MEDIEVAL UDMURTS AND VOLGA BULGARIA IN X - EARLY XIII CENTURIES

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of relations between two neighboring peoples - medieval Udmurts and Volga Bulgars in the 10 - early 13 centuries. The main material for the study was the archaeological materials presented at the present time by a significant number of studied archaeological objects - settlements and burial grounds. The author examines three stages of ethnocultural contacts: 1) X - the second half of the XI century; 2) the end of the XI - the middle of the XII century; 3) the second half of the XII - the beginning of the XIII century. At the beginning of the first stage, the degree of development of the material culture of both Bulgars and the Cheptsa population was at the same level, and the possibilities of development on the basis of raw materials in the Udmurt Cis-Urals were much higher. This situation persisted until the second half of the 10 century, when the Bulgar state began to actively develop the trade space to the north of its borders. Nevertheless, the Chepets population during this period was less exposed to the Bulgar trade expansion than the Mari, Mordovians and Murom, developing crafts and expanding ties with the Perm Urals. At the second stage, groups of settlers from the Volga Bulgaria appeared on Chepts, who influenced the development of high-tech industries and the emergence of new types of artifacts, for example, items of the Askiz type. By the end of the XII century. they have completely assimilated. In the same period, the connections of the Chepets population with the Perm Cis-Urals and Russian lands expanded. This situation continued at the third stage. At that time, mainly rare goods, for example, silk fabrics, were brought from the Volga Bulgaria. Thus, for three centuries, close ties of the medieval Udmurts with the Volga Bulgars remained, demonstrating special mechanisms of interaction in the changing conditions of the functioning of medieval ethnic groups in different models of cultural development.