The Abakumlevo 3 settlement as a new site of the migration period in the Suzdal Opolye

The paper explores Abakumlevo 3, which is a Migration period site in the Suzdal Opolye discovered by the expedition of the Institute of Archaeology, RAS, 2021. The assemblage of hand-made pottery fragments obtained during the initial examination of the site suggests that the discovered site can be associated with Kibol 1, Kibol 7 and Seltso 4-7 which are unfortified settlements dating to the third quarter of I mill. AD. The assemblage of goods consists of implements and household items (22 items), details of female and male garments (23), details of harness (2) and objects linked to production (9). Chronological markers found in the central part of the unfortified settlement are typical for the middle of the 5th - turn of the 5th and 6th centuries. In this publication the author undertakes the first attempt to fit Abakumlevo 3 and this type of settlements into the historical and cultural context. The items from the collected assemblages as well as a cache of female garment jewelry (planned to be described in a separate publication) suggest that the site can be ascribed to the cultural groups of the Volga Finns who inhabited the Oka-Sura interfluve. The Ryazan-Oka culture is the closest cultural group. The ceramic assemblage was formed through mingling of the Moshchiny and the Ryazan-Oka traditions as well as, probably, traditions of the indigenous population which lived in the Suzdal Opolye in the second quarter of I mill. AD.