Tableware from the 2016 excavations at the unfortified settlements of Rusino-4 and Rusino-5

The paper examines ceramics retrieved during the 2016 excavations at Rusino-4 and Rusino-5 which are unfortified settlements located in the Mocha River basin in the Troitsk administrative district of Moscow. Using the method of archaeological excavations, 1900 sq. m (including 12 structures sunk into the rock) were excavated at Rusino-4; 600 sq. m were excavated at Rusino-5 (including 4 structures). Russian light clay of sand-tempered wheel-turned ceramics made with incomplete oxidizing firing (70,4 % of all vessel fragments at Rusino-4; 65,8 % at Rusino-5) account for the largest share in these collections. This tableware is attributed to a separate local pottery tradition of the second half of the 14th (?) - first half of the 16th centuries, its features are in sharp contrast to well-known late medieval ceramics common in Moscow and Moscow Region. Based on the materials from the excavations, these unfortified settlements were dated to the second half of the 14th - 16th centuries.