K.A. Rudenko. Studies of VI Alekseevsky and Murzikhinsky ancient villages in Tatarstan in 1992-1996. Kazan: ZAO Izdatelskiy Dom Kazanskaya Nedvizhimost Publ., 2015. – 400 p.

The book is dedicated to the study of two villages of the Bolgar period - VI Alekseevsky and Murzikhinsky located in the Alekseevsky District of Tatarstan. The villages are dated late 10th – 12th centuries. They are located in the center of Volga Bolgaria on interstate trade routes, and had an original material culture indicating diverse occupations, cultural and economic relations of the population of these settlements. The investigated areas of these settlements have allowed to characterize the narrowly dated and stratified archaeological complexes of the 11th - 12th centuries. By means of a comparison of stratigraphy and planigraphy data, and an analysis of findings discovered in structures, as well as by using the results of special studies, the researchers were able to determine the dates of operation and filling of the sites, the accumulation period of the cultural layer, and to identify chronologically consistent ceramic complexes dated with an accuracy of several decades. This information is used for dating and attribution of materials from other Bolgar settlements of the pre-Mongol period. The materials of the 18th - 19th centuries obtained as a result of the studies were also reviewed.

The publication is intended for archaeologists, historians, regional ethnographers, graduate and postgraduate archaeology students, school teachers, university professors and everyone interested in the history and culture of Tatarstan.