Glazed Ware from the Golden Horde Period in the Central Museum of Taurida: An Attempt of Attribution of a Collection

Abstract

A significant collection of ceramic wares excavated at the ancient town of Solkhat in 1925–1928 under the supervision of A. S. Bashkirov, U. A. Bodaninskii, and I. N. Borozdin is lost. In 2017, the Central Museum of Tavrida organized a temporary exhibition entitled The Crimea in the Golden Horde Period. The Crimean Yurt of the Golden Horde: The Legacy of the Vanished Empire, particularly presenting the materials originating from the excavations at the ancient town of Solkhat. Among other artefacts, there were three ceramic items of the origin still not quite clear. Probably these items belonged to the collection originating from the 1920s–1930s excavations, since they were transferred to the museum collection in the Post-War Period in result of liquidation of some museum in Staryi Krym. In total, the collection in question contains 343 items in fragments or archaeologically complete forms. The collection is rather quite comprising 240 imported items. This publication presents about 50 fragments of glazed ceramic ware: table ware is the most numerous category (99.4%). A significant part of the imported ware in this collection suggests that it originated from the excavations of either a caravanserai or the architectural and archaeological complex of the madrasah-mosque of Khan Uzbek. It is also supported by fragmentary records in U. Bodaninskii’s 1928 journals. According to the primary analysis of the collection and analysis of written sources on the history of archaeological researches of Solkhat in the 1920s, there are reasons to suppose that the museum materials in question are related to the archaeological excavations by the All-Union Association for Oriental Studies and the Bakhchisarai Museum of Turkic-Tatar Culture in Staryi Krym. Perhaps following the repressions against the participants and leaders of 1925–1928archaeological researches, the museum depository in Staryi Krym was liquidated and its materials were transferred to the Central Museum of Taurida.