The Muroma on the Russian archaeological map: research of the past and the present situation

The paper analyzes a new corpus of archaeological sites of the Murom Oka region in the second half of I mill. - early II mill., which clarifies the area and settlement pattern of the Muroma people as well as trace the routes of initial exploitation of this area by the medieval Russian population. The Oka left bank was the most populated Muroma area, high density of the sites has been recorded near the Kremlevskaya Hill and Chaadaevsky gorodok that were directly linked to the Oka. Most Muroma sites were located within 20 km around the Kremlevskaya Hill near the tributaries of the first and second order that had mesopodzol and cryptopodzol soils not very suitable for agriculture and wide floodplain meadows for keeping domesticated animals. In the Oka right bank area the Muroma sites ‘clung' to the Oka, they were located near small streams some 3-5 km away from the river channel. Therefore, the Muroma people controlled around 100 km of the trade water route from the site presently known as the town of Pavlovo to the confluence of the Unzha and Oka. This, most likely, explains abundance of non-ferrous metal finds and a large number of coins in the graves. The Slav colonization of this area began from the center of the Muroma land that had been inhabited for a long time; at its initial stage it is attested by appearance of Medieval Russia kurgan burials and in-ground burials at the Muroma cemeteries, and wheel-made pottery of Medieval Russian type at open settlements. It is clear that the newcomers first settled in Muroma open villages. Early in II mill. the settlement pattern underwent some changes. New medieval Russian villages and kurgan cemeteries appeared, and one third of the Muroma sites were abandoned. Only one third of the Muroma settlements continued to be occupied during the Medieval Russia period.