Treasures of the era of the Volga Bulgaria at the old kuibyshev's archaeological complex in Tatarstan: composition, dating, interpretation

Abstract

The article discusses seven treasures of jewelry and silver ingots found on the territory of the archaeological complex of settlements of the Volga Bulgaria era, located in the Spassky district of the Republic of Tatarstan near the former city of Kuybyshev (Spassk) or, as it is called in archaeological publications, Old Kuybyshev. The archaeological complex consists of a small hillfort and several settlements located next to it. Now these archaeological sites are located on the islands of the Kuibyshev reservoir and are being destroyed. Two treasures were found in the second half of the XIX century, and the rest — in the second half of the XX century. Two of them are treasures of silver bullion. Two treasures consist of copper utensils: boilers, ladles and special vessels for measuring volume. In two more treasures were silver jewelry. And in the most famous treasure, which was found in 1869, there were silver ingots and jewelry. The author first considers all the treasures in an archaeological context, restoring their chronology and composition. It is interesting that most of the treasures were hidden in the settlements — in the territory where there were residential and farm buildings. These buildings most likely died in a fire, which is why some of the items and ingots were melted. According to the author, one treasure, found in 1896, was buried at the end of the XI — beginning of the XII century, the rest — in the first third of the XIII century. In the latter case, this was due to the Mongol invasion.