Interethnic Contacts in the East Kama Region in the 10th – Beginning of the 13th Centuries

Azgar Mukhamadiev,Tatyana Nikitina,Konstantin Rudenko,Albert Nigamaev,Fayaz Khuzin

doi:10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s5p291

Abstract

Relevance of this research is caused by the lack of studies dedicated to the problems of interethnic contacts with the neighboring regions in the pre-Mongol Bulgaria era. The aim of this article is to summarize the data received during excavations in recent years, which testifies to the existence of ethno-cultural ties of the Volga Bulgarians from the lower Kama region with the Turkic, Ugric and Finn-Perm population. New material allows defining the extent of participation of each component of unique culture in medieval population of the region. The particular interest is paid to the role of the XVIII ethno-cultural group of ware for the Finn-Perm population (on T.A. Khlebnikova's classification). This group of ceramics appeared in the Volga Bulgaria in the XII century. Research data on archaeological settlements of the East Kama region of the pre-Mongol period represents considerable interest related to studies of ethnic composition of population of the Volga Bulgaria and nearby territories. Results of the research can be useful for experts studying the problems of interethnic contacts of the medieval population of the Central Volga area and the Urals. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s5p291

Highlights

In the end of I – the beginning of the II millennium AD in the Middle Volga and Cisural region a new era which was accepted to call the "Bulgarian" began
In the 10th century, most likely, in its first half, from regions of hills and forests of the Urals area a new wave of migrants started arriving in the Volga Bulgaria; they made specific round-bottomed ware made of clay dough with impurities of stamped shell: it had a cylindrical neck decorated with pectinated ornaments
The ceramics of the XVIII group were widespread in the East Kama during the late pre-Mongolian period, which can be proved by the fact that a Bulgarian (Muslim) burial place with remnants of pagan culture was located on the site of Alabuga settlement, where we found a great number of the Finn-Perm ware

Summary

Introduction

In the end of I – the beginning of the II millennium AD in the Middle Volga and Cisural region a new era which was accepted to call the "Bulgarian" began. By the end of the 10th century a multi-ethnic Bulgarian nationality appeared, the inflows of population to the Middle Volga from the East (the Cisural Finns and Ugric) and from the South (small groups of Pecheneg and Kypchak) continued to arrive up to the Mongol conquest. Due to the lack of archaeological studies on the Kama territories of the Volga Bulgaria we still cannot represent the stages of interaction of the Turkic and Finno-Ugric population of the Lower Kama region and the Urals area though in historiography this problem was covered by the works of M.V. Talitsky who paid attention to abundance of finds of the Bulgarian origin at the monuments of Rodanovsky culture of the Upper Kama. Kazakov provided us with materials testifying to active participation of the Finno-Ugric who were far ancestors of the modern Udmurt, Komi, Mari and Hungarian in formation of ethnos and culture of the population of the Volga Bulgaria (Khalikova and Kazakov, 1977)

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