SILVER VESSELS OF THE GOLDEN HORDE ERA FROM THE MIDDLE OB BASIN

Abstract

This article addresses one of the most informative archaeological sources for reconstructing medieval history––imported silverware, which is abundant in northwestern Siberia. Based on three newly described silver vessels of the Golden Horde Age from the Saigatino I sanctuary in the Surgut region of the Ob basin, the possible attribution of these and similar specimens from Siberia and Ural is discussed. Locating the places where such items had been made is difficult for reasons relating to the functioning of individual workshops and of the silversmiths’ schools in general. Nevertheless, a suggestion is made that the workshops were located in the Bulgar Ulus––a successor of the Volga Bulgaria, with its rich tradition of manufacturing jewelry and transporting it along the trade routes directed northward to western Ural and western Siberia. The time and the routes whereby the Golden Horde toreutics was brought to western Siberia are assessed. All finds in this region cluster within a small area in the Surgut region of the Ob basin, while the possible trade routes are marked by similar but isolated finds in the Perm area and in northern Ural. The question is raised whether the finds of imported silverware in western Siberia fall within the territory of medieval Ob principalities––Koda, Bardakov, and Kunovatsky. The appearance of personal hoards may indicate the emergence of new elite. Generally, the imported silverware of the Golden Horde age is highly relevant to social developments in medieval western Siberia.