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Sections in the book: A descriptive text section (pp. 7 – 28) about history of coin forgery as well as technical observations and conclusions; Catalogue (pp. 29-77) with 121 high resolution photos of coins and coin dies including magnified imagery; Lab analysis (pp. 78-79) of the metal dies are made of.
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Although, back in the 1970s, Edmund Leach threatened archaeology that he will 'poison' it with structuralism, his structuralist work did not have that far reaching impact on the changes of archaeological interpretative paradigms. The reason for that is ` on the one hand, structuralists' lack of in-terest in diachronic interpretation, and on the other, the concept of the universal structures of mind for which upco-ming poststructuralism did not have much interest. To be fair, there are some rather interesting structuralist interpretations in archaeology (even in the Serbian one) mostly based on the application of binary oppositions. However, in the broader context, structuralism, work of Levi-Strauss, and de Saussure linguistics in particular, enabled archaeolo-gists to understand material culture in a semiotic field - as a study of signs and contexts of meanings. In other words, objects in archaeology, under the influence of structuralism, have been seen as organised in the wider systems of signs (organised in binary oppositions, but not necessarily) with particular meanings. One of the problems of this semiotic, structural approach in archaeology is that it automatically equates material culture and language, which is highly pro-blematic, since meanings in material culture are rarely arbitrary in the way that it is the case in a linguistic relation between signifier and signified. Poststructuralism, theory of practices and poststructuralist critique of scientific positivism had much higher impact to archaeology, especially postprocessual one.
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Collection of articles on history, culture, architecture, urban development of Chișinău
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Pavo Anđelić rođen je u Sultićima 1920. godine u pitoresknom selu u području Neretvice (Klis), općina Konjic. Osnovno obrazovanje stekao je u Seonici u Neretvici, gdje je još 1907. godine sagrađena osnovna škola. Nakon završetka škole u Seonici roditelji ga šalju u Visoko, gdje završava klasičnu franjevačku gimnaziju i gdje stječe solidnu klasičnu naobrazbu. Nastavak školovanja uslijedio je na Franjevačkoj teologiji u Sarajevu. Suviše nježna zdravlja, napušta studij u Sarajevu. Ubrzo izbija II. svjetski rat, a Pavo odlazi u Zagreb, gdje u vihoru rata služi vojni rok, te studira pravo. Položivši veliki broj ispita, vraća se u rodne Sultiće, u Konjic. U ranom poraću završava pravo i postaje sudac kotarskog suda u Konjicu. Na mjestu suca ostaje 6-7 godina. U to vrijeme počinje pražnjenje bazena za Jablaničko jezero. Trebalo je spasiti sve pokretne i nepokretne spomenike kulture. Pavo se, još od ranije zaljubljenik u kulturno-povijesnu baštinu, s kustosima Zemaljskog muzeja uključuje u arheološka istraživanja, rekognosciranja i zbrinjavanja arheoloških lokaliteta i pokretnih spomenika kulture. Sve više radi kao arheolog, sve manje kao sudac.
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Since the correct interpretation of heraldry can result in knowledge about precisely defined political programmes and personal aspirations of Bosnian rulers in the Middle ages, the main aim of this paper is to present an outline of history of the medieval Bosnian coat of arms through the works of Pavao Anđelić, who is the first historian from Bosnia and Herzegovina to have systematically researched medieval Bosnian heraldry. His contribution to our knowledge of this subject is immense because he dealt with a large number of different heraldic problems, of which his work on the coat of arms of the Bosnian state and its monarch is certainly the most important one. The main issue of Bosnian heraldry is based on the fact that Bosnian kings used two different coats of arms during the same period of time. It is thought that one of these symbols represents the Bosnian state, while the other one could represent the king. If this assumption were to be right, this specific case of the Bosnian coat of arms would be documented as a rare occurrence in European heraldry. The other problem that arises with this question is of a more historical than heraldic nature; what were the motives for the inconsistent use of one symbol for representation of the king? Through his research Pavao Anđelić was able to form a specific concept of coexistence of these different heraldic devices used by Bosnian rulers. His theory rests mainly on the idea of territorial unity of Bosnian lands which was formed during the reign of king Tvrtko I (1353-1391). According to his works, the coat of arms formed by king Ostoja (1398-1404; 1409-1418) during his second reign represents the entire Bosnian kingdom (including the Serbian lands), while the old device of king Tvrtko I continues to be used as a symbol of the Kotromanić dynasty and Bosnia proper.
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The cemetery Okoshki 1 is located in South-Eastern Transbaikalia, in the valley of the Urulyunguy river. Majority of these burials belong to the middle of the 13th — the beginning of the 15th centuries. The Khirkhira town, located at the distance of 1.5 km to the south-east of the cemetery Okoshki 1, is dated by the same time. For several decades, Okoshki 1 was the cemetery for the residents of this ancient town founded by Yesünggü, a nephew of Genghis Khan. The people buried on the cemetery belong to different social groups. Their burials differ by the form of tumulus, grave chambers and sizes of grave pits. The largest funerary structures are found in the south-western part of the burial ground and are represented by ground barrows with a diameter of 11—14 m and 0.7—1.2 m high. Stone barrows with a diameter of 4.7—6.0 m and 0.3—0.4 m high are localized in south-western and central parts of the burial ground. Flat stone structures, 2—8 m in diameter, are located in the central and south-eastern parts of the necropolis. So far, Okoshki 1 yielded 14 Mongol burials of the imperial period. All examined skulls typically belong to the Central Asian anthropological type. Judging by features of the funerary ritual and anthropological data, the people of lower social status, those who worked hard, were buried in the north-eastern part of the cemetery, while the south-western part of the necropolis was reserved for the elite.
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In 1885, two Christian medieval cemeteries were opened in the north of present-day Kyrgyzstan, in the Chuy Valley. They were identified from the finds of gravestones with Syrian epitaphs. Soon the epitaphs were translated and published by D. Khvolson and S. Slutsky. Archaeological excavations were carried out on the necropolis of Buranа town, in 1885—1886, but the data from these studies were not published. They are stored in the Archive of the RAS Institute of History of Material Culture, among documents of the Imperial Archaeological Committee.Data on the excavations in late 19th century on the medieval cemetery near the settlement of Burana are cited and analyzed in this article. Most of the burials were made in pits. The second largest group is the burial in the pits with niches. All the deceased lay stretched on their backs heading west. The burials contained no grave goods, but sometimes they contain personal adornments or wearable crosses.At the end of the article, the burials from Burana Christian cemetery are compared with the burials from the necropolises of Ak-Beshim, Krasnaya Rechka and Belovodskaya fortresses, also located in the Chuy Valley. By comparing them, we come to conclusion about a break in development of Christianity in the Chuy Valley, and emergence of a new cultural tradition, associated with gravestones with epitaphs, at the beginning of 13th century.
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The authors present a discussion on medieval settlements located in Western Kazakhstan: Kyzylkala, Ketikkala, Saraishyk, Aktobe-Laeti and Zhaiyk towns. They relate in general to the period of the 10th—14th centuries, although some of them also existed later (Saraishyk). Problems of historiography and formation of medieval urban culture, economic ties with other regions, as well as historical topography of sites based on archaeological research are discussed. Fortification of settlements, residential and farm buildings, main features of funerary rite practiced on the associated necropolises are considered.
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Long-term complex archaeological work allowed to study a considerable area (2516 sq. m) in the central part of the Bolgar town of the Golden Horde period (100—160 m to the south-east from the Cathedral Mosque). Here, the remains of the unique monumental structure of the city bazaar (the middle of the 14th century) were discovered and studied. An important result of the work was the allocation of additional horizons in the strata of the Golden Horde layer of the 14th century, which makes it possible to date the objects associated with them with an accuracy of up to 30 years. Based on the analysis of the location of synchronous ground and buried objects, an attempt has been made to determine the boundaries of individual homesteads. The nature of the finds from the territory of the investigated complex of homesteads testifies that during the entire 14th century, an active handicraft activity was carried out related to copper-foundry, glass-working, jewelry, and also accompanying bone-carving production. During the existence of a city bazaar in the given territory (50—70s years of the 14th century), the activities of the inhabitants of the homesteads under consideration could be connected with the implementation of trade, as indicated by the numerous finds of merchandise inventory: plummets, elements of weights. An analysis of the density of buildings and the size of the established estates suggests that the area of the estates in the central part of the Golden Horde Bolgar decreased during the first half of the 14th century, and only the destructive events of the feudal war period stopped this trend.
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The article reviews published materials and hypotheses concerning the fortification of Bolgar town in the 14th century, in the era of its heyday and reaching the maximum area. The hypotheses were verified based on the data obtained during excavations in 2014—2015. It is shown that the archaeological realities documented in the excavation reports do not match with O. Khovanskaya and Yu. Krasnov’s hypotheses on a buttress wall (or a cellular wall, ‘tarasa’) placed on the crest of the rampart and existence of pillar-basedtowers. In reality, during the excavations of 1946, 1953 and 1967, only irregular traces of pillar pits of different depths were discovered. Such traces could be left by a light fence supported by some separate pillars. Pillar-based towers in the Russian medieval fortifications are not known, because they would represent very fragile structures, vulnerable to stone-hurling artillery. It was suggested that the found pillar pits could be traces of some household structures of a Russian village dated by 17th—20th centuries. Defensive structures on the top of the rampart could consist of a light wooden fence without any towers. Some attempts are made to explain the difference between the Russian and Bolgar urban defense strategies. While the Russian strategy was based on use of vertical barriers (wood-earth walls), the Bolgar strategy was based on the construction of ramparts to prevent cavalry attacks on the town. Such ramparts were defended by cavalry detachments moving inside the town walls.
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The paper discusses peoples who lived on the territory of Bulgar Ulus of the Golden Horde in 13th—14th centuries, which can be proven by archaeological sources. Thus, these data suggest that along with the Bulgar this territory was populated by the Russians, Mordvins, Mari, Armenians, and part of this territory was occupied by the Kipchaks and, probably, by the Mongols, who settled there after their military raids. All these peoples closely interacted between themselves. At the same time, there were also some small local ethnic groups, such as the Permians and the Udmurts, who managed to preserve their identity. As a whole, Bulgar Ulus of the Golden Horde was multiethnic, which continued the tradition formed before the Mongol invasion.
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Medieval epigraphs written in Arabic and found in the Middle Volga region provide some very important historical evidence for any student of the regional history. For they preserved an important page of the medieval written culture. The authors address a corpus of Arabic inscriptions made on stones in the first half of the 16th century, identified during the excavations on the territory of the Kazan Kremlin in the early 2000s. Fragments of stones stored in the Museum of Archaeology (Institute of Archaeology, Academy of Sciences, Republic of Tatarstan) contain some fragments of texts in Arabic, including fragments of words and some separate letters. The paper describes the context in which these inscriptions were revealed and offers a reading of the texts on stones. Specific usages of these stones are suggested. Some fragments could be architectural elements.
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The article is devoted to the administrative-territorial structure of the political center of a Golden Horde region (vilayet) known as Sarai, which was located in the Delta of the Volga River. Research history of the largest towns and their environs is discussed. The administrative units are characterized in accordance with the chronology of historical events. The life span of the settlements and the stages in their development are determined through analysis and comparison of archaeological, numismatic and written data. The process of urbanization in the region is linked to the changes in the level of the Caspian Sea. Suggestions are made about the location of the first capital of Jochi Ulus (the city of Sarai) and the name of Krasny Yar town.
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The excavation process of a unique medieval burial containing mercury in one of the kurgans of the Shumaevo burial ground was conducted with a number of methodological and analytical errors, that resulted in an incorrect attribution of the complex to the period of the Golden Horde. “Technical details” that were taken for granted without any critical examination were reproduced in a number of publications and engendered a number of invalid conclusions regarding the origin, social station and spiritual habits of the Shumaevo warrior. New data obtained from studying textiles from the burial indicate the mistaken dating of the burial and the premature nature of the conclusions regarding the complex’s connection with the political and cultural history of the Mongols. The burial was made by the early medieval nomads that were dominant in Central Asia long before the arrival of the Mongols.
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The article introduces two new and previously unpublished burial places for nomadic warriors from the burial mound “Molokanova Shchel” (near the village of Praskoveevka — Gelendzhik, Krasnodar Krai). Both burials of 35—45 year-old men were accompanied by certain sets of weapons — quiver kits, sabers and a spearhead. One of them contained a helmet composed of 4 parts and an ax; the other one contained the remains of a wooden shield with metal parts. Determining the dating of both complexes in the framework of the Golden Horde time, the authors dwell in detail on the attribution of the helmet and the remnants of the shield, linking their appearance in the Northeast Black Sea Coast with the resettlement here of the black hoods from the Southern Russia in 1260s. This raises the question of the need to take into account the contribution of the “pre-Mongol” Eastern European nomads, trapped inside the Golden Horde along with much of their traditional material culture, in modern disputes about the sources of armament of the population of the Golden Horde.
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Settlements located in the North-Eastern Azov and Lower Don basin are of great interest for the study of trade and economic relations in 13th—14th cc. both with the center of the region, which was the Azak, and between rural sites. During the analysis of the material obtained from the settlements, it is possible to determine the nature of the settlement: whether it was a small town or a rural center, as well as to imagine the degree of involvement of each settlement in trade activities, and to give an overall picture of the development of commodity relations in the region.
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This volume is a contribution to the decipherment of Ptolemy’s universal map, with focus on the territory known as Dacia. The information provided by Ptolemy was translated into modern data considering local features and complying with certain general principles. The difficulty of this task consisted in the way the ancient manuscripts transmitted the original location coordinates, as well as in the way Ptolemy patched together information from ancient itineraries and other sources. The author of this volume conceived a general formula for mapping Dacia based on the information found in the two oldest sources he used. Furthermore, he determined local patterns with the help of the other sources – therefore, defining locations resulted in a better determination of the surrounding relative positions. This information, as well as the correlation of the Ptolemaic locations with archaeological findings, provides an increased recognition of Ptolemaic Dacia, while also contributing to exposing the Ptolemaic universal map.
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A team of specialists prepared a critical edition of the oldest census in the Nahuatl language, complementing the text with the tools for independent translation and interpretation of its content. This book is the first publication of this sixteenth-century Aztec manuscript, which for centuries was almost “invisible” to scientists. One of the most valuable features of the Tepoztlan census is that it creates the opportunity to look into the homes of ordinary people.
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The publication is focused on late medieval pottery products with higher aesthetical effect. The key group is represented by stove tiles, where the unifying elements of relief decoration helped to define series of motifs for stoves with specific iconographic concept, which were found in various locations. The same approach can be also used with small ceramic sculptures, aquamaniles and relief-decorated floor tiles, even though the achieved information value in these cases is much lower. Micropetrographic, XRF and other analyses helped to identify the production centres and the distribution model of these ceramic groups. 3D documentation enabled a detailed comparison of differences between individual reliefs and specific traces of manufacturing procedures. Individual chapters contain active links to the source database of analysed items and to 3D models of selected specimens from reference collections.
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The collection book includes 20 scientific articles by leading specialists and researchers from a National Scientific Conference in honor of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Dobri Chintulov, held in 2022. It was organized by the Regional History Museum "Dr. Simeon Tabakov" in Sliven and the Municipality of Sliven.The topics cover various aspects of Chintulov's work, such as his roles as a teacher, poet, composer and compiler of textbooks. Part of the publication focuses on the portrayal of Sliven during the Revival period, and notable personalities are also presented. The processes of the formation of educational work, ethnology, theater, and fine art in Bulgaria are also traced in detail.
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