Items Made of Wood from the Territory of the Craft and Commercial Area at Bolgar During the Golden Horde Period (on materials of excavations CLXXIX, CXCII)

Among the categories of products from the territory of medieval Bolgar the items made of wood are considered the most rare. It is connected, first of all, with not possibility of preservation of organic matter (including wood) in the cultural layer of Bolgar. The exception is considered for the items affected by fire. This study has been intended to fill in information about the development of the craft for the treatment of wood turning and craft production at Bulgar during the Golden Horde period. The findings made of wood derived from the territory of the trade and craft quarter and the building of urban market are examined in the paper: the case for sales of inventory, parts, moucharaby (mashrabia), double-sided ridges. All these items were found in objects and layer of fire which have been associated with the capture of the town by Bulak-Timur in 1361. The technique of selection, preservation and research of samples from charred wood are presented by the authors. Samples of parts, moucharaby and bilateral ridges allowed to determine the type of wood from which were made presented products. For this purpose, three sections in transverse, radial and tangential directions were made on each of the samples. In a number of cases scraping from samples in the specified directions was used. As a result, the authors are able to establish that the masters of wood processing used local species of deciduous trees: maple and birch as well as imported wood – boxwood.