Silver Vessels of the Golden Horde Era from the Middle Ob Basin

Silver Vessels of the Golden Horde Era from the Middle Ob Basin

DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2018.46.2.114-122

N.V. Fedorova
Arctic Research Center of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District, Respubliki 73, Salekhard, 629008, Russia

This article addresses one of the most informative archaeological sources for reconstructing medieval history––imported silver dishware, which is abundant in northwestern Siberia. Based on three newly described silver vessels of the Golden Horde Age from the Saigatino I sanctuary in the Surgut region of the Ob basin, the possible attribution of these and similar specimens from Siberia and the Urals is discussed. Locating the places where such items were made is difficult for reasons relating to the functioning of individual workshops and of the silversmiths’ schools in general. Nevertheless, a suggestion is made that the workshops were located in the Bulgar Ulus––a successor of the Volga Bulgaria, with its rich tradition of manufacturing jewelry and transporting it along trade routes directed north to the western Urals and Western Siberia. The time and the routes whereby the Golden Horde toreutics were brought to Western Siberia are assessed. All finds in this region are clustered within a small area in the Surgut region of the Ob, while similar but isolated finds in the Perm area and in the northern Urals mark the possible trade routes. The question is raised as to whether the finds of imported silverware in Western Siberia fall within the territory of the medieval Ob principalities of Koda, Bardakov, and Kunovat. The appearance of personal hoards may indicate the emergence of a new elite. Generally, the imported silver dishware of the Golden Horde age is highly relevant to social developments in medieval Western Siberia.

Keywords: Middle Ages, Golden Horde, Bulgar Ulus, silver dishware, Surgut, Ob basin, Ob principalities