Dating of the Iron Buckles, Plaques on the Belt and Hooks of the Middle Ages Period from the Middle Volga Region (based on the Materials of the Ostolopovo Settlement in Tatarstan)

The article deals with iron buckles, plaques on the belt and hooks from the excavations of the Ostolopovo settlement in Tatarstan. It existed in the 11th — 12th centuries. The Ostolopovo settlement was one of the settlements in the central part of the Volga Bulgaria, located on the way from the center of the state to the Kama River, which was the most important trade route of Bulgaria. The settlement was investigated in 1969 and 1997–2013. It is distinguished by a unique stratigraphy, which is associated with the peculiarities of the functioning of the settlement. This settlement existed for a short time — from the end of the 10th century to the second half of the 12th century. The heyday of the settlement fell on the second half of the 11th — the fi rst half of the 12th century. During the excavations, 40 iron buckles, plaques on the belt and hooks were found. The peculiarity of these artifacts was that they were made according to samples that came to the Bulgars from Southern Siberia. Their prototypes were items of the Askiz archaeological culture. Such fi nds are typical for the Bulgar archaeological sites of the pre-Mongol period. In addition, Bulgar copies of Askiz originals spread beyond the borders of Volga Bulgaria. They are found among the medieval Mari, Udmurts, Permians, Mordovians. Th erefore, finding out the time of existence of such items is very important for dating the archaeological materials of the entire Volga-Kama region. Well-dated layers of the Ostolopovsky settlement allow this to be done. The analysis of the finds showed that they begin to occur in the third stratigraphic layer, which dates back to no earlier than the middle — second half of the 11th century. It contained a few items from a belt with an iron buckle and plaques on the belt that adorned it. Most of the finds come from the second layer, which was formed from the turn of the 11th–12th centuries until the second third of the 12th century. They are notable for their improved form design, which also included decoration of the surface with ornaments and possibly silver inlay. Finds of this type are no longer found in the upper horizon of the second layer. Thus, the period of the use of the Bulgar derivatives of Askiz products in the Ostolopovo settlement is the second half of the 11th — the second third of the 12th century. According to stratigraphy, the greatest use of such artifacts was in the first half of the 12th century.