The village of Tatarskaya Bashmakovka – Archaeology and ethnography. The history of the golden horde heritage in the lower Volga region

Abstract

© 2019 Shigabutdin Marjani Institute of History of Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Research objective: An analysis of the archaeological sites of the Middle Ages and the ethnographic characteristics of the village Tatarskaya Bashmakovka in the Cis-Volga region of the Astrakhan region. Research matherials: The writings by Abu Hamid al-Gharnati, reports on archaeologi-cal expeditions in the Astrakhan region, and the data of ethnographic studies were used in this research. Research results and novelty: The surroundings of the Tatarskaya Bashmakovka vil-lage in the Astrakhan region abound in medieval archaeological monuments. A new ap-proach to the analysis of the funeral rites in the burial grounds located in the vicinity of the Tatarskaya Bashmakovka allows us to draw a conclusion about the penetration of the tradi-tions of Islam among the population of the Volga Delta since the pre-Mongol period. The comparative craniological analysis data suggests that the population that is found in these burial grounds was anthropologically close to some ethnic groups of the Khazar era. This was the population of the Saqsin region that existed in the Volga Delta from the eleventh to thirteenth century. Subsequently, this population became an integral part of the Golden Horde Tatars. Ethnographic characteristics of Tatarskaya Bashmakovka are also of academic inter-est. One of the parts of the ethno-specific population group of the Astrakhan region is the Yurt Tatars. Most ethnographers and historians consider them descendants of the indige-nous population of one of the fragments of the Golden Horde, the Astrakhan Khanate. Based on the ethnographic material, the article presents the local characteristics of the Yurt Tatars of the village Tatarskaya Bashmakovka. As we see it, this information will significantly complement the history of the peoples of the Lower Volga region and above all the Turkic peoples, the heirs of the Golden Horde, who are called the Yurt Tatars today. It will also show the processes of their ethnic interac-tion with other Turkic-Tatar ethnic groups which today comprise one of the main ethnic components in the Astrakhan region.