Городище Уфа-II в золотоордынский период

Abstract

With reference to available archaeological data, the paper considers the most controversial period in the life of the Ufa-II settlement connected with the Golden Horde era. The work basically applies all archaeological materials of the Golden Horde period available from the Ufa-II settlement; analogies drawn from data on synchronous settlement monuments. The article distinguishes a number of architectural and building elements typical for the 12th–14th cc. archaeological monuments of the Cis-Urals. In the territories of the ancient objects (settlements and fortifications) structurally different constructions have been identified (housing and productive-economic ones, suval-furnaces, etc.). Other widely known objects include stone mausoleums of Hussein-Bek, Tura Khan and Maly Keshene. At the same time, no similar facilities have been discovered in the territory of the Ufa-II settlement yet, despite the fact this archaeological site is positioned as a stronghold of Bashkort City dated to the 5th–16th centuries. Again, no traces of public buildings (mosques, khan’s palaces, etc.) have been found within the ancient settlement dated to the 12th–14th centuries too. This contradicts the very definition of the city of Ufa-II as a metropolitan city. Moreover, the composition and quantity of cultural remains of the Golden Horde period hardly make it possible to interpret the investigated occupation earth as actually that of a settlement. Materials from settlements of the Golden Horde time located in the territory of Bashkortostan (Ufa I (Chertovo) hillfort, Gornovo settlement, Turnaly hillfort, etc.) are used as sources of comparative reference data. The article offers a new interpretation of the destination of the Ufa-II fort site in the Golden Horde era ― a ‘market field’.