Топоры Барбашинского могильника эпохи Золотой Орды (по материалам коллекций СОИКМ им. П.В. Алабина)

Abstract

The Barbashinsky burial ground is located in Samara and is the largest necropolis of the Mordvins of the Golden Horde period in the Samara Trans-Volga region. Over a century of archaeological studies at the site explored about 220 burials, including 56 male burials, 38 of which had axes inside. The Samara Museum for Historical and Regional Studies has 10 collections from excavations at the Barbashinsky burial ground, including 41 shaft-holed axes. All of them were extracted from male burials. The typological characteristics of the axes were established by classifying into: categories (according to the shape of the blade and the ratio of the width of the blade to the total length of the ax), departments (according to the shape of the butt), types (according to the shape of the cheeks), variants (if there is a spine, elongation of the back of the butt); the weight of the tools was also taken into account. The most common are medium-bladed wedge-shaped (11 items), widebladed wedge-shaped axes (9 items), medium-bladed axes with a slot (11 items). Less common are narrow bladed wedge-shaped axes (2 items), wide-bladed axes with a slot (3 items), and narrow-bladed axes with a slot (5 items). Single items show peculiar features, such as an axe with a hammer-shaped butt and a pole-ax-shaped wide-bladed axe. Probably, the axes of the Barbashinsky burial ground had a universal purpose, they were used as tools, but if necessary, they could also be used as a weapon. The functional purpose of the axes was not connected with the shape, but rather with the weight of the tools: the massive ones were used by lumbermen, while the lighter ones were used for carpentry and cooperage. In the burials, axes were located at the head, near the arms, along the body at the feet, in all cases the blade was turned outward from the body, less often the tools were stuck into the ground. Axes were often accompanied by knives, arrowheads, firesteels, buckles, clasps and awls. According to the anthropological data, the age of the men in the graves with an ax ranged from 20 to 60. Technologically and morphologically, the axes of the Barbashinsky burial ground correspond to the traditions of the Golden Horde period, known from the sites of the Samara Trans-Volga region and other regions.