New evidence on the so-called Caravanserai of Koneurgench

This paper presents preliminary results of the archaeological investigation of the so-called Caravanserai of Koneurgench. The beginning of its construction is dated to the boundary between the 12th and 13th century. Having been severely damaged in the course of the Mongolian invasion it was reconstructed in the first third of the 14th century and finally destroyed during the devastation of the town by Timur in 1388. The question about the purpose of this building is not definitely solved but, in terms of typology, it is similar to the multi-column jumah mosque or a mosque with a courtyard layout.

From the history of the creation of “Antiquities of Herodotus Scythia”: collaboration of the IAK with F. K. Brun in the 1860s

This paper is devoted to the brief but successful collaboration in the 1860s between the Imperial Archaeo- logical Commission (IAC) and the Odessa scholar of German origin F. K. Brun (Philipp Jakob Bruun) (1804–1880). This episode is recorded in a dossier kept at the Manuscript Department of the Scientific Archives of the Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The scientist was commissioned with writing the foreword to the then expected publication of “Antiquities of Herodotus’ Scythia”. He prepared the work basing on materials from two trips across the region: it was published in 1872 in the form of an appendix with supplements about the description of Darius’ campaign against the Scythians and a map of Herodotus’ Scythia. The article publishes a report by F. K. Brun on the surveys of 1864– 1865 in the Northern Black Sea region and his propositions of 1869 to IAC concerning the expansion of researches to the entire littoral of the Black Sea. The facts presented show F. K. Brun as an expert on historical geography and an archaeologist.

The history of the earliest rigid-structure saddles in the light of archaeological data from the Southern Aral Sea area

The article deals with terracotta statuettes of saddled horses and fantastic beasts coming from ar- chaeological sites of Chorasmia and its cattle-breeding periphery. Among them, a group of figurines with saddles of the so-called horned type stands out, which are well attested in iconographic and material pieces of evidence of the Roman Imperial era from Western Europe. A great importance of the invention of the “horned” saddles for the development of the art of warfare in the Ancient world during Hellenistic and subsequent times is emphasized, and a question of their invention in the Southern Aral Sea area is raised as well.

Bowl-like forms of handmade pottery from Truvor’s Hillfort

This paper systematizes bowls and pots/bowls from the collection of handmade pottery from the Iz- borsk Gorodishche (Truvor’s Hillfort). Eight types have been distinguished, of which three comprise imported ware. In the paper, the circle of analogues and the foundations for dating have been established. The conclusion has been drawn that the high ratio (10 percent) of bowl-like vessels among the handmade pottery from the site under consideration is explained by the influence of Baltic-Finnic cultures upon the local pottery-making.

The earliest archaeological materials from excavations of 2013–2014 in the area of Yaroslavovo Dvorishche

This paper considers the archaeological artefacts from the lower horizon of cultural deposits of the site excavated in 2013–2014 at Yaroslavovo Dvorishche in Veliky Novgorod. On the basis of morphological examination of the finds, three chronological groups have been distinguished dating from the mediaeval period (10th–11th century), early Iron Age and the Early Metal Age.

Felt caps of the 14th century from Duboshin II site in Novgorod

This paper is devoted to mediaeval headdresses — felt caps found during archaeological investigations at the Slavensky Konets (district) in Novgorod at excavation Duboshin II. It comprises their characterisation, archaeo­ logical context of the findings, belonging to particular complexes of the buildings at the urban properties and chronology.