating the presence of remnants of paganism in the funeral rite have been discovered. Among these, it is necessary to note the presence of the funeral ware – all in all 65 glass and ceramic vessels, almost half of them broken or damaged, which reflects the ancient ritual of "spoiling things". The classification of the funeral ware according to typological and technological features is offered. This category of grave goods is of great interest for the study of the funerary culture and everyday life of the population that inhabited Tsarevokokshaisk in the late 18th – early 20th centuries.

The problem of Volga-Kama neolithization was reflected primarily in the works by the Kazan archaeologists A.Kh. Khalikov and R.S. Gabyashev. Currently, the settlement area of the early Neolithic formations has been defined, chronological framework of their existence has been designated, and their further transformation to the culture of the Kama and Oka Neolithic has been traced. But still there is the problem of criteria for defining the boundary of the Mesolithic and Neolithic. The study of complexes referring to the transitional period from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic has allowed the author to make a conclusion about a simultaneous process of neolithization in the forest zone of European Russia that had taken place at the turn of the 7th to 6th and throughout the 6th millennium BC. It is also assumed that the origins of the bearers of flat-bottomed stroke-ornamented and incised pottery, the earliest for the Middle Volga Neolithic culture, are associated with the southern forest-steppe Yelshan type cultures. The migration of population groups from the south took place in the first half of the 6th millennium BC. In the Mari lowland, they came into contact with the local Late Mesolithic population and developed a new cultural formation, related to the Yelshan, Samara and Upper Volga cultures

A number of issues concerning the origin and chronology of the Neolithic Pit-Сomb Ware culture monuments, as well as their correlation with those referring to other cultures are tackled in the article. The spread of pit-combed pottery bearers as a result of their eastward migration from the territory of the Volga-Oka river interfluve seems most likely. Still, the problem of correspondence between radiocarbon dating and stratigraphy data from the Neolithic sites located in the Volga region has not lost actuality. The results of radiocarbon dating show that in the middle reaches of the Sura river pit-comb ware cultures had preceded the combed pottery sites, which requires a revision of the issues of their synchronization based on typological data. In the forest-steppe zone, the sequence of ceramic traditions development could probably differ from that prevalent in the territories located further north

The works by R.S. Gabyashev characterizing the Neolithic cultures of the Volga-Kama region with their combed and stroke-ornamented ceramics are analyzed in the article. In the 1970s, the researcher worked out a chronology of the Neolithic sites located in the Lower Kama river region and suggested a concept of their origin and development. The latest studies using radiocarbon dating have confirmed the validity of the basic conclusions made by R.S. Gabyashev, namely: on the autochthonous origin of the Neolithic cultures in the Middle Volga – Lower Kama river territory; on simultaneous existence of sites with combed and stroke-ornamented pottery; on synchronicity of the southern Chalkolithic cultures and the forest-belt Neolithic ones; as well as those referring to the two stages in the existence of sites with stroke-ornamented pottery singled out by him. However, the dating of the Neolithic sites proposed by R.S. Gabyashev has currently been modified with a view of their earlier emergence

Colleagues congratulate the staff member of the Institute of History named after S. Mardjani with the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan, candidate of historical sciences Galina Ivanovna Drozdova on her birth anniversary. G. I. Drozdova specializes in the medieval history of the peoples of the Volga river region; she has authored over 50 articles dealing mainly with the funerary rites and religious beliefs of the medieval population of the region. She has discovered and conducted the studies of the later medieval burial ground sites in the territory of Tatarstan and the Chuvash Republic, and the materials obtained served to considerably expand the scientific insight into the spiritual culture of the Volga peoples.

The materials of the 20th Kuz'kino habitation site, now destroyed by the waters of the Kuybyshev reservoir are published in the article. The resource was surveyed in 1965, surface finds being represented by pottery and stone tools. The pottery assemblage and stone tools had been left mainly by the Kama Neolithic culture population. This period of habitation is the earliest and can be dated to the first half of the 4th millennium BC. Besides, there are artifacts associated with the cultures of the Eneolithic and Bronze period (Volosovo, Lugovskoye, Maklasheevka) and the Early Iron Age (Textile Fabric-Marked Ware and Ananyino cultures).

An accidental discovery of a casting mould fragment on the Bulgar fortified settlement named Muromsky Gorodok (Samara oblast) is made public. The form refers to the bilateral type. The front side is designed for casting two bracelets, the preserved side – for the manufacture of lunar and coin-shaped pendants. The products belong to the ancient Russian types, including to those well-known on the territory of Volga Bulgaria. The combination of pockets for casting different types of objects in a single mould allows dating it from the second half of the 12th through to the early 13th century. As Muromsky Gorodok was situated on the Volga trade route, the find may serve as evidence of both the presence of Russian jewelers in the settlement and the reproduction of ancient samples by Bulgar jewelers.

The article presents the results of studies conducted in 2012 on the eroded area of the shore of the Kuybyshev water reservoir near Izmeri village in Spassky district, the Republic of Tatarstan. The integrated approach to the study of archaeological sites collapsing under the impact of negative exogenous processes is characterized. It includes landscape and archaeological research methods, the use of field data of the past years, remote sensing and GIS technologies. As a result, the most complete information about the situation in the territory since the creation of the Kuybyshev water reservoir has been collected. Observation sites for annual monitoring studies have been established, which would make it possible to predict the evolution of the hazardous exogenous processes and identify priorities for urgent conservation and rescue archaeological works.

The Starokuybyshevskoye (Old-Kuybyshev) fortified settlement is situated on the bank of the Bezdna river, 200 m to the northeast of Bolgar city. The site is being considerably eroded by the waters of the river and the Kuibyshev water reservoir. Currently it is situated on an island, under threat of complete destruction. In this regard, in 1946, 1987 and 1996, conservation and rescue excavations were conducted on the site. The detailed results of the 1996 studies are offered in the article. The ruins of an above-ground dwelling with an oven and three household pits were excavated. The ceramic assemblage of these structures has obvious features of the pre-Mongol Bulgar culture. In general, the findings make it possible to conclude that the settlement had existed only in the 11th through to the 13th century and that its collapse was associated with the Mongol invasion.

The Lbishche fortified settlement is one of the largest settlements of the Samara Bend. Its upper layers refer to the early Middle Ages and have been well studied. The lower layers referring to the Early Iron Age have not been subjected to serious examination until recently. In 2003, 778 pottery fragments were discovered in these layers, 12 of them with basket, or net, pattern, and all found in the same room. According to the author, ceramics of this type refers to the Gorodets culture of the third period, and dates from no earlier than the 3rd-2nd centuries BC, when the carriers of this culture migrated to the Samara Volga river region from the Don river basin. In this region There are 30 Gorodets culture sites; of these, 8 fortified settlement sites, mainly in the southern part of the Samara Bend.

The article presents the results of the conference held in Saransk on November 30, 2011. It was attended by archaeologists from ten Russian cities. Special attention was paid to topics as the renewal of archaeological research in the Mordovian Republic after a 10-year break; archaeological sites conservation s and rescue studies; controversial issues of the archeology of the Middle Volga region, especially those referring to the Neolithic and the Early Iron Age; ethnic composition of the population of the region in the Early Middle Ages; problems of linguistics. A collection of contributions was published prior to the start of the conference.

The report on the conference, which was held in Bolgar (the Republic of Tatarstan) in November, 2012, and dedicated to the Ananyino cultural and historical community, is presented. A wide range of problems related to the final Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age in the forest-steppe zone of European Russia, the Urals and Western Siberia were considered. Special attention was paid to the intercultural relations of the time. The results of the latest research in the field, including broad historical and cultural generalizations, are presented. It was decided to publish the materials contributed, and to hold future similar conferences at 3-4- years’ intervals.

It is for the first time in the study of animal bone remnants from the Bolgar city site that modern techniques have been applied, which have made it possible to solve archaeological and historical problems rather than purely biological ones. A detailed description of the work process based on these techniques and of the results obtained is offered. In particular, it has been found out that the cattle intended for slaughter in Bolgar had not been bred within the city limits but rather supplied from outside. Also for the first time, a change in the distribution structure of finds of wild animals’ bones as per chronological periods has been recorded.

The ruins of a large brick building were revealed on the Bolgar city site to the southwest of the Cathedral mosque. The structure was studied during the 1989-1993, 2000 and 2011 excavations. It has been found that that its outer walls were built of baked brick and the inside walls were made of mud brick. The roofing could be beamed and resting on light pole supports. The layout of the building and the finds of stock-in-trade items confirm the hypothesis that the structure could serve as the city trade yard (marketplace) or bazaar. The coins found make it possible to date the structure back to the 1340-1350s and its collapse in the fire to the 1360-1370s. The construction features of the building point to its relationship with the architectural tradition of the Lower Volga settlements, that of Iran and Central Asia.

Specific features of the process of cities and urban culture formation in Volga Bulgaria at different stages of historical development of the region are discussed in the article. In the 9th to 10th centuries, the process of Bulgar cities formation was stimulated by the population numerical growth and a growing social need in handicraft products, as well as by considerations of defense. This process was facilitated by two phenomena: the expansion of the Bulgar trade and the formation of a system of relations between the settled population of Bulgaria and its nomadic neighbors. At the next stage of Bulgar urbanization (11th–12th c.) the cities acquired a predominantly craft and trade character; settlement structures around urban centers were under formation; state urban development planning was practiced; a special role was played by transcontinental trade and cultural ties. Following the Mongol conquest, in the 13th-14th centuries the cities became open, or unfortified. The role of the state in the foundation and construction of cities was growing. The Golden Horde formed a new hierarchy of relations between the center and the periphery, and in the new conditions Bulgar cities were rapidly turning provincial and nearly agrarian.

Ceramic forms encountered on the Bolgar city site as singular items only are characterized in the article. One of them is the round-bottomed amphora with analogies characteristic of the Syria-Palestine region. Another vessel that is rare for Bolgar is the pythos referring to the “first Cretan” group. Both vessels are fragmented, but their overall shape can be reconstructed. A detailed description of both vessels, a wide range of analogies and possible вating are provided. Vessels similar to those described are usually included in the Southeastern Crimean group, although it is possible that they should be separated from the group as the products of more remote centers. The analysis of these groups has demonstrated the importance of investigating even expressionless unglazed pottery findings.

A new find from Muranka unfortified settlement, one of major Golden Horde period sites in the Middle Volga river region is published. It is a double-sided stone mould intended for casting jewelry. Each side of the form was used for casting individual jewelry items: women's hair, head and costume decorations. The head ornaments include two temple rings and earrings shaped as question marks. One more decorative element, styled as a bird’s figure could be either part of some complex piece or an individual product. The other side of the form was used for casting two product varieties: belt buckles and pendants. The mould is of high-quality workmanship. The exact analogy of this rare find is not yet known.