Archaeological studies in the Chuvash Republic

In June 2024, long-term archaeological studies were continued at the Bolshaya Tayaba settlement in the Yalchik district of the Chuvash Republic.

The studies were conducted according to the plan of joint scientific research of the Chuvash State Institute of Humanities and the Institute of Archaeology named after A.Kh. Khalikov of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, as well as under the state program of the Republic of Tatarstan “Preservation of the national identity of the Tatar people”.

Bolshaya Tayaba medieval settlement covers an area of about 28 hectares. It is surrounded by two rows of ramparts and moats, and has a rectangular outline. The site dates back the X-XIII centuries, i.e. the pre-Mongol Bolgar period. The Bolgar population, adopted Islam in the X-XI century, lived in this settlement, which is approved by the excavations of the Bolshaya Tayaba burial ground without mounds, located opposite the Bolshaya Tayaba settlement, on the right bank of the Tayabinka river.

In 2024, the structures of defensive fortifications of the Volga Bolgarian medieval settlement were studied on the area of 252 sq. m. The remains of defensive fortifications in the form of palisades on the outside of the bulwark, large vertical posts on the inner side and remains of burned log cabins in the central part of the rampart were discovered. The finds in the excavation are represented by a large number of Bolgar pottery, iron items and numerous bone fragments.

A 14-meter-long collapsing site was studied by longitudinal cleaning of the southern rampart. The same rows of log cabins were recorded here, which were filled with earth and were the remains of fortifications.

At the next stage, the Bolshaya Tayaba Muslim burial ground was excavated, where 1 adult and 4 child burials were examined. The studies will be continued next year.