Следы животных на строительной керамике золотоордынского Солхата

Abstract

The archaeological researches of the Crimean ulus of the Golden Horde discovered a multitude of finds in the cultural layers from the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, particularly building ceramic ware with footprints of animals. Such finds not only reflect the level of development of building technique, but also allow the one to determine the species composition of the fauna in the mediaeval Crimea, to amend the information on the economic and industrial activities of the population of Solkhat in the Golden Horde period. Among the footprints on bricks there are traces of canines (domestic dog and wolf), felines (cat), and artiodactyls (goat). Most of the footprints, 14 specimens, belong to canine animals, cat footprints are documented on four bricks, and only one artefact shows a footprint of goat’s hoof. This statistic is indirectly confirmed by the analysis of osteological materials, with a significant percentage of dogs’ remains and a little less of cats’. Goat’s bones are also rare; small cattle is mostly represented by sheep’s bones, the breeding area of which probably does not coincide with the place where Solkhat building ceramics were produced. The building ceramics with footprints of animals’ paws and hoofs originating from the excavations of the mediaeval settlement of Solkhat is published for the first time.