IRON KNIVES FROM THE EXCAVATIONS OF TETYUSHI–II HILLFORT IN 2007–2013
Abstract
This article presents the results of a study of iron knives excavated at the Tetyushi- II hillfort in Tatarstan between 2007 and 2013. Twenty-two of these artifacts were discovered. The knives belong to two chronological periods: 1) the Early Iron Age (8th-6th centuries BC): the Ananyino cultural and historical region; and 2) the Early Middle Ages: the Imenkovо cultural and historical community (6th-7th centuries AD). All of them were forged from a small iron plate. The Imenkovо knives have a narrow, elongated blade with a thickened, straight or slightly convex spine and a short tang. All knives have a wedge- shaped blade cross- section. The knives from the Tetyushi- II hillfort were systematized. This systematization is based on the typology of iron knives from the Ananyino cultural- historical region developed by A.Kh. Khalikov, as well as the Imenkovo iron knives studied by N.F. Kalinin and P.N. Starostin, taking into account the classifications of such artifacts from the early Middle Ages of the Upper Volga region. Based on the details of their shape, 13 types were identified (numbered sequentially). Knives from the Early Iron Age are few in number — only 4 examples (types 1–4). Their shapes are characteristic of this era and have numerous analogies in the materials of early Ananyino funerary monuments. Knives of the Imenkovo cultural- historical community (18 examples) constitute 81.8% of all knives found at the settlement. Imenkovo knives from the excavations of the Tetyushi- II hillfort are represented by 9 types. Several types of Tetyushi knives, such as Type 11, have exact parallels in finds at sites belonging to the Imenkovo cultural and historical community in the Kazan Volga region — both settlements and burial grounds. However, specific knives are also found here, either unknown or isolated at other Imenkovo sites. Judging by the distinctive blade shapes of Tetyushi knives, it can be assumed they were used for various activities: some were used for processing fish or butchering meat, while others were used for hunting or beekeeping. Broken knives were most likely intended for reforging. This is confirmed by the planigraphy of knife finds from excavations at the Tetyushi- II hillfort. The author believes that most of the iron knives discovered during the early Middle Ages were made at the Tetyushi- II hillfort by local blacksmiths.
Downloads
References
Archaeological map of the TASSR. Kazan : IYaLI, 1986. 112 p. (In Russ.)
Volkov S.R., Pastushenko I.Yu. Research of the Ust- Irginsky Burial Ground of the Nevolino Culture. Finno- Ugrica. 2006;9:5–39. (In Russ.)
Voronov V.V., Voronov D.V., Kurakin L.L. Antique bladed weapons. St. Petersburg : Atlant, 2023. 424 p. (In Russ.)
Gening, V. F. The Turaevo Burial Ground of the 5th Century AD. (burials of military leaders). In. From the Archaeology of the Volga- Kama Region / Ed. A.Kh. Khalikov. Kazan : IYALI, 1976. Рp. 55–108. (In Russ.)
Gening V.F. Oputyatskoye Hillfort — a Metallurgical Center of the Kharin Period in the Kama Region (2nd half of the 5th — 1st half of the 6th century AD). In: Monuments of the Middle Ages in the Upper Kama Region. Izhevsk : UdGU, 1980. Pp. 92–135. (In Russ.)
Gening V.F., Stoyanov V.E., Khlebnikova T.A., Vainer I.S., Kazakov E.P., Valeev R.K. Archaeological Monuments near the Village of Rozhdestveno. Kazan : Izd-vo Kaz. un-ta, 1962. 126 p. (In Russ.)
Kazakov E.P. The Volga- Kama Region in the Era of the Turkic Khaganates. Book One: Komintern- II Burial Ground. Kazan : AN RT, 2020. 148 p. (Series: Archaeology of the Eurasian Steppes. Issue 26). (In Russ.)
Kazakov E.P. The Volga- Kama Region in the Era of the Turkic Khaganates. Book Two: The Imenkov Culture Burial Ground at the Devichy Gorodok Tract (IX Izmeri Burial Ground). Voronezh : Stroki, 2024. 136 p. (Series: Archaeology of the Eurasian Steppes. Issue 29) (In Russ.)
Kazakov E.P. New Studies of the Imenkovo Sites in Maiden Town. In: New History of Medieval Archaeology of Eurasia. Samara : Artefact, 1993. Pp. 102–106. (In Russ.)
Kazakov E.P. Ural- Volga Sarmatia 6th–7th Centuries AD: Study Issues. In. Problems of Archaeology of the Volga Region. Issue 10. Samara : SGSPU, 2023. Рp. 236–240. (In Russ.)
Kazakov E.P., Valiev R.R., Petrova D.A. Burial Grounds at the Mouth of the Kama River. In: Archaeology of the Volga- Ural Region. In 7 volumes. Volume IV: The Era of the Great Migration of Peoples. Kazan : AN RT, 2022. Pp. 387–406. (In Russ.)
Kalinin N.F., Khalikov A.Kh. Imenkovo Hillfort. In: Transactions of the Kuibyshev Archaeological Expedition. Vol. III. Moscow : AN SSSR, 1960. Pp. 225–250 (MIA, No. 80) (In Russ.)
Leontyev A.E. Classification of Knives from the Sarsk Hillfort. Sovetskaya arheologiya = Soviet Archaeology. 1976;2:33–45. (In Russ.)
Litvinsky B.A. Tools and Utensils from the Burial Grounds of Western Fergana (Archaeological and Ethnographic Materials on the History of the Culture and Religion of Central Asia). Moscow : Gl. red. vostochn. lit-ry, 1978. 216 p. (Series: Burial Grounds of Western Fergana. Issue IV) (In Russ.)
Mandelstam A.M. Nomads on the Way to India: Works of the Sogdian- Tajik Archaeological Expedition of the Institute of the History of Material Culture of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the Tajik Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and the State Hermitage Museum. Vol. V. Moscow; Leningrad : Nauka, 1966. 232 p. (Series: Materials and Research on Archaeology of the USSR. No. 136) (In Russ.)
Matveyeva G.I. Burial Grounds of the Early Bulgarians on the Samara Bend. Samara : Izd-vo “Samarskij universitet”, 1997. 226 p. (In Russ.)
Minasyan R.S. Four Groups of Knives of Eastern Europe of the Early Middle Ages. In: Hermitage Archaeological Collection. Issue 21. Leningrad : Iskusstvo, 1980. Pp. 68–74. (In Russ.)
Patrushev V.S. Burial Grounds of the Volga- Kama Region of the Early Ananyino Time. Kazan : Foliant, 2011. 276 p. (In Russ.)
Peterburgsky I.M. The Material and Spiritual Culture of the Mordvins in the 7th-10th Centuries. Saransk : MordGU, 2011. 408 p. (In Russ.)
Rudenko K.A. The Tetyushi II Hillfort in Tatarstan. Kazan : Zaman, 2010. 152 p. (In Russ.)
Rudenko K.A. Ancient Tetyushi: An Archaeological Study. Kazan : Zaman, 2011. 144 p. (In Russ.)
Rudenko K.A. Handicraft Production in the Volga Region during the Era of the Turkic Khaganates: Based on the Materials of the Tetyushi II hillfort. Kazan : RIC «Shkola», 2025. 460 p. (In Russ.)
Savchenkova L.L. Bolgar’s Ferrous Metals: Typology. In: The Town of Bolgar: The Crafts of Metallurgists, Blacksmiths, and Foundrymen. Kazan : IYALI, 1996. Pp. 5–88. (In Russ.)
Semykin Yu.A. Iron Metallurgy and Forge Production of the Population of the Left Bank of the Middle Volga and Lower Kama Regions in the Early Middle Ages. In: Samara Region in the History of Russia. Issue 3. Samara : SOIKM, 2007. Pp. 76–83. (In Russ.)
Smirnov K.A. The Dyakovo Culture (Material Culture of the Settlements Between the Oka and Volga Rivers). In: Dyakovo Culture. Moscow : Nauka, 1974. Pp. 7–89. (In Russ.)
Smirnov K.F. Sauromatians. Early History and Culture of the Sauromatians. Moscow : Nauka, 1964. 381 p. (In Russ.)
Starostin P.N. The Sites of the Imenkovo Culture. Moscow : Nauka, 1967. 100 p. (SAI. Issue D 1–32). (In Russ.)
Starostin P.N. Maklasheevo II Hilfort of the Imenkovo Culture. Uchenye zapiski Permskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta = Scientific Notes of Perm State University. 1968; 191:221–229 (Proceedings of the Kama Archaeological Expedition. Issue IV). (In Russ.)
Starostin P.N. Early Medieval Settlement “Kurgan”. In: Medieval Archaeological Sites of Tatarstan. Kazan : IYALI, 1983. Pр. 6–19. (In Russ.)
Starostin P.N. The Rozhdestveno V Burial Ground. Kazan : II AN RT, 2009. 144 p. (AES. Issue 9) (In Russ.)
Starostin P.N.; Khomutova L.S. Metalworking of the Imenkovo Culture Tribes. Sovetskaya arheologiya = Soviet Archaeology. 1981;3:208–217. (In Russ.)
Stepanov P.D. Osh Pando. Saransk : Mord. kn. izd-vo, 1967. 212 p. (In Russ.)
Terekhova N.N., Rozanova L.S., Zavyalov V.I., Tolmacheva M.M. Essays on the History of Ancient Ironworking in Eastern Europe. Moscow : Metallurgiya, 1997. 320 p. (In Russ.)
Khalikov A.Kh. The Volga- Kama Region at the Beginning of the Early Iron Age (8th-6th Centuries BC). Moscow : Nauka, 1977. 264 p. (In Russ.)
Chernykh E.M., Vanchikov V.V., Shatalov V.A. The Argyzh Settlement on the Vyatka River. Moscow : Institut komp’yuternyh tehnologij, 2002. 188 p. (MIKVAE. Vol. 3). (In Russ.)
Cowgill J, Neergaard M. de, Griffiths N. Knives and Scabbards. Leningrad : Boydell Press & Museum of London, 2016. 170 р. (Medieval Finds from Excavations in London)
Copyright (c) 2026 К.А. Руденко
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Theory and Practice of Archaeological Research is a golden publisher, as we allow self-archiving, but most importantly we are fully transparent about your rights.
Authors may present and discuss their findings ahead of publication: at biological or scientific conferences, on preprint servers, in public databases, and in blogs, wikis, tweets, and other informal communication channels.
Theory and Practice of Archaeological Research allows authors to deposit manuscripts (currently under review or those for intended submission to ABS) in non-commercial, pre-print servers such as ArXiv.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
2.jpg)
