Archeology of Old Rus' and its neighbors 2800-DWOLDRUS-OG

Old Rus' was the largest and most influential state in Eastern Europe during the 10th – mid-13th centuries. The main population of the Old Rusian state was the Eastern Slavs, however, the authority of the Old Rusian princes also extended to many Baltic and Finno-Ugric peoples.
The most important role in the formation of the Old Rusian state was played by immigrants from Scandinavia, whose military and trade activities are associated with the formation of the most important East European trade routes and large early urban centers, which became the key points in the formation of the East Slavic statehood.
The adoption of Christianity according to the Byzantine model in 988 predetermined the peculiar nature of the development of the spiritual culture of Old Rus'. The material culture of the Old Rusian population was formed on the East Slavic basis under the significant influence of Scandinavians and Byzantines, with the participation of the Baltic and Finno-Ugric peoples.

The purpose of the lecture course is a general description of the material and spiritual culture of the population of Old Rus' and neighboring peoples during the 10th – 13th centuries, based on the characteristics of archaeological materials with the involvement of written, epigraphic, iconographic, numismatic, sphragistic and other types of sources.

Teaching will be carried out in accordance with the following thematic blocks:

1. Eastern Europe on the eve and during the formation of the Old Rusian State: archeology and written sources.
2. The history of the study of Eastern European archaeological sites of the end of the 1st – the first half of the 2nd millennium.
3. Before Rus’: Settlement of Slavic tribes in Eastern Europe at the end of the first millennium. Material culture and funeral rite of the Slavic tribes.
4. Rus’ in the 9th – 10th centuries. The role of the Scandinavians in the formation of the Old Rusian state: "The Norman question". Trade routes, silver and the first towns, material culture and the funeral rite of the Old Rusian elite.
5. The adoption and spread of Christianity in Rus’ in the light of written sources and materials of archaeological research. Christian innovations in material and spiritual culture. Christianity vs paganism and its survivals.
6. Old Rusian towns of the 11th – mid-13th centuries: typology, planning, fortifications. "Wet cultural layer": features and possibilities of its study.
7. Craft, material culture, occupations and life of the urban population of the 11th – mid-13th centuries.
8. The rural population of Old Rus’ in the 11th – mid-13th centuries: typology and planning of the settlements, occupations of the population, regional features of the development of rural settlements, the funeral rite of the rural population.
9. Old Rus’ and its neighbors. Tributaries, allies, enemies: Baltic and Finno-Ugrian peoples of Eastern Europe.
10. Old Rus’ and its neighbors. From constant wars to political alliances: nomads of the Eastern European steppes and forms of relations with them.
11. The material culture of Old Rus’: general trends and regional features of development during the 11th – mid-13th centuries.
12. Money of Old Rus’. The minting of the first coins. Money and commodity-money: the phenomenon of the “coinless period”.
13. Cultures and everyday life of the Old Rusian population in the light of epigraphy, sphragistics and other disciplines.
14. Mongol invasion of the territory of Eastern Europe and Old Rus’. "Mongol pogrom" in the light of written sources and archaeological data
15. After Old Rus’. Changes in the material culture of the East Slavic population after the "Mongol pogrom". Old Rusian heritage in the material and spiritual culture of the East Slavic peoples in the high and late Middle Ages.

Type of course

general courses

Mode

Classroom

Prerequisites (description)

Course coordinators

Mikalai Plavinski

Learning outcomes

- to know the main stages of the formation and historical development of the Old Rusian state,
- to know the latest research on the history of the material and spiritual culture of Old Rus',
- to know the most important archaeological sites of Old Rus'.

Bibliography

1. Androshchuk F. Vikings in East: Essays on the Contacts on the Road to Byzantium (800–1100). Uppsala, 2013.
2. A Viking Century Chernihiv area from 900 to 1000 AD. S. Stepanenko (ed.). Paris, 2022.
3. Die Rus' im 9. und 10. Jahrhundert. Ein archäologisches Panorama. N.A. Makarov (hrsg.). Studien zur Siedlungsgeschichte und Archäologie der Ostseegebiete. Band 14. Kiel, 2017.
4. Drevnyaya Rus'. Gorod, zamok, selo. Otvetstvennyy redaktor B.A. Kolchin. Moskva, 1985 (Древняя Русь. Город, замок, село. Ответственный редактор Б.А. Колчин. Москва, 1985).
5. Drevnyaya Rus'. Byt i kul'tura. Otvetstvennyy redaktor B.A. Kolchin. Moskva, 1997 (Древняя Русь. Быт и культура. Ответственный редактор Б.А. Колчин. Москва, 1997).
6. Duczko W. Ruś Wikingów Historia obecności Skandynawów we wczesnośredniowiecznej Europie Wschodniej, Warszawa, 2007.
7. Finno-ugry i balty v epokhu srednevekov'ya. Otvetstvennyy redaktor V.V. Sedov. Moskva, 1987 (Финно-угры и балты в эпоху средневековья. Ответственный редактор В.В. Седов. Москва, 1987).
8. Franklin S., Shepard J. The Emergence of Rus, 750–1200. London, 1996.
9. Noonan T. S. The Islamic World, Russia and the Vikings, 750–900. The Numismatic Evidence, Routledge, 1998.
10. Mikhaylov K.A. Elitarnyy pogrebal'nyy obryad Drevney Rusi kamernyye pogrebeniya IX – nachala XI veka v kontekste severoyevropeyskikh analogiy. Sankt-Peterburg, 2016 (Михайлов К.А. Элитарный погребальный обряд Древней Руси камерные погребения IX – начала XI века в контексте североевропейских аналогий. Санкт-Петербург, 2016).
11. Rus' v IX–X vekakh: arkheologicheskaya panorama. Otvetstvennyy redaktor N.A. Makarov. Moskva – Vologda, 2012 (Русь в IX–X веках: археологическая панорама. Ответственный редактор Н.А. Макаров. Москва – Вологда, 2012).
12. Rus' v IX–XII vekakh: obshchestvo, gosudarstvo, kul'tura. Otvetstvennyye redaktory N.A. Makarov, A.Ye. Leont'yev. Moskva – Vologda, 2014 (Русь в IX–XII веках: общество, государство, культура. Ответственные редакторы Н.А. Макаров, А.Е. Леонтьев. Москва – Вологда, 2014).
13. Rus' v XIII veke: drevnosti Temnogo vremeni. Otvetstvennyye redaktory N.A. Makarov, A.V. Chernetsov. Moskva, 2003 (Русь в XIII веке: древности Темного времени. Ответственные редакторы Н.А. Макаров, А.В. Чернецов. Москва, 2003).
14. Ruś wikingów i Waregów. Europa Wschodnia we wczesnym średniowieczu. W. Duczko (red.). Wrocław, 2022.
15. Sedov V.V. Vostochnyye slavyane v VI–XIII vv. Moskva, 1982 (Седов В.В. Восточные славяне в VI–XIII вв. Москва, 1982).
16. The Archaeology of Medieval Novgorod in Context: A Study of Centre/Periphery Relations. Oxbow Books, 2012.
17. The Russian Primary Chronicle. Laurentian Text. Translated and edited by Hazzard Cross S. and Sherbowitz-Wetzor O. P., Cambridge, 1930.
18. Yanin V.L. Ya poslal tebe berestu… Moskva, 1998 (Янин В.Л. Я послал тебе бересту… Москва, 1998).

Additional information

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