"...our southern Volga region is a cemetery of high material culture and in this respect is exceptional in the richness of archaeological material"

B. V. Zaykovsky 1

The study of the Volga-Don interfluve, its natural features, and the peoples inhabiting the region was addressed in ancient times (Herodotus, Strabo, and Ptolemy). Later, merchants, travelers, trade agents, and diplomats wrote about the region. Of particular importance were the results of research conducted by expeditions of the Academy of Sciences at the end of the XVIII century, and their results were summarized in the works of academicians I. I. Lepekhin, S. G. Gmelin, I. A. Guldenstedt, P. S. Pallas, and I. P. Falk. In the 19th century, the region was studied by well-known historians N. I. Kostomarov and G. I. Peretyatkovich. Some problems of the history of the Volga-Don steppes are covered in the fundamental works of leading Russian historians of the XIX century N. M. Karamzin, S. M. Solovyov, N. A. Polevoy, V. O. Klyuchevsky. In the 19th century, local historians collected a large amount of information on the history of the region. The most famous researchers: Bishop Iakov of Saratov and Tsaritsyn, R. A. Fadeev, G. S. Sablukov, A. N. Minkh, F. F. Chekalin, N. F. Khovansky, B. V. Zaikovsky. The first finds of "antiquities" in the region were associated with the excavations of treasure hunters, the so-called bugrovschiki. Reports of the finds prompted local authorities and local historians to start archaeological research. Surveys and excavations were carried out on the site of the Golden Horde cities, ancient mounds, and lifting material was collected.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, local archaeologists (S. A. Shcheglov, A. A. Krotkoe, A. A. Spitsyn, V. F. Orekhov, and B. V. Zaikovsky) prepared the ground for large-scale scientific research in the 20th century, which opened unknown pages in the history of the Volga-Don steppes.

The territory of the Volga-Don interfluve includes the south-eastern steppes of the European territory of Russia, located above the coast of the Azov and Caspian Seas. Here, on the steep right-bank terraces of the Volga and Don, along rivers and channels, on islands and sand dunes of the left bank, in the delta of the Volga and Don, there are numerous monuments of the life of various peoples who inhabited the region: Paleolithic sites, Sarmatian mounds, ancient Tanais, steppe burials of nomads of the Bronze Age, Golden Horde mausoleums, Cossack towns, watchdogs, etc. outposts.

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During the Neolithic period, the rich natural biological resources between the Volga and Don rivers, formed in a warm continental climate, contributed to the flourishing of hunter-gatherer cultures.

In the third millennium BC, there were sharp fluctuations in natural conditions. The climate became drier and colder, which led to a change in not only the entire local biosphere, but also a change in the economic model: nomadic cattle breeding became predominant, which retained its leading role until the XIV-XV centuries. For a long time, the Volga-Don interfluve was a place of" passage " of nomadic tribes and peoples from Asia to Europe. As S. M. Solovyov wrote, "... the great plain is open in the southeast, directly touching the steppes of Central Asia; crowds of nomadic peoples from time immemorial pass through the wide gates between the Ural Range and the Caspian Sea and occupy attractive countries in the lower reaches of the Volga, Don, and Dnieper. " 2

Since ancient times, countless waves of tribes have passed through the "Great Gate of Peoples", " went out into the Volga steppe, stopped to wait for those who remained near the Volga, and, having gathered their strength, crossed the river and captured the fortified places on the right bank, rolled further west, into the southern Russian steppes. The route of this movement is clear: from the Urals to the Volga, from the Volga to the Dnieper, it ran partly through the steppe, along steppe rivers. Where horses and herds were not threatened by waterlessness and thirst in the summer heat.

"Big and Small Uzen, two Cubes, Gorky, Torgun and Yeruslan... Here the Volgodonsk watershed is the least significant, because only 25 versts from the Volga flows a tributary of the Don, the high-water Ilovlya. Small rivers-tributaries of the Volga (dva Urakovka, Dubrovka, Ternovka, Lipovka, Elshanka, Kamyshinka and Sisrenki), reduce the waterless space by another 10 versts or more. There was no better way... it is indicated by traces of human presence: parking lots with abandoned broken dishes and road milestones in the form of mounds. This path is still visible to this day, for the chains of mounds remained in their places despite the work of the later agricultural population, the violent steppe wind and the all-destroying hand of time. " 3

The main focus of civilizational development of the Volga-Don interfluve was the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain (together with the Volga Delta). It was here that an urban civilization existed from remote times: Khazar Itil, Polovtsian Saksin, Golden Horde Khadzhitarkhan, Sarai-Batu, Sarai-Berke and numerous small towns and villages, which allowed some researchers to call this area the Volga Pompeii.

Although there is written evidence about the history of the peoples of the Volga-Don steppes, from the Sarmatian era to the late Middle Ages, from ancient authors, ancient Russian chronicles, diplomats, travelers and scientists, the study of material monuments, i.e. archaeological material, is of great importance. For a long time, these monuments remained unexplored and even unexplored, although from time to time they attracted the attention of travelers, merchants, diplomats, cartographers, and treasure hunters.

In 1437, the Venetian merchant Josaphat Barbaro, having hired 120 workers, searched for treasures hidden in the Alan mounds of Tana (Kobyakovo settlement) 4. On May 23, 1614, " the military governors of the book sent by the tsar along the Volga to Astrakhan with an army against Zarutsky. Odoevsky and Golovin, after setting out their instructions to the 6 Streltsy heads, who were sent earlier as an advance guard with a significant detachment, reprimand them for having been sent to Astrakhan on May 17 in a hurry, and on the way there they stopped at the Saratov settlement, dug holes in it, and searched for treasures, and found, among other things, a large number of them. some bells, by the way. " 5 The famous German scholar-encyclopedist Adam Olearius (1599 - 1671) in his work "Description of the journey to Muscovy and through Mosco-

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viyu to Persia and back "gives the following data about "Volga antiquities": "5 versts further into the interior of the country and 7 versts from Tsaritsyn, even at the present time, we are told, the ruins of the city that the cruel monster Tamerlane built from burnt stones, erecting a large entertainment palace in it: it is called Tsarev by city. After the city was devastated, the Russians took the largest number of stones to Astrakhan and used them to build most of the city walls, churches, monasteries, and other buildings. Even in our time, several boats loaded with stone went from here and headed for Astrakhan. " 6 Another traveler, Christopher Borro, an agent of the English trading company, who sailed down the Volga in 1579, " left us a very interesting description of the ruins of Uvek. He says that it was a beautiful stone castle, and that it was connected with a city called Sodom by the Russians, which had sunk into the ground because of the wickedness of its inhabitants. To this day, he says, you can still see a part of the castle in the form of ruins and several graves, apparently of nobles, for on one of the tombstones you can see the image of a horse and a rider on it with a bow in his hand, and having a quiver of arrows at his side, and on another stone a coat of arms with carved letters " 7 .

The ancient monuments of the Volga-Don interfluve did not arouse much interest among academic expeditions of the XVIII century. However, the naturalist and traveller P. S. Pallas in his book" Journey to different provinces of the Russian state "noted that in the" Galgoi Hollow "he saw many mounds in which" treasure hunters " found human bones, saddles, horse harness with silver rims and other things .8 Notes on ancient monuments were also made by another leader of the academic expedition, I. P. Falk: "Two Mosque rivers flow into the right side of the Volga, the upper one is 12 versts higher than Tsaritsyn, and the lower one is a little further away. Between the two, 230 fathoms from the Volga, lie the barely noticeable ruins of a large Tatar city. There are still traces of the stone wall, and the foundations of the building are still visible on the pitted square. " 9

In the 18th and early 19th centuries, there were still not enough educated people on the ground who could conduct archaeological research. Officials who filled out questionnaires sent out by the Academy of Sciences did not pay attention to this. Thus, the head of the Tsaritsyn commandant's office, Colonel Vasily Chistyakov, in a report for 1761, gives the following data on local "antiquities":" There are no old cities, remaining ruins and ancient settlements and signs of Tsaritsyn, and there is no ancient news here " 10 . A well-known researcher of the XIX century, V. V. Grigoriev, wrote:: "Three and a half centuries have only passed since the sword and politics... John III was dealt the final blow to the existence of the Golden Horde, and at the present time, no matter how hard we struggle, we can no longer collect any satisfactory information about the former rulers of Russia. And about the capital of the Golden Horde, about the famous Sarai, we do not even know for sure what kind of ruins this big name can be dated to " 11 .

Meanwhile, archaeological material was literally plentiful on the surface of the earth. However, leading Russian archaeologists were mainly attracted to the regions of the Black Sea region, Kuban and Ciscaucasia. It was here, in the huge mounds of the Scythian period, that sensational finds could be found, which could rightfully occupy a prominent place in the collections of imperial museums.

In the first half of the 19th century, the Saratov Diocese, established at the beginning of the century, was engaged in the study and protection of ancient monuments in the region. Bishop Iakov (Iosif Vecherkov) of Saratov headed this work12 . By his order, the priests collected old printed books, manuscripts, and ancient objects. The bishop was most interested in the history of the Tatar people, especially the Golden Horde and its capital Sarai-Berke . In the 1930s Tsarevsky Archpriest Joseph Shilovsky on assignment

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Bishop James conducted excavations in Tsarevo and made maps. The library of the Saratov theological seminary received a scroll containing " the profile position of the Akhtuba valley, compiled by Archpriest Shilovsky in pencil." The mounds of Dubovsky Posad 14, where presumably the Tatar city of Beljamen was located, were examined by the dean, Father Maxim Volkovsky. Pyotr Lugarev, archpriest of the Dormition Cathedral, dean's supervisor of the state of the Tsaritsyn churches of the Saratov Ecclesiastical Consistory in 1840, wrote a work "On the beginning of the establishment of the city of Tsaritsyn and on the ancient accidents of it, according to the oral assurance of old-timers who received information from their fathers and grandfathers."

In 1830, G. S. Sablukov, a graduate of the Orenburg Theological Seminary, a graduate of the Moscow Theological Academy, candidate of Theology, Professor of Civil History and Jewish Language, arrived at the Saratov Theological Seminary .15 Sablukov focused his historical research on studying materials about the location of the capital of the Golden Horde. Excavations in the village of Tsareva, organized by Jacob, revealed a large number of different Tatar coins, household items, utensils. G. S. Sablukov translated Tatar and Arabic inscriptions on the finds. Using the data of archaeological excavations and written sources, he proved the existence of two Tatar capitals: "The legends of Tatar coins indicate, as it were, two cities of the same name "Saray" and" New Saray" " 16 . He also solved the question of the location of cities: "The old Shed, founded by Batu, was located in the area of the "Saltpeter Town "" 17 . Sablukov refers to the Book Bolshoy Draftsu, which records the ruins near Astrakhan under the name Beshkyz: "The position of Beshkyz corresponds to the place where Batu was during the passage through the Horde of Karpini and Rubrukvis" 18 . An analysis of the inscriptions on the coins allowed Sablukov to establish from what time each of these cities was the capital of the Golden Horde: "Sarai, founded by Batu, was the residence of his successors in the XIII century. Novy Saray, which appears for the first time on the coins of Tokhtagu Khan, was the capital of the Horde from the XIV century until its fall. " 19

Sablukov also raised the issue of Uweke 20 . He combined the meaning of the word Uvek with the word uek and translated it as "chin:" Ukek or Uvek stood in the same relation to the mountain as the chin was to the forehead. " 21

The works of G. S. Sablukov were highly appreciated by Academician H. M. Fren, who sent 65 silver and 212 copper Tatar coins to Saratov to establish a collection of oriental numismatics, 22 and researcher of the history of the Golden Horde, V. V. Grigoriev .23 The research of G. S. Sablukov was later used by Soviet scientists B. D. Grekov and A. Y. Yakubovsky 24, G. A. Fedorov-Davydov 25, V. L. Egorov 26 , and M. D. Poluboyarinova 27 .

The seminarian Nikolai Chernyshevsky was involved in the circle of Sablukov's research interests .28 He was well aware of Sablukov's archaeological pursuits, and the result of this passion was the writing of a scientific work on the villages of the Saratov province with Tatar names.

In 1830, during random excavations in the Tsarevsky district," a gold crown weighing half a pound " was found, presumably by Khan Janibek. In 1840, thanks to the efforts of Pastor Zwick of Sarepta, the find was taken to Germany. This fact attracted the attention of the Saratov governor A. M. Fedeyev, who turned to the Minister of Internal Affairs L. A. Perovsky with a proposal to organize excavations of the Golden Horde monuments in the province. In 1843, an official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, titular adviser, archaeologist Alexander Vasilyevich Tereshchenko was sent to carry out work in Saratov, and from there to Tsarevsky Uyezd. He used the work of the Saratov local historian A. F. Leopoldov, 29 who gave him a collection of Tatar coins and a plan of the Tsarevskoye settlement, taken by Lieutenant Colonel N. K. Teterevnikov. A. V. Tereshchenko's excavations during nine seasons have yielded mas-

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so many finds. Reports on the work carried out were published partly by him and the orientalist V. V. Grigoriev, and some of Tereshchenko's diary notes were published in the Saratov Gubernskie Vedomosti newspaper in 1843-1844 by its editor A. F. Leopoldov.

Tereshchenko, having studied the drawings of the Golden Horde monuments and archaeological material, came to the conclusion that the first capital of the Golden Horde was Sarai, the remains of which are located near the village of Selitrenny; and the second capital was Novy Sarai, a settlement located near the village of Tsarev. He also identified the location of other Golden Horde cities: Gulistan (near Novy Saray) and Uvek (on the outskirts of Saratov). A. V. Tereshchenko examined the mounds of Dubovsky Posad only partially, so he found it difficult to determine which of the cities of the Golden Horde these ruins belong to. Subsequently, they were identified with the legendary Beldjamena (in Russian chronicles - Bezdezh).

A. V. Tereshchenko conducted excavations mainly on the Tsarevskoye settlement, i.e. on the ruins of a New Sarai (Sarai al-Jedid), named by scientists of the XIX century. Saray-Berke.

Saray al-Jedid was a large city founded by Khan Uzbek in the 30s of the XIV century. The transfer of the capital, according to G. A. Fedorov-Davydov, was caused by the khans ' desire to get rid of vassalage from the great khan in Karakorum. The Russian chronicles say so about the policy of the Uzbek Khan: "Takhta the king will die, and the new king Azbyak will sit on the kingdom and all will be renewed" 31 . Under Uzbek rule, the capital flourished and was a city with a population of about 100 thousand people. The size of this city can be judged by its ruins, which were described in the first half of the XIX century by the Saratov local historian A. F. Leopoldov: "Starting near the village of Bezrodny or Verkhne-Akhtubinsky they (ruins of stone buildings. - E. S. ) stretch for 70 versts along the very crest of the Syrta River to the village of Prishib... These ruins are now frequent, now rare, now large and extensive, now small and insignificant, but everywhere they show brick, clay, and lime. Further on, from the village of Prishiba, through the town of Tsarev, almost to the village of Kolobovshchina, you can see almost continuous ruins for 15 versts and for the most part huge. These are the remains of a former city. " 32

Eyewitnesses who visited this city testify to the splendor of the capital: "We finally arrived in the city of Sarai - its name is written through SA and RAI... The city of Saray is one of the most beautiful cities, which has reached an extraordinary size, on flat land, crowded with people, with beautiful bazaars and wide streets. One day we rode on horseback with one of his elders, intending to go around him and find out his extent. We lived at one end of it and left it in the morning, but we did not reach the other end until after noon, and we performed the midday prayer, and ate, and did not reach our dwelling until sunset. One day we walked the width of it, went and came back in half a day, and (all) this is a continuous row of houses, where there are no empty spaces, no gardens. It has 13 mosques for conciliar services; one of them is Shafi'i. In addition, there are still extremely many (other) mosques. In it (live) different peoples, such as the Mongols-these are the (real) inhabitants of the country and the lords (of it), some of them are Muslims; the Yases, who are Muslims; the Kipchaks, Circassians, Russians and Byzantines, who are Christians. Each nation lives separately in its own territory; there are their bazaars. Merchants and foreigners from both Iraqis, Egypt, Syria, etc. they live in a (special) plot where a wall encloses the merchants ' property. The sultan's palace there is called Altuntash, Altun (written) through A. L. TUN, which means gold, and tash is written through TA and III, which means head. " 33 This is how Saray al-Jedid is described in the "Gift to Observers" by the Oriental scholar and traveler Ibn Battuta, who visited the city in 1333 under the Khan of Uzbekistan. Another author, El-Omari, writes: "Sarai is a great city, containing markets, baths and institutions of piety,

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the place where the goods are sent... in the middle of it is a pond, the water of which is from this river. " 34

Archaeological material discovered by A.V. Tereshchenko confirmed the evidence of written sources: "That the place of Sarai was the capital of the Golden Horde, there is no doubt about it, this is already proved by coins found to this day about 14,000, constantly broken in Sarai and Gulistan: mainly with these inscriptions, with the Khan's names and the year of their reign. True, there are coins in other places, but they are the remains of nomadic Horde or ulus owners who had the right to beat the coin, still with the name of Sarai and the reigning dynasty. " 35

Based on the numismatic findings of A.V. Tereshchenko, V. V. Grigoriev came to the conclusion that "with greater confidence, a suburb of Sarai, or a separate palace not far from it, or even a small town, at some distance from it, you should read Gulistan or New Gulistan, maybe a New country palace, and quite in the opposite direction where the firstborn of that name stood. " 36

According to El-Omari, " ... the king's residence there (in Sarai) was a large palace, at the top of which was a golden new moon (month) weighing 2 kintars of Egypt; the palace was surrounded by walls, towers, houses in which the emirs live." 37 Tereshchenko opened in the palace "two rooms at the bottom, with pipes running under them, which led to a well and a large reservoir, one room was cleaned at the top or on the second floor, the walls in all of them were laid out with mosaic in places" 38 . The fountain and canals of the palace were connected to Sugar Lake. 120 fathoms from the palace, the "mint" was uncovered: "three rooms in which copper ingots, fragments from various tools and broken molds were found, but most of all coins more than 2000 in number" 39 .

Tereshchenko's reports list the finds: a pile of rotted yufti, soles, dratva, threads, silk wrapped on a stick, needles, cloth, belts, pieces of brocade, jewelry, paints of various breeds, resin, sulfur, saltpeter, copper sheets, copper wire, alum, salt, millet, grain bread of various breeds, even baked bread, turning objects, candlesticks, vessels, bowls, pitchers, vats, tubs, tiles with remnants of inscriptions, mosaics... Based on the material collected by A.V. Tereshchenko, we can say with confidence that the Shed was developed in leather and metal-smelting production, wool and cotton fabrics, bronze and porcelain dishes were made.

Bishop James was primarily interested in objects of religious and Orthodox utensils in the Golden Horde excavations, which testified not only to the presence of Christian settlements in the Golden Horde cities, but also confirmed the existence of churches and the Sar bishop's residence in Saray40. During excavations at the Tsarevskoye settlement, Tereshchenko discovered the largest number of Orthodox religious items - crosses, icons, incense, candlesticks, "a large copper saucer with a Slavic inscription in two circles: rust ate too much letters, but there is no acid to remove rust here. This saucer, belonging to the church, was found inside the Barn. " 41 In a letter to Jacob dated June 12, 1845. Tereshchenko reported: "Upon my arrival in Tsarev, I immediately began to study the Sarai remains, and so far nothing has been discovered to indicate the area where the church and buildings for the residence of the clergy were located. I am very eager to find it, and therefore I do not leave to tear up all the space in which crosses, church candlesticks and resinous substances like incense were found. Not far from the area where the crosses were located, we are looking for buildings that have the form of tombs; but, unfortunately, everything is broken up to such an extent that it is impossible to determine positively: what kind of building was it?" 42 .

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In his reports and diaries, A.V. Tereshchenko mentions the discovery of two fragments of marble and stone slabs with crosses carved on them, probably architectural details from the church building or Christian tombstones, which confirmed the presence of an Orthodox church or chapel in the city.

Saray-Berk was full of goods and cheap bazaars, as the city was at the crossroads of old trade routes connecting Europe, Byzantium, the Caucasus, Central and Minor Asia, and China: "From Herat, Samarkand, and Cashmere, trade caravans went to the banks of the Volga. Persia and Armenia transmitted their works across the Caspian Sea to the Tatar cities of the Volga region. " 43 During the excavations of the bazaar, Tereshchenko discovered "walnuts and common forest nuts, ink nuts, acorns, almonds, raisins, prunes, wine berries, sweet horns, peaches, pistachios, cloves, peppers, peas, beans, Saracen millet, coffee ..." 44 .

According to B. N. Zahoder, the international market in Novy Saray continued to function even after the blow inflicted on the Golden Horde cities by Timur in 1395-1396. He comments on the report of the Shiraz merchant Shams ad-Din Muhammad about a trade trip to Central Asia and Sarai in 1438: "From Shiraz, he brought pearls, ambergris, aloe, sandalwood, pepper, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, Brazil wood, ebony, indigo. He sold some of these goods in Central Asia, and brought the rest to Sarai. In the Shed, he bought raw Chinese silk, silk kamka and satin, European cloth and Russian linen. He sold all these goods at a profit in Urgench and Herat. " 45

M. D. Poluboyarinova put forward the version that the Shed excavated by A. V. Tereshchenko is a Batu Shed, since Saray-Berke, " as some researchers rightly noted, could not recover after the Timur defeat of 1395 and forever lost its significance, and Saray Batu, judging by archaeological materials, continued to exist as a major center in the XV century. V. " 46 .

On the question of the location of the capital of the Golden Horde, the opinions of Saratov local historians differed. R. A. Fadeev believed that the Old Shed was located near the Saltpeter Town, and the New Shed was located near the village of Tsarevka. A. F. Leopoldov agreed that the place 50 versts from the source of Akhtuba is "the tract on which the Tsarevka settlement is located-the current city Tsarev-has long been called Tsarevy Pady, that is, Tsarevy Pady or ruins. It should be noted that the Tatar khans are still called tsars in the common people " 48 . However, he considered the ruins in the area of the city of Tsarev to be the remains of an Old Barn. On the site of the Saltpeter town, according to the local historian, there was a Tatar city, but not a Shed. He wrote: "What could have caused the Tatars to establish their capital in waterless places at the beginning of the thirteenth century, while the entire Trans-Volga region from Astrakhan to Kazan belonged to them?" 49

Archaeological research in the region intensified in 1886 after the unification of all local lore forces and the creation of the Saratov Scientific Archival Commission (SUAC). The results of archaeological research conducted by members of the commission were published in the form of reports in the "Proceedings" of the SUAK (33 issues). Since the last quarter of the 19th century, various types of antiquities have been actively collected both among the inhabitants of the province and directly on the site of ancient monuments, the collected material is interpreted, preliminary conclusions are made, and maps of archaeological sites are compiled.

Researchers are gradually growing interest in the most ancient finds and monuments, but the history of the Golden Horde retains its primordial significance. Archaeological excavations are being conducted on the site of numerous nameless Golden Horde cities and towns, villages and fortresses. According to A. A. Geraklitov, " ... all the lower reaches of the Volga are littered with ruins or remnants of Tatar cities and I believe that the entire territory of the Volga River is covered with ruins.-

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With careful observation, it would be possible to outline a continuous chain of such settlements from Saratov itself and up to Astrakhan. " 50

Undoubtedly of interest to local archaeologists were the so-called Mamayev mounds (mounds), stretching north from Tsaritsyn to Mechetka. In the work of Archpriest Lugarev on the origin of Tsaritsyn, which was based on "a manuscript of unknown origin that was once kept in one of the Tsaritsyn institutions", the following information is given:: "Before the foundation of the fortress, Tatars of the Golden Horde roamed these places. The palace of the Tatar tsar Batu stood on the site of what is now the Church of Ivan the Baptist. After Batu, Mamai did not live here, but had a small town above the current Tsaritsyn along the Volga River, between the 1st and 2nd Mosques, where traces of the ruins of his town are still visible today. " 51 The Golden Horde material, however, was insignificant here: in 1892, a casket was found with "Mamai" leather money of bright red and bright yellow colors; in 1907, F. I. Chernov discovered tiles and coins minted in Novy Saray and Gulistan .52

The small number of finds can also be explained by the fact that archaeological excavations were not always carried out with scientific care and care. In 1914, Prince A. A. Shirinsky-Shikhmatov excavated about 20 "mounds" of the Mechetny hillfort. As he writes in the "Report on the archaeological excavations of Prince A. A. Shirinsky-Shikhmatov"," ... it turned out that the building from which parts of the walls were visible in the last century, is now turned into a hill of garbage. The part of the stone wall depicted in the drawing consists of poorly preserved bricks, except for one alabaster capital and one Tatar coin, nothing was found here. " 53 The vast area of the ancient settlement suggested the presence of a large settlement, which Academician Pallas in 1772 identified as the city of Tartanli. The academician's conclusions were supported by B. V. Zaikovsky in his report "Historical sketch of an ancient settlement on the right bank of the Volga, 17 versts above Tsaritsyn" 54 . Most likely, the remains of the city were dismantled as early as the 17th century, when an order came from Moscow: "Break down the Khan's Mosque and Khan's house, so that there would be enough white stone and iron to build Astrakhan." 55

Studying the Volga Region "antiquities", Saratov local historians came to the conclusion that along the banks of the Volga there were entire areas where sedentary life completely replaced nomadic. A survey of the right bank of the Volga in the area from Tsaritsyn to Kamyshin confirmed these data. F. V. Ballad, who conducted excavations here on the territory of Vinnovka, wrote: "The Pichuga area is poor in archaeological sites, iron sabres and chain mail were plowed near Yerzovka in 1892. Near the village and the landowner's estate, traces of the Golden Horde settlement have been preserved, as the former owner of Vinnovka Lyatoshinsky discovered traces of square brick buildings and found a conical Golden Horde vessel and in 1870 a copper pot filled with silver Tatar coins " 56 .

Three mounds were found on the bank of the Proleika River, and " two of them are surrounded by walls. The people call the mounds royal burial grounds. Crowns, military armor, saddle ornaments, cups, and animal figurines were found in them. " 57 As early as 1898, according to A. N. Minkh, there were "visible traces of the foundation of the palace of some Tatar khan" in Balykleya. 58

In the first decade of the twentieth century, B. V. Zaykovsky 59 conducted a survey of a huge number of "ancient" monuments, the results of which are reflected in a whole series of works 60 . In 1911, he surveyed the ancient settlement in the area of the Ternovka River: "About 17 versts from Kamyshin there is an ancient settlement that occupies a promontory bounded by two ravines and the eastern side of which adjoins the river, and the western side of the steppe is protected by two ramparts. The ramparts and deep ditches of this ancient fortification are perfectly preserved. The area of the ancient settlement, which occupies about 4000 square meters. sazh., is dotted with

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shallow circular pits, shaped like saucers and obviously representing traces of habitation. I was amazed by the abundance of finds in the ancient settlement; within 2 - 3 hours I personally collected: 3 arrowheads, 2 of them made of flint and 1 of obsidian, several beads, several coins of Mordovians, several archaic potsherds, sinkers, many Tatar potsherds and a Golden Horde coin beaten in Sarai in 1280 under the Khan Mengu " 61 .

Ukek (Uvek), one of the earliest Golden Horde cities, attracted the attention of travelers, merchants, diplomats, missionaries, and researchers no less than Sarai. In August 1879, A. N. Minkh examined the ruins of Uvek and wrote: "This monument of antiquity is disappearing from year to year, and so far science has not undertaken to investigate it properly." 62

The first mention of Uvek, according to F. F. Chekalin, is found in Guillaume Rubruk, who in the summer of 1253 found "Batu's camp" five days ' journey from the borders of Great Bulgaria in a place "above which Batu did not rise to the north during his summer wanderings" 63 . According to an Arab geographer of the 14th century. Abulfeds dating back to 1321,"...Itil flows from the city of Bulgar to the town of Ukek, which stands on its bank, and then flows to the village of Beldjamen. ...Ukek stands on the western bank of the Itil, between Bulgar and Sarai, half-way between them, at a distance of both almost 15 days 'journey." 64 Ibn Battuta wrote in 1334: "Uvek is a medium-sized city with beautiful buildings and abundant goods" 65 .

Immortalized on the maps of the brothers Picigani (1367) and Fra Mauro (1459). It is mentioned in documents of the XVI century: in 1583, the Nogai Prince Urus in a letter to Fyodor Ioanovich names Uvek as a place for building a new city .66 Christian Borro indicates the latitude of "Ouefk" - 53 o 31-N; Jenkinson, during his journey along the Volga, describes Uvek as follows: "On June 22, 1558, we passed a high hill on which in the old days the Crimeans built a fortress, now turned into ruins. This hill is located half the way from Kazan to Astrakhan at 51 o 47 - latitude " 67 . In the Book, a Large Drawing shows the "Uveshenskoye settlement".

Numerous hoisting materials and objects of archaeological excavations 68 made the question of the existence of Uvek indisputable: "There is no doubt that Uvek was one of the flourishing cities of the Golden Horde and in terms of wealth stood along with Saray, Astrakhan, and Khorezm, inferior to them in size" 69 .

According to L. L. Golitsyn and S. S. Krasnodubrovsky, Tatar Uvek appeared on the site of Gelon mentioned by Herodotus: "Gelon was on the same place where we see the Uvek settlement" 70 .

According to Herodotus, in the Scythian period, the northern interfluve of the Volga and Don was inhabited by Budins and Gelons. The latter established the Gelon trading post on the Volga, which was the center of the Volga-Kama trade and was connected to the Sea of Azov by the Khopr, Medveditsa and Don Rivers. The famous archaeologist N. I. Zabelin also suggested that "the city of Gelon was located on the site where the Tatar town of Ukek later appeared in the XIII century" and that " the name Elan, under which rivers and other tracts meet in the Saratov, Penza, and Tambov provinces, judging by the consonance, originates from the Gelons who once lived here. All the finds of antiquity made so far in the Saratov Volga region have not yet given definite indications of the existence of Greek culture in it, and perhaps only more thorough and deep excavations in the ruins of Ukek will confirm its existence. The Greeks, like the pagan Slavs, burned their dead. " 71

Across the steppes of the Volga-Don interfluve lay the shortest route from Asia to Europe - the northern branch of the Great Silk Road. Herodotus gives information about the Scythian road leading to the east: "The Hellenes from the Greek Emporia had

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trade relations with the Scythians, and from the Scythian merchants the way went beyond the Don, through the country of the Sauromats and the wooded region of the Budins " 72 .

At various points of the Great Silk Road, which runs through the Volga - Don interfluve, objects of the ancient era were found: lead trade seals of the fifth century BC from Greek colonies on the Black Sea coast, Greek vases of the same time, a coin of Constantine the Great (on the Water Hillfort), coins of Olbia and Panticapaeum of the first century BC - I coins of Vespasian (on the left bank of the Volga River in the Kamyshinsky dunes), coins of Troyan and Hadrian (on the road section from Pokrovsk to Dergachy).

At the end of the 19th century, various sections of the local population became interested in the "antiquities of the region": students, minor officials, Cossacks, peasants, and clergy.

The antiquarian enthusiast V. Chasovnikov in the 80s of the XIX century explored ancient mounds and hillforts along the Don, Kumylga, and Khopra rivers, publishing the results of his work in the illustrated magazine " Don "published in Novocherkassk73. In the autumn of 1895, a resident of the village of Verkhnyaya Gryaznukha, Yegor Andreevich Neb, " when sowing arable land with rye, buried a copper boiler with two handles." The teacher of the Upper Gryaznukhinsky German Lutheran school A. Meyer in 1908 examined the mounds: "...on Mount Steinberg near the village - 2 mounds, Rosenbukkel-1 mound, Kamyshin-Ek-1 mound ..." Officials of the Ilovlya volost board participated in the survey of mounds along the Ilovlya and Tishanka rivers, as evidenced by the report (March 28, 1908) on the results of the survey of the lands of the Rosenberg, Alexander and other societies: "At the dacha of the society of the village of Marienfeld in this parish there are up to 10 mounds, from 3 to 6 arshins high, which have a larger area part of it is round in shape and at the top is a pit. Residents call them Mamayevsky 74 . Detailed information about the mounds located on the "mir allotments of glades-owners" of the villages of Ilovlinsky volost of Kamyshinsky district was reported by the bailiff of the 3rd camp Yu. O. Kebich. In the report, he indicated the name of the allotments on which the mounds are located, the number of mounds on each allotment, and the exact dimensions of the earthen embankment - "height and circumference along the sole" 75 .

Both at the beginning of the 19th century and at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, priests continued to collect material about local "antiquities" within their parish. Some of them were used by A. N. Minkh when compiling his "Historical and Geographical Dictionary of the Saratov Province "76:" The area now occupied by the settlement of Ilmen and ancient Razlivka before its settlement by its current inhabitants was inhabited by nomadic peoples, as priest V. Mikhailovsky believes-by Tatars, as evidenced by silent monuments - mound mounds ... at the present time (1875), when strong gusts of wind gradually destroy these mounds, bones and crockery shards are found. " 77

The economic boom that swept the region at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries had a negative impact on the preservation of ancient monuments. They were destroyed when plowing land, during construction work, both domestic and industrial. Thus, in 1895, during the construction of the Atkar-Balanda railway, which ran along the bank of the Medveditsa River, the banks of which, according to A. N. Minkh, "abound in their bowels with numerous remnants of ancient objects" 78 , a whole chain of mounds was destroyed. The land was used for a railway embankment, and a long quarry exposed many finds: "... clay potsherds from dishes, as you can see, of remote epochs... scattered human bones and skeletons, as well as ancient weapons: copper and iron arrows, javelins and Stone Age tools. " 79 Many items were destroyed by railway workers: dishes were smashed on the spot, and weapons were taken home, thrown anywhere, or given to children. The found objects were examined by the priest of the village of Podgodnaya Osinov-

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ka E. I. Znamensky and members of the SU AK N. G. Piskarev and F. P. Konovalov. Fyodor Prokhorovich Konovalov, who visited Novaya Osinovka in 1909, found here "an iron tip of a flat arrow, a small pot or cup made of unburned clay with a round (spherical) bottom", a small stone chisel. According to the testimony of the priest Evgeny Ivanovich Znamensky, an interesting find was discovered by local peasants near the village of Durasovka: "4 versts north-west of the village, upstream of the Medveditsa River, the peasant Andrey Pavlov was digging a ditch in the estate of the merchant Batygin, and he dug out a bronze axe weighing 2 pounds 6 spool... with an oval diameter through hole for the tree attachment " 80 . In 1911, the Duma of Dubovka allowed the poorest residents of Posad to excavate on the territory of the ancient settlement (Vodyanskoe gorodishche, identified with the Golden Horde Bezdezhem), and sell the discovered material. Bones were sold to the bonemate, bricks were used for buildings in Dubovka, copper and silver money, lead fillings were sold by weight to buyers.

The study of" antiquities " in the region was also carried out by the provincial statistical committees (GSK), established in the mid-1830s and subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Through them, officials distributed questionnaires, questionnaires and programs for studying the region. One of the areas of activity of the GSK was the supervision of monuments and the collection of information about them. Materials on history and archeology were published in GSK publications, but, unfortunately, they were not even descriptive in nature, but contained only a simple list of mounds: "In Atkarsky uyezd, in Bogorodskaya volost, there are 44 mounds, including 12 at the village of Berezovka, 10 at the village of Berezovka. Vyazovka, 22 near the village of Morets. ...In addition to the above-mentioned parish, there are mounds in the parish area: Kiselevsko-Chemizovskaya, Kraishevskaya, Medveditskaya " 81 .

Local researchers continued to conduct exploratory excavations, searches and studies of kurgan burial grounds, and began to take into account the sites of "ancient settlers".

In 1895, A. A. Spitsyn conducted excavations in the area of the villages of Lebyazhya and Norka (Kamyshinsky uyezd, Saratov province), where he found burials belonging to various epochs in mounds. In the autumn of 1902, S. A. Shcheglov informed judges and lovers of antiquities about his excavations and finds in the village of Sosnovaya Maza (Khvalynsky district of the Saratov province), where he discovered a treasure consisting of a large number of bronze objects (scythes, celts, chisels). These findings became the subject of research by scientists in the following years. In the 20s and 30s of the XX century, V. V. Golmsten was engaged in the study of materials from Pine Maize. In particular, she proved that the " scythes "served people not as cutting" sickles", but as a tool used for cutting down brushwood or shrubs in floodplain forests for small arable land.

In 1909, B. V. Zaikovsky discovered "flint tools of the oldest inhabitants" on the Altata River in the Trans-Volga region; in the settlement of Elan (Atkarsky district of the Saratov province), Zaikovsky recorded a "chain of 4 mounds" of the late Bronze Age with an " elliptical town with a north-south axis in the center and two crescent-shaped mounds to the east from the edge of the mound", and also found" grinding hammers " of the early Iron Age 82 . In 1913-1914, V. F. Orekhov conducted interesting excavations on the bank of the Volga River near the village of Ivanovka (Khvalynsky uyezd, Saratov Province). They found a settlement belonging to the late stage of the log culture 83 . Thus, at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, " the labors of our local workers "were" largely preparing the ground for resolving the question of the time of the initial settlement of our region. " 84

Material materials of archaeological expeditions of different years are in the collections of the State Historical Museum (Moscow), Saratovsky, Volgo-

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The city, Kamyshinsky, and Uryupinsky museums of local lore are of undoubted interest to both historians and local historians.

notes

Zaikovskiy B. V. 1 Osobennosti Saratovskogo kraya [Features of the Saratov region]. Moscow-Saratov, 1923. p. 11.

Solov'ev S. M. 2 Works in 18 books. Book 1. Vol. 1. Moscow, 1988, p. 63.

Ballod F. V. 3 Privolzhskie "Pompeii", Moscow-Pg., 1923, pp. 3-5.

Barbaro Jehoshaphat. 4 Journey to Tana by Jehoshaphat Barbaro, a Venetian nobleman. Library of Foreign writers about Russia. Department One, vol. 1, St. Petersburg, 1836, pp. 10-11.

5 Acts of History, Vol. 3. St. Petersburg, 1846, N 273, pp. 440-441. On May 17, 1614, " the order was given to the Strelet heads to go from Samara to Astrakhan to fish for Ivashka Zarutsky, Marina Mnishek and her son." In the order, it was prescribed to follow to Astrakhan in a hurry, not to stop: meanwhile, the Streltsy "drove right into the Saratov settlement and dug holes and looked for luggage." Regarding the excavation site, we can say the following: many cities and villages in the documents of the XIII century were called hillforts (for example, in the Book Bolshoy Draftsu), because they were built on the site of old, possibly Golden Horde, settlements: Uveshenskoye hillfort (Uvek), Chuguevo hillfort, Narovchatskoye, Mechetnoye, Truevo, etc. they could be metal vessels.

Olearius Adam. 6 Description of travel to Moscow // Russia of the XV-XVII centuries through the eyes of foreigners. l., 1986. p. 450.

Chekalin F. F. 7 The Saratov Volga region from ancient times to the end of the XVIII century. Saratov, 1892, pp. 44-52.

8 Pallas P. S. Travel through different provinces of the Russian Empire. Part 1. St. Petersburg, 1773. p. 155.

9 Notes on the journey of Academician Falk. St. Petersburg, 1824, p. 187.

10 Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire (hereinafter - PSZ). Ed. 1. Vol. 15. SPb., 1830. p. 944.

Grigoriev V. V. 11 On the location of the capital of the Golden Horde, Sarai. St. Petersburg, 1845, pp. 1-2.

12 Bishop Iakov (I. I. Vecherkov, 1782-1850) - Bishop of Saratov and Tsaritsyn in 1832-1847, Honorary member of the Russian Geographical Society, member of the Society of Northern Antiquaries, Odessa Society of History and Antiquities. He was supposed to become a member of the Russian Archaeological Society, but this was prevented by his death.

13 New Saray (Saray-Berke, Saray al-Jedid) - the second capital of the Golden Horde in the XIV century. (Tsarevskoye settlement in the Volgograd region).

14 Mounds of Dubovsky Posad - ruins of the Golden Horde town of Beldjamen (Vodyansk settlement, Dubovsky district, Volgograd region). Dubovka was founded in 1734 and was called a small town, where the administration of the Volga Cossack Army was located. Some buildings in Dubovka were built of Golden Horde bricks. Several years after the excavations organized by A. V. Tereshchenko, N. A. Tolmachev examined the mounds of Dubovsky Posad in 1854. He first identified the Vodyanoye settlement with Beljamena. The results of further research conducted in the late 19th and early 20th centuries confirmed these conclusions. Archaeological excavations and survey of the ancient monument were conducted by well-known archaeologists and local historians: A. A. Tillo, A. A. Shirinsky-Shikhmatov, N. S. Sokolov. Several buildings made of square Golden Horde bricks, water pipes, mosaics, shards from glazed and watered dishes, and copper Golden Horde coins were found.

15 Gordey Semyonovich Sablukov (1804-1880), orientalist, Turkologist; in 1878 he first translated the Koran from Arabic into Russian and published this translation. See: Valeev P. M. From the history of Kazan Oriental Studies in the half of the XIX century: Gordey Semyonovich Sablukov-Turkologist and Islamic scholar. Kazan, 1993.

Sablukov G. S. 16 O mesto Saraya, stolitsy Kipchakskoy Hordy [On the place of Sarai, the capital of the Kipchak Horde].

17 Saray (Saray-Batu, Saray al-Mahrusa) - the first capital of the Golden Horde in the XIII century. (A saltpeter settlement in the Astrakhan region).

Sablukov G. S. 18 About the place of the Barn...

Ocherki vnutrennogo sostoyaniya Kipchakskogo tsardva [Essays on the internal state of the Kipchak Kingdom].

20 Uvek-the Golden Horde city, the remains of which were located on the south-eastern outskirts of what was then Saratov.

Sablukov G. S. 21 Coins of the Golden Horde / / SGV. 1844. N 3.

22 O zhizni i uchenykh trudakh akademika Frena [On the Life and Scientific Works of an Academician of the French Academy of Sciences], St. Petersburg, 1855.

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Grekov B. D. 24 Yakubovsky A. Yu. Zolotaya Horda i ee padanie [The Golden Horde and Its Fall], Moscow: Leningrad, 1950.

Fedorov-Davydov G. A. 25 Public Order of the Golden Horde, Moscow, 1985.

Yegorov V. L. 26 Istoricheskaya geografiya Zolotoy Hordy [Historical Geography of the Golden Horde].

Poluboyarinov M. D. 27 Russian people in the Golden Horde, Moscow, 1978.

28 Nikolay Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky (1828 - 1889) was born and buried in Moscow. Saratov. In 1842-1845 he studied at the Saratov Theological Seminary, and in 1851-1853 he taught Russian language and literature at the Saratov Gymnasium. N. G. Chernyshevsky's father, Archpriest Gavrila Ivanovich Chernyshevsky, contributed to the study of the history of the region. In 1851, by order of the Ecclesiastical and Educational Department of the Holy Synod and on behalf of Bishop Athanasius of Saratov, he began writing the work "Ecclesiastical-historical and statistical description of the Saratov Diocese". Describing the initial stage of the spread of the Christian religion within the Saratov diocese, G. I. Chernyshevsky reported: "The area on which the Saratov Diocese is located, which is currently adjacent to the dioceses of Astrakhan, Voronezh, Tambov, Penza, Simbirsk and Samara, was inhabited by Orthodox christians from the inner regions of the state, with gradual migration to this region, a former refuge or nomad different peoples of the Mohammedan and pagan laws, the spread of the power and dominion of the tsars of Moscow and since the destruction of the Mongol Kingdom or the Golden Horde and the conquest of the kingdoms of Kazan and Astrakhan. However, the establishment in 1261 under Grand Duke Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky of the Bishopric of Sarai and (later called) Podonskaya on the Volga River near the present city of Tsaritsyn, in Veliky Sarai, the former capital of the Horde Khans, shows that at that time there were Christians in these places who permanently or temporarily lived. " Cit. by: Saratov Diocesan Gazette. 1882. N 31 - 33, 36 - 40.

29 Andrey Filippovich Leopoldov (1800-1875), the son of a clergyman who completed his spiritual education at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, was editor of the Saratov Gubernskie Vedomosti newspaper from 1840 to 1847, and wrote about 160 scientific papers on the history of the Lower Volga region.

Fedorov-Davydov G. A. 30 Edict. soch. p. 24, 80.

31 Complete collection of Russian chronicles. T. X. St. Petersburg, 1851, p. 178.

32 Leopoldov A. F. Istoriko-statisticheskoe opisanie Zavolzhskogo kraya Saratovskaya gubernii [Historical and statistical description of the Trans-Volga region of the Saratov province]. Materials for statistics of the Russian Empire. Saratov, 1839. p. 97.

Tizengauzen V. G. 33 Collection of materials related to the history of the Golden Horde, vol. 1, Moscow-Leningrad, 1941, p. 306.

34 Ibid., p. 241. A. F. Leopoldov suggested that the pond is a Sugar Lake.

Demchenko A. A. 35 U istokov saratovskogo kraevedeniya [At the origins of Saratov regional history]. Issue 5. Saratov, 1990, p. 173. For more information, see: Maksimov E. K., Demchenko A. A. Unknown letters of A. V. Tereshchenko // Antiquities of the Volga-Don steppes. Issue 6. Volgograd, 1998, pp. 150-157.

Grigoriev V. V. 36 Edict. soch. p. 25-26.

Tizengauzen V. G. 37 Decree. op. P. 241.

Ballod F. V. 38 Old and New Sarai-capitals of the Golden Horde. Kazan, 1923. p. 99.

39 Ibid., p. 85.

40 The Sarai (later Sar and Podon) Orthodox Diocese was established in 1261.

Maksimov E. K., Demchenko A. A. 41 Decree. soch. P. 157.

42 Ibid., p. 154.

43 Leopoldov A. F. Istoricheskiy ocherk Saratovskogo kraya [Historical Sketch of the Saratov Region], Moscow, 1848, p. 17.

Ballod F. V. 44 Edict. op.P. 85.

Zakhoder B. N. 45 Shiraz Merchant on the Volga Region in 1438, Kaspiyskiy svod informatsii o Vostochnoi Evrope [The Caspian Set of information on Eastern Europe], vol. 2, Moscow, 1957, pp. 167-169.

Poluboyarinova M. D. 46 Edict. op. p. 46-47.

Fadeev R. A. 47 Istoricheskiy ocherk Saratovskaya gubernii [47 Historical essay of the Saratov province]. Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Saratovskaya oblasti (GASO). f. 407.

Leopoldov A. F. 48 Edict. soch. P. 83.

49 Ibid., p. 100.

.Geraklitov A. A. Istoriya Saratovskogo kraya v XVI-XVIII vekakh [History of the Saratov Region in the XVI-XVIII centuries]. Saratov, 1923. pp. 173-175.

51 Ibid., p. 136. The Church of St. John the Baptist, according to some researchers of the XIX century, stood on the site of the Batu Palace. (Bekker V. I. Memoirs of the Saratov province. Saratov, 1852). In support of this, A.V. Materkin (A.V. Materkin On the use of building stone from the ruins of the Golden Horde cities in the construction of the Tsaritsyn St. John the Baptist Church // Antiquities of the Volga-Don steppes. Issue No. 6. p. 185) finds in one of the letters of Vasily Nikitich Tatishchev with a diploma-

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matic mission visited the Lower Volga region in 1741: "Above the Black Yar on the same side, there is a place from the Russians called Tsarev Pad, where the great stone structure is visible. Tatara says that Batu built a house here. From there to the steppe along the Tsareva River, there is more than the building where the great Mosque stood for 50 years." Cit. From: Archive of the St. Petersburg Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. F. 1. Op. 3. D. 31. L. 112 vol.

Saratov historian A. A. Heraklitov was wary of the materials of "narodny kraevedenie": "We should refer the report about Batu's palace at the mouth of the Tsaritsa River to the echo of folk legends... The discovery of Tatar coins or bricks, so common on the banks of the lower Volga, could easily have instilled in the minds of Russian settlers the confidence that some Tatar city stood on the site of a Russian village. ...the direct connection of the Russian Tsaritsyn with the Tatar settlement is supported by some of the researchers of our local antiquity (for example, F. F. Chekalin) even in view of the indication of a certain Sherefetdin Bulgari, a Tatar historian who allegedly lived in the 16th century, that the Tatar city of Sarychin stood on the site of Tsaritsyn, which passed its name to the Russian successor." (Heraklitov A. A. Edict, op. cit. p. 137).

52 Proceedings of the Saratov Scientific Archival Commission (hereinafter-TSUAC), Vol. 24. Saratov, 1908. p. 14.

53 Ibid. Issue 32, 1915, p. 159.

54 Ibid., p. 153.

Istoriko-geograficheskiy slovar ' Saratovskaya gubernii [Historical and Geographical Dictionary of the Saratov Province], Vol. 1, Saratov, 1902, p. 1340.

Ballod F. V. 56 Privolzhskie "Pompeii". p. 89.

57 Ibid.

Minkh A. N. 58 Decree. op. p. 55.

59 Bogdan Viktorovich Zaykovsky (1878-1933), archaeologist of the SUAK, curator of the Museum of the Archival Commission. In 1909, he received from the Archaeological Commission Open sheets (permission) for the production of archaeological excavations.

Zaikovskiy B. V. 60 Kamennye babyakh Saratovskogo Povolzhya [Stone women of the Saratov Volga region]. Finds on the Kolyshleya River // Ibid.; same name. Beljamen Ancient Settlement // Ibid.; same name. Stamp on the Golden Horde vessel / / Ibid. Issue 25, 1909; same name. Archaeological exploration in the vicinity of Danilovka settlement // In the same place. Issue No. 26. 1910.

Zaikovskiy B. V. 61 Kratkiy otchet ob arkheologicheskikh razvedkakh 1912 g. [61 Brief report on archaeological exploration in 1912].

Minkh A. N. 62 Naberezhnye Chelny Uvek / / SGV. 1879. N 219.

Chekalin F. F. 63 Edict. soch. P. 28.

64 Cit. by: Ballod F. V. Privolzhskie "Pompeii". pp. 68-69.

Tizengauzen V. G. 65 Edict. soch. P. 302.

Golikova N. B. 66 Ocherki po istorii gorodov Rossii kontsa XVII - nachalo XVIII veka [Essays on the history of Russian cities in the late 17th-early 18th centuries]. Moscow, 1982, p. 48.

Geraklitov A. A. 67 Edict. soch. P. 100.

68 Characteristic Golden Horde archaeological material was found at the Uveshensk settlement: coins of the Tam, Mengu and Tokhtagu Khans, metal mirrors, bricks, shards of blue pottery with black ornaments in the form of a stylized bird; tiles - single-color (black, mother-of-pearl, green, blue, blue) and ornamented: white geometric pattern on a blue background, brown drawing in the form of rosettes on a white background, red-brown floral ornament on a green background, as well as images of acanthus leaves, shamrock and Arabic script. For more information, see: Ballod F. V. Privolzhskie "Pompeii".

Golitsyn L. L., Krasnodubrovsky S. S. 69 Uvek / / TSUAK. Issue 2. Vol. 3. 1891. P. 80.

70 Ibid., p. 34.

Chekalin F. F. 71 Edict. op. P. 10. S. M. Solovyov, N. M. Karamzin, N. I. Zabelin, P. A. Ponomarev, G. S. Sablukov refer to the evidence of Herodotus on this issue. However, during the excavations, the ancient city was not discovered. Later, during excavations at the Velsk settlement on the Vorskla River, antique ceramics were discovered.

Neyhardt A. A. 72 The Scythian story of Herodotus in Russian Historiography, L., 1982, p. 94.

Skvortsov N. B. 73 Archaeological sketches by V. Chasovnikov // Antiquities of the Volga-Don steppes. Issue No. 6. p. 161.

Mironov V. G. 74 Materials for the archaeological map of the Kamyshinsky district // Ibid., p. 158.

75 Ibid.

76 Alexander Nikolaevich Minkh (1833-1912) - historian, local historian, ethnographer, archaeologist, member of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, the Moscow Archaeological Society, the Saratov and Nizhny Novgorod Scientific Archival Commissions, and the Saratov Provincial Statistical Committee. In 1894.

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He started creating the Historical and Geographical Dictionary of the Saratov Province. He began by describing the Tsaritsyn and Kamyshen counties, explaining his choice as follows: "From ancient times, the movement of Asian peoples went from east to west, capturing the southern part. In this area, there were roads along which in the old days ordobazar villages used to go to Moscow and Saratov from Astrakhan. Here there was a well-known perevolka, along which the Tatar hordes made their way from the left bank of the Volga to the Russian borders for several centuries in a row; thieves ' people (like Stenka Razin and others)crossed the same path, but from west to east on the Volga, plundering up and down it oncoming caravans of ships. Here also appeared the first watchman of the southern Volga region - the town of Tsaritsyn. In the Tsaritsyn district, Tsar Peter put up a rampart with fortifications, which served until Catherine II...".

Minkh A. N. 77 Decree. op. p. 357.

Minkh A.m 78 Archaeological excavations and finds in the Atkarsky uyezd of the Saratov province. Atkarsk, 1911. P. 2. The author of the article found in the State Public Historical Library a copy of this booklet with the author's dedicatory inscription: "To Her Excellency Praskovia Sergeevna Countess Uvarova from the Author. Atkarsk. 23/5. 1911". In 1911, on the eve of celebrating the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov, Saratov was visited by Countess P. S. Uvarova, chairman of the Imperial Moscow Archaeological Society, and some members of the royal family. After getting acquainted with the exposition of the SUAK Museum, a petition was initiated to present a group of Saratov local historians to government awards.

79 Ibid.

80 TSUAK, Issue 25, 1909.

81 Materials for the description of the Saratov province. Geographical and statistical information about the province. Saratov, 1875. Application.

Zaikovskiy B. D. 82 Elan Atkarskaya / / TSUAK. Issue. 24. 1909.

Orekhov, V. F. 83 Excavations on the church land of Ivanovka, Khvalynsky uyezd, Saratov Province, TSUAK, issue 33, 1916.

Zaikovskiy B. V. 84 Osobennosti Saratovskogo kraya [Special features of the Saratov region]. p. 9.

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