A Tver’ jug from the Selitrennoe settlement

The paper reports on the materials from the excavations of Sarai, which wasthe capital of the Golden Horde, conducted in 2015. The excavations yielded a jug madeof white-burnt clay with green glaze (fig. 1). The body of the vessel is ornamented withtwo impressed decorative rows made by round figural stamps, with each row featuringa different figural composition. The figural pattern of the stamps is of two types, namely,the so called “ferocious animal” and “archangel”, or “Alexander of Macedon”. Theanalysis of the technology, the jug shape and ornamentation allows the archaeologiststo date it to the end of the 14th - early 15th centuries. Besides, given the characteristics ofthe figural stamp impressions on the vessel found in the Golden Horde capital, it may beargued that the jug belongs to a group of prestigious ceramics. This fact, in its turn, canhelp link this find to the arrival of an embassy of either the Prince Mikhail Alexandrovichor the Prince Ivan Mikhailovich of Tver’ in the Golden Horde to obtain a jarlyq (a MongolEmpire decree authorizing the rule of the prince).