The importance of birds in the Golden Horde rural settlements of the Lower Volga region (by the example of the Bagaevka settlement)

Objective: The purpose of this work is a comprehensive analysis of bird remains from the archaeozoological collection of the Bagaevka settlement, including species, quantitative data, size-age composition, and an interpretation of the results obtained taking into account archaeological data. The importance of birds is considered, using the example of rural settlements of the Uvek site region and the Golden Horde city Ukek itself. Research materials: The article presents a study of the bird remains from the Bagaevka settlement (trench I) – a large settlement of a region centered on the Golden Horde city Ukek from the second half of the 13th century through the 14th century. As a comparison of the consumption and importance of birds in the life of the people of the city and rural settlement of the Golden Horde period of the Saratov Volga region, we present the results of a study of a collection of bird remains from the excavations of the Uvek site. Results and novelty of the research: This study is the first comprehensive analysis of bird remains and their interpretation for this area in the Golden Horde period. In the archaeozoological collection of the Bagaevka settlement, 24 species have been identified: 3 species of domestic birds and 21 species of wild birds. In a quantitative ratio, bones of domestic chickens prevail – 70.1% of all found bird bones. Among the remains of wild species, the largest number of bones belonged to the black grouse. Interesting are the finds of the remains of birds of prey, Accipitriformes, and the presence of remains from synanthropic species. The study of the collections revealed a high diversity of bird species and the versatility of their use: food; breeding of domestic species for meat and eggs; hunting with birds of prey; and the use of some species of wild birds (owls) as sacred animals.