Archaeozoological materials from Suzdal' settlements in the context of studying economy of north east Medieval Rus: the first summary account

This paper examines the results of analyzing collections of animal bone remains collected during excavations of seven settlements in the center of the Suzdal' Land. Fieldwork at these sites was conducted by the Suzdal' expedition of the Institute of Archaeology, RAS, and the Shuya expedition in 2004-2013. Cultural deposits within the chronological range of the 9th -13th centuries were analyzed at the settlements. Six settlements are located in Suzdal' Opolye, in its central and eastern part, at a distance of 4-17 km from Suzdal'; the seventh settlement is situated outside Opolye 70 km north-west of Suzdal' on the Teza, which is a left tributary of the Klyaz'ma River. The determination of the taxonomic and species composition of the animal bone remains established that five out of seven settlements may be classified as regular rural settlements engaged in raising agricultural animals, while hunting and fishing appeared to be secondary economic activities. Two other settlements may be characterized as natural resource settlements where fur animal trapping was a primary subsistence activity, fishing being important as well. The proposed attribution of the sites is consistent with the data of the paleolandscape and archaeological data. The analysis of changes over time of osteological ranges of domestic ungulates for representative bone collections (in terms of number) from Suzdal' Opolye settlements helped produce new information on changes in animal husbandry of the region from the chronological standpoint. A reverse correlation of percentages of cattle and pig was observed in different chronological horizons at one settlement. Another important feature is drastic increase in the percentage of sheep and goats in the total number of domestic meet-producing animals starting from the 12th century onward across the board.