The Evolution of Land System Terminology in the Crimean Khanate: From Chinggisian Roots to Ottoman Influences

In the second half of the XV century, some foreign policy directions of these two countries were tied to a single political factor that was associated with the Crimean Khanate. At this time the Crimean Khan- ate separated from the Golden Horde, trying to live independently. The Crimean rulers received political support from the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire rendered political support to the Crimean khans and established close ties with them. At this time, the Golden Horde was on the verge of decline, but the Horde rulers tried to reconnect to the Crimea. Thus, in the foreign policy of the two powers, the Crimean Khanate has become a new political factor. This scientific article is devoted to the study of foreign policy processes in the 50-70-ies of the XV century, between the Ottoman Empire and the Golden Horde in connection with the Crimean Khanate. One of the main objectives of the study is the foreign policy of the Ottoman Empire in the Crimean peninsula and in the Black Sea region. In the scientific work examines diplomatic contacts between countries, as well as analyzes the foreign policy positions and principles of the rulers of the two sides. Key words: Ottoman Empire, Golden Horde, Crimean Khanate, Crimean Peninsula, Foreign Policy, Ambassadors. &nbsp

This article is devoted to the relationship of the Circassians with the Turkic peoples. The Caucasian-speaking ancestors of the Adyge, Circassians and Kabardians were known to contemporaries under several ethnonyms. Papags and Kasogians were mixed Turkic-Caucasian tribes and served in the Khazar Kaganate. Zikhians occupied the Northern-East Black Sea littotal lands and were ruled by Georgian (Abkhazian) kings and Zikhian archbishops of the Matarcha. The Pechenegs were allies of the Zikhians, and the Oguzes were their opponents. It can be argued about a certain period of dominance of the Zikhians on the Taman Peninsula in the 13th century, but in the 12th century the local Zikhians were supposed to recognize the power of the Byzantine Empire. The relations of the Zikhians with the Qipchaqs were friendly. The infiltration of Turkic elements into the ethnogenesis of the North-West Caucasus tribes contributed to the emergence of the Circassian ethnos. In the Golden Horde the Circassians actively maintained contacts with both the Genoese and the Tatars. Circassians living on the plane were integrated into the administrative system of Ulus Jochi (Golden Horde). Circassians also fought against the Tatars of the Golden Horde and the Great Horde. The first Circassian principalities sources are recorded in the XV century. These were Khetuk, Kremuk, Kopa, Tatarkosia, Kabarda. The first three principalities worked closely with the Genoese and became victims of Turkish aggression in the 70-80-ies of XV century In the XVI century the principalities of Zhaney, Temirgoy, Besleeney, Khatukai took shape. Natukhai, Abadzekhs, Shapsugs were circled Abazins and became part of the Circassian ethnosphere only in the 18th century. Zhaney, Temirgoy, Besleney, Khatukai in the XVI century suffered from the invasions of the Crimean Tatars, therefore, in the middle of the XVI century hoped for an alliance with the Russians and sent embassies to Moscow. The war against the Crimean Tatars was fought mainly by the forces of Kabardians and the Ukrainian condottier D.Vyshnevetsky. With the departure of the D.Vyshnevetsky to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Ivan IV virtually ceased to support the Western Circassians, which led to their reversal towards the Crimean Khanate. They took part in the Ottoman-Safavid war of 1578-1590 on the side of the Turks. In the XVII century the Besleney and Temirgoy rebelled against the Crimean Tatars, hoping for an alliance with the Russians, but to no avail. Success in the fight against the Crimean Tatars became possible thanks to several victories of the Kabardians over the troops of Gherays in the XVIII century. Temirgoy, Abadzekhs, Bjedugs, Shapsugs, Besleney, Makhosh, Ubykhs rebelled against Crimean Tatars in this century. With the annexation by the Russians of the Crimean Khanate, the Western Circassians underestimated the anti-Russian position. Key words: Zikhians, Kasogians, Papags, Circassians, Khazar Khaganate, Golden Horde, Crimean Khanate, Ottoman Empire, Russians, Crimean Tatars

The article is dedicated to the issues of political and ethnic history of Shamkhalate, revising the range of sources, shedding light on the history of this political entity, and the formation of its social institutions under the influence of the Golden Horde and the Crimean Khanate. Research Materials: New, previously unpublished Arabic-script sources from private and state manuscript collections in Daghestan. Results and Novelty of the Research: The authors delve into the socio-political evolution of Shamkhalate within the broader context of interconnected societies. This interdisciplinary framework yields novel perspectives on Shamkhalate’s polytonymous nature, its structural underpinnings, historical genesis, and its intricate relations with entities such as the Golden Horde and its successors. Furthermore, the study sheds light on the complex ethnic dynamics inherent within Shamkhalate. Ultimately, the findings challenge the notion of Shamkhalate’s development in isolation, highlighting its profound entanglement with the hegemonic influences of Genghisid states such as the Golden Horde, Hulaguid power, and the Crimean Khanate. Moreover, the study underscores the continuity of administrative traditions within Shamkhalate, echoing practices established following the collapse of the Golden Horde in the mid-15th century.

Research objectives: The author makes an attempt to determine the correctness of the emphasis in the Russian name of the Khanate Taht Eli – Bol’shaya (Great) or Bol’shaya (Greater) Horde; to check the connection of this name with the Mongolian and Turkic designations of the Mongol Empire, the Golden Horde, and the Crimean Khanate. Research materials: Russian, Lithuanian, and Crimean diplomatic correspondence from the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries; Russian medieval chronicles and other works; works of European authors of the sixteenth century; Turkic, Mongolian, and Persian histo­rical works from the thirteenth to eighteenth centuries; Golden Horde yarlyqs; monuments of Tatar and Kazakh folklore, historiography of the problem under study. Results and novelty of the research: The author concludes that the designation “Great Horde” (Bol’shaya) existed in Russian speech of the fifteenth century. This conclusion has to be justified, since, firstly, it seemed obvious and therefore had never been argued in historiography. Secondly, it must be discussed due to the recently proposed variant pronunciation ‘Bol’shaya’ (Greater Horde). The analyzed Russian name of Takht eli was a translation of one of the versions of the official name of the Jochi Ulus and at the same time, it repeated the distorted name of the Mongol Empire. The possible origins of the Russian name of the Jochi Ulus, the ‘Golden Horde’, are also to be found within the imperial history of the Mongols.

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’.

Research objective: This article reviews the structure of Qādir ʻAlī Beg’s historiography and compares it with other Later Jochid sources while considering its historical understanding of the Tuqay Timurids, Shibanids, and Crimean Khanate. In addition, it considers how such texts understood the reorganization of the Jochid Ulus. Research materials: Qādir ‘Alī Beg’s historical understanding is deeply reflected in the order of dāstāns in the original part. Based on the structure and historical understanding of Qādir ʻAlī Beg’s historiography, this article pays attention to the structure of other Later Jochid sources such as: Anonym. Tavārīkh-i Guzīda(-yi) Nuṣrat-nāma, Maḥmūd b. Amīr Walī’s Baḥr al-Asrār fī Manāqib al-Akhyār, Ötämish Ḥājī’s Chingīz-nāma / Qara Tavārīkh, Abu’l-Ghāzī’s Shajara-yi Turk (va Mughūl), and Seyyid Muḥammed Riḍā’s Seven Planets in Report about Tatar Rulers. Results and novelty of the research: In general, the Later Jochid states are called “khanates” by the name of the territory or group they ruled. However, when we look at the structure of the Later Jochid sources, including Qādir ʻAlī Beg’s historiography, the descriptions in the sources further confirm that each state was recognized by its ruling family. Complementing the history and genealogy, the consciousness of belonging to the “Jochids / Jochid Ulus” was preserved, and it is seen that they recognized their belonging to the “Tuqay Timurids” and “Shibanids.” Qādir ʻAlī Beg’s historiography and the other Later Jochid sources have a common historical understanding that the Jochid Ulus was reorganized by the “Tuqay Timurids” and “Shibanids.” This work inherited the tradition of Turkic-Mongolian historiography; in addition, in this respect this work can be positioned as one of the Later Jochid sources. Against the widespread theory that the fall of the “Great Horde” in 1502 was the fall of the Jochid Ulus (Golden Horde), there is a remarkable ongoing argument that the Crimean Khanate claimed to be the successor of the “Great Horde.” On the other hand, from the description of this work and the Shajara-yi Turk, we confirm that no specific information about the Crimean Khanate was brought neither to the Later Jochid states in the east, nor to Kasimov. The relationship between the Crimean Khanate and the other Late Jochid states, the study of historical understanding of the Later Jochid sources and their comparison with the sources of neighboring states is an important issue for future research.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN Inscriptions from the Golden Horde Period and the Crimean Khanate in Crimea: A Body of Hitherto Neglected Material within the Study of the Inscriptions of Islamic Lands

Golden Horde State during its existence on the Crimean Peninsula origin two towns Solkhat – Krym (modern Stariy Krym) and Kirk-Yer (modern Chufut-Kale). At the time of its emergence in the mid-15th century, the Crimean Khanate "inherited" only these two towns on the peninsula. Coastal Genoese towns - Caffa (modern Feodosia), Soldaia (modern Sudak), Cembalo (modern Balaklava) and Vosporo (modern Kerch) were situated near as well as two towns of the Late Byzantine principality Theodoro: the capital of the principality – Theodoro (now Mangup) and the town Calamita (now Inkerman). As a result of the Ottoman conquest of 1475 the number of Ottoman Crimean towns remained the same, only their names were changed: Caffa became Kefe, Soldaia – Sudak, Cembalo – Balaklava, Vosporo – Kerch, Theodoro – Mangup, Calamita – Inkerman. The total number of the Ottoman Crimean towns remained virtually unchanged for three centuries. In contrast, in the territory of the Crimean Khanate in the last quarter of the 15th and early 16th centuries five new towns were founded. Bahchisaray, Karasubazar, Ak-Mechet, Gezlev and Or Kapu were added to two old Golden Horde cities – Solkhat and Kirk-Yer. It were new towns that got priority in development. The political and economic center of Golden Horde Solkhat in the second half of the 15th century would lose its administrative importance and economic influence. During the khan's period it would be called Eski Krym. The main conclusion of the study is that all new towns of the Crimean Khanate (Bahchisaray, Karasubazar, Ak-Mechet, Gezlew, Or Kapu) were not connected with the previous centuries-old urbanistic tradition of local Byzantine or Genoese cities, they appeared in previously unoccupied places, where at best there were Golden Horde settlements. The original urban planning foundations of these cities come from the Golden Horde (in the broad sense – the Eastern) urban planning tradition.

The purpose of the article is to study the relations between the populations of the Iberian Peninsula and the Golden Horde. Research materials: Written sources, archaeological data (ceramics, numismatics, etc.). Novelty and results of the study: For the first time, the article specifically examines the little-studied connections during the 13th–15th centuries between the Iberian Peninsula and the Jochid Ulus. Information is collected from various written sources of the 13th–15th centuries, created in the territory of the Iberian Peninsula and reporting on the Golden Horde, as well as written sources related to the activities of immigrants from the Iberian Peninsula to the territory of the Jochi Ulus (engaged in diplomacy, trade, and missionary activity). Some of the sources (Catalan Atlas, “Book of acquaintance with all kingdoms”) contain unique information related to the Golden Horde. Additional sources about the connections under consideration are information about slaves from Eastern Europe who came to Catalonia from the Northern Black Sea region as a result of trade. The data of numisma­tics (coins of Aragon from the territory of the Golden Horde), archaeological finds (Spanish ceramics from the Golden Horde cities of the Crimea, the Volga region, etc.), heraldry and epigraphy data from the Crimea include items that have become known only in recent years. Material sources document the existence of the considered connections. The article also considers the possibility of contacts between Spain and the Crimean Khanate in the 16th–17th centuries.

The article deals with the metal mirrors, found in the Volga Bolgaria and the Bolgar region of the Golden Horde. They are kept in the funds of Tatarstan museums and personal collections. 778 pieces of metal mirrors have been studied. Some of them have been preserved fully, some of the artifacts are in the form of fragments. All of them are made of non-ferrous metal alloy. The author in his study relied on the classification of medieval metal mirrors, developed by G.A. Fedorov-Davydov, with additions based on the subjects of the images on the mirrors. The groups into which mirrors are combined according to this principle are indicated by letters of the Russian alphabet. The systematization of these artifacts showed that mirrors with images of two fishes, tulips, and the so-called “wise men” were used most often by the population of the region under consideration. All of these products have different cultural origins: China, the Far East, Iran. Nevertheless, these plots were organically included in the Bolgar mental space. The author claims that their widespread during the Golden Horde period is not associated with the Muslim tradition. They were based on the traditional use of metal mirrors by nomads who were on the territory of Volga Bolgaria in pre-Mongol times and made up a significant part of the population of the Bolgar region during the Golden Horde period. Also, there is a very unlikely that metal mirrors, except for the replication of a small number of popular types, were made in Bulgar. Most of them were imported, including fragments of mirrors.

The International Symposium “The Genghisids in Ottoman Sources” was held in Istanbul on March 11, 2025, organized by the History Department of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of Marmara University and the Usmanov Center for Research on the Golden Horde and Tatar Khanates, Marjani Institute of History of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences (Kazan, Russian Federation). Scientists from Türkiye, the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, and the USA attended the symposium. The International Symposium “The Genghisids in Ottoman Sources”, which brought together essential scientists from around the world, once again revealed the importance of Ottoman sources, which have not been researched much until now, regarding Genghisid history. In the presented papers, the scientists, on the one hand, discussed the most important works published on the subject to date. On the other hand, they stated that these works contain essential information, especially about the campaigns of Genghis Khan and his children, the arrival of the Mongols in Anatolia, the acceptance of Islam by the Genghisids, the wars between the Golden Horde and the Ilkhanate, the attempted alliance against Emir Timur, the relations between the Ottoman Empire and the Golden Horde, and the Tartar migrations. In this context, works written in the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate, such as Ahmedi’s Iskandername, Anonymous Tevarih-i Ali Osman, Şükrullah Efendi’s Behcetü’t-Tevarih, Evliya Çelebi’s travelogue, Muhammed Şeybani’s Tevarih-i Güzide, Abdulgaffar Kırımi’s Umdetü’l-Ahbar, Kadir Ali Bey’s Camiü’t-Tevarih, Katib Çelebi’s Fadhlakat Aqwal al-Akhyar fi’Ilm at-Ta’rikh wa-l-Akhbar, Seyyid Muhammed Rıza’s es-Sebü’s-Seyâr fî Ahbâr-ı Mülûki’t-Tatar, and the yarlyk (order) of the Crimean khans were discussed. During the symposium, experts on the history of the Genghisids also exchanged ideas on the lastest studies on the subject in different countries. The symposium will contribute to the realisation of joint projects for the future research of Ottoman sources on the Genghisids. This symposium, jointly organized by two critical scientific institutions of Türkiye and Tatarstan (Russian Federation), will undoubtedly contribute significantly to the development of scientific and cultural relations between Türkiye and Tatarstan and, more generally, between Türkiye and Russia.

In the 14th century, the court culture of the Golden Horde underwent gradual Islamization, accompanied by Turkization. In the western provinces of the Genghisid Empire, Mongols constituted a tiny minority while Turks, especially those speaking western, Kipchak dialects, prevailed both in the khans army and among the conquered inhabitants of the Black Sea steppes. With time, Turkic and Turkified inhabitants of the Golden Horde came to be known as Tatars. The Lithuanian instrument of peace, issued in Ruthenian, was dated 5 September 1513. Invoking the ancient friendship between Sigismunts and Mengli Girays predecessors, the document recalled Tokhtamish, Hadji Giray, Vladislaus Jagiello, Vytautas, Sigismund, and Casimir. In the nineteenth century, after both Poland-Lithuania and the Crimean Khanate had disappeared from the political map of Europe in result of the Russian expansion, Polish historiography began to obsessively look for a point of no return.Keywords: Crimean Khanate; Europe; Genghisid Empire; Golden Horde; Lithuanian instrument; Mengli Giray; peace; Poland; Tatars; Tokhtamish

The article is devoted to the problem of Balkar ethnogenesis, considered in the context of the ethnopolitical situation in the Central Caucasus during the Golden Horde period. A set of sources that shed light on the early ethnic history of the Balkars is analyzed: information from Persian authors of the late 14th-early 15th centuries Sharaf ad-din Yazdi and Nizam ad-din Shami, materials from the academic expedition of G. Yu. Klaproth to the Caucasus in 1807-1808, ethnogenetic and genealogical legends about the origin of various divisions of the Balkar people, materials from archaeological excursions of V. F. Miller and M. M. Kovalevsky to mountain societies in the 1880s, etc. Some results of research into the process of ethnogenesis of the Balkars in modern historiography are summarized. It is emphasized that the process of formation of an ethnic group is accompanied by its socio-potestary self-organization. This aspect of ethnogenesis cannot be ignored in the historical interpretation of the ethnogenesis of the Balkars and the formation of Balkaria as an ethno-socio-territorial entity. Just as in pre-revolutionary and Soviet historiography, the article asserts that the place where the processes of Karachay-Balkar ethnogenesis ended was the highlands of the Central Caucasus, corresponding to the Balkar ethnic area of a later time. In relation to the 15th-16th centuries, we can talk about the stabilization in the highland zone of the Central Caucasus of a special ethno-socio-territorial entity, which later became known to the outside world as Balkaria. Its population acquired a set of characteristics of an ethnic group as a special community of people: territorial integrity, common language and social ties, specific features of traditional material and spiritual culture. The study allowed us to conclude that the main components of the Karachay-Balkar ethnogenesis – the autochthonous Caucasian, Iranian (Sarmatian-Alanian) and Turkic (Bulgar-Kipchak) – interacted over a long historical period. However, the formation of the Balkarian ethnic group itself, localized within the historical Balkaria, occurred only with the end of the Golden Horde era.

Introduction. In West Kazakhstan and the Volga-Ural interfluve, it is Golden Horde cities, caravan routes, and caravanserais that remain as under- or uninvestigated. Particular attention be paid to the necessity of exploring caravan routes and caravanserais from Urgench to Saraychik (Saray-Jük), and from Saraychik to the Volga Golden Horde cities. Goals. The study seeks to systemize and analyze materials on caravan routes and caravanserais in the south and southwest of West Kazakhstan and in the south of the Volga-Ural interfluve. It also aims at reconstructing some functioning patterns of caravan trade routes from Saraychik to the Volga Golden Horde cities in the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries. So, the paper shall systemize and examine archaeological, ethnographic, archival data and sources on the Golden Horde cities, caravan routes, and caravanserais across the mentioned territories; describe some identified caravan routes and caravanserais. Materials and methods. The work focuses on materials from archaeological excavations in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Uzbekistan; considers outcomes of field (expeditionary) historical, geographical, and ethnographic surveys conducted across Mangystau and Atyrau Regions of Kazakhstan in 2019–2022; performs analyses of geographical maps. The research methodology includes general scientific, historical, and geographical tools and techniques. Results. The paper basically systemizes the efforts undertaken by scholars affiliated to Saraishyq State Reserve Museum of History and Culture (Kazakhstan). The field (expeditionary) surveys have identified more Golden Horde sites and settlements to yield an improved map of caravan routes. At large, the article provides a general territorial scheme of caravan routes and caravanserais from the Golden Horde period across the south and southwest of West Kazakhstan and the south of the Volga-Ural interfluve. Conclusions. Our insights attest to that the Golden Horde caravanserais and caravan routes were characterized by quite efficient territorial patterns in the examined regions that grew to shape a comprehensive transit-trade system for the transfer of people, goods, and knowledge along a northern branch of the Silk Road.

The 120-year history of the study of medieval ceramics from Bilhorod (other names Akja-Kermen, Asprokastron, Maurokastro, Moncastro, Mokastro) — one of the largest trade centres of the North-Western Black Sea coast in the late Byzantine and Ottoman Ages is analysed in the paper. The site is located in the modern city of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, Odessa region, Ukraine. This urban center was formed on the ruins of ancient Tyras in the late 13th — early 14th centuries. There are two stages in its history: the «Golden Horde» — the 1290s — 1370s, when the city was under the protectorate of Ulus Jochi, and «Moldavian» — the last quarter of the 14th century — 1484 when it passed into the possession of the Moldavian rulers, who has erected the large fortress there. In 1484 the site was captured by Ottomans and was renamed as Akkerman. Despite the long terms of archaeological excavations and the significant researched area at the site (more than 4000 m2), the precise dating of pre-Ottoman medieval deposits and ceramics from them, as well as the origin of some groups of the pottery, are still discussed (Teslenko, Myronenko 2022). Therefore, a critical ana­ly­sis of current stratigraphic schemes of the medieval layers together with existing concepts of chronology and classification of medieval ceramic materials were among the aims of this work. As a result, we outline the several main issues in the archaeological study of Bilhorod. Firstly, until recently archaeologists have used a very simplified stratigraphic scheme of cultural layers proposed in the 1970s (S. Kryzhytskyi, A. Kravchenko, G. Boguslavskyi, and others). According to it, the thickest cultural stratum containing three building horizons was associated with the «Golden Horde» period of Bilhorod history, despite finding of Moldavian coins in some contexts. The detailed chronology of these horizons as well as the specifics of ceramic assemblages each of them still are not understandable. «Moldavian» contexts, with some rare exceptions, were not clearly defined also. It was deemed that they mostly have been damaged or destroyed during the fortification works around the middle of the 15th century, as well as during the Ottoman period. So, most of the medieval ceramic finds were dated to the «Golden Horde» times which is not always the case, and the specifics of the material culture of the «Moldavian» city still have remained unclear (A. Kravchenko, G. Boguslavskyi). Secondly, the information about the ceramics assemblages of the site was predominantly incomplete. Ceramic finds are represented in publications mainly without connection to their precise archaeological contexts (A. Kravchenko, G. Boguslavskyi). So despite the abundance of published materials, it is rather difficult to obtain information about the composition of the certain ceramic assemblages. Therefore, it is also difficult to clarify the chronology of the archaeological context based on ceramic data. Thirdly, a detailed description of the technological features of the local wares still has not been represented despite the discovery of the workshops with kilns and wasters in 1960—1970ss. Thus, till recently, mass ceramics ware the origins of which were not clearly defined a priori associated with the products of local workshops. Fourthly, the dating of most ceramic finds was quite wide, for example, within the «Golden Hordes period» or the 14th—15th centuries, without a more detailed chronological gradation (A. Kravchenko, G. Boguslavskyi, I. Karashevich, etc.). This was largely due to the problems with the precise chronology of the cultural layers in general. To summarize it should be mentioned that the work of the previous researchers and archeological materials accumulated for 120 years of excavations are certainly very important and have a rich information potential. Nevertheless, the proposed methods of study and interpretation of these data need a great deal of improvement. At the same time, thanks to our research in collaboration with the «Archeology & Archaeometry» Laboratory (CNRS UMR5138) in Lyon (France), and Dr.HdR. S. Y. Waksman, we have advanced in the study of some mentioned points in the last years. Firstly, one of the authors excavated the archaeological complex of Moldavian period (early 15th century — 1480s) on the territory of the Civil yard inside the fortress in 2017. So, we obtained the possibility to analyze in detail the ceramics materials of this period and clarify the origin of some pottery groups thanks to their archaeometric study in France. We found out, for example, that the most numerous groups of glazed ceramics from the assemblage are not local, as thought before, but come from Crimea. This fact indicates very close trade links between Bilhorod and Crimea during the 15th century. It also turned out that all samples of Byzantine wares originated from the Constantinople workshop Sirkeci (Teslenko, Waksman forthcoming). Thus, we have got the new data on the distribution of its products in the North-western Black Sea Region during the 15th century as well as get evidence of the activity of this workshop probably as far as at least the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453. Another insight we have got during the revision of the ceramics collections from the previous excavations of one local ceramic workshop. It specialized in the manufacture of glazed pottery and stove tiles. On the basis of the comparative analysis of these finds with the materials from Central and Eastern Europe, we could realize that the products of this workshop, and hence the kilns that served it, can not be dated earlier than the 15th century. So, it worked in the Moldavian time, and not in the «earliest stage of the Golden Horde period», as declared before. This provides the background for reviewing the chronology of the medieval cultural stratums of Bilhorod, which has existed so far. In addition, the samples of finished wares and wasters help to specify the composition of raw materials of one of the subgroups of local ceramics production. Consequently, the further research of both old and current collections of medieval ceramics from Bilhorod will help to clarify the attribution and chronology of ceramic assemblages and archaeological contexts of the site, as well as will contribute to the more fruitful study of the trade and intercultural relations in the region during the late Byzantine — early Ottoman Age.