Republic of Mordovia in ancient times

Finno-Ugric tribes have inhabited the territory of modern western, northern and central Russia since prehistoric times. Archaeological sites associated with the Mordovians can be traced from the first millennium BC.
The first mention of the Mordovians is found in the Byzantine Bishop Jordan (VI century); in Russian sources - from the 11th century. In the 10th century, Moksha (in the south of the modern republic) and Erzya (in the north) paid tribute to the Khazar Khaganate, then in the 11th-13th centuries they formed a state known in Russian chronicles as the Purgas volost, with a center in modern Arzamas.
Joining the Russian centralized state. As a result of the Mongol-Tatar conquest, the Mordovian land lost its independence, becoming the object of raids and a place for collecting yasak.
In the 2nd half of the XIII century. after the formation of the Ulus Jochi (Golden Horde), the system of land grants to princes and murzas became the basis of the administrative-territorial structure in the Mordovian region.
At the beginning of the XIV century. on the Mordovian land, a large administrative center of the Horde arose - the city of Mokhshi, in which, from 1313, its own coin was minted. The settlements of the local feudal nobility were usually located near large rivers in high, hard-to-reach places. On one of them, the Ityakovsky settlement, a bronze plaque was found, which was issued to officials of the Golden Horde administration.
In the XIII-XIV centuries. part of the Mordovians - farmers, blacksmiths, jewelers, builders - were resettled to the Golden Horde cities on the Middle and Lower Volga.
Campaigns of Timur at the end of the XIV century. led to the defeat of almost all areas of the Golden Horde, torn apart by endless civil strife. Mohshi lost its importance as an outpost of the khan's power in the Mordovian land. From the 40s. 15th century after the final collapse of the Golden Horde, part of the Mordovians found themselves under the rule of the Kazan Khanate that had arisen.
However, the most important for the Mordovian people was the entry into the Moscow and emerging Russian centralized state. It was a complex and lengthy process that took place in several stages. Its prerequisite was the annexation of part of the Mordovian territories of Primokshany, the right bank of the Volga and the Surye to the Ryazan and Nizhny Novgorod principalities. The Nizhny Novgorod principality was the successor to the political traditions of the Vladimir-Suzdal princes. From the end of the XIII century. its border began to gradually move away to the East, approaching the left bank of the Sura. In 1328, Prince Konstantin Vasilyevich ordered the Russian people to settle along the rivers Oka, Volga, Kudma in the place of Mordovian settlements. In 1372, the Kurmysh fortress was founded on the left bank of the Sura. The territory subject to Nizhny Novgorod included the lands of the Mordovians along the left bank of the Sura to Zapyanya. In 1392, the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily I received a label in the Horde for the Nizhny Novgorod reign. By 1411 Nizhny Novgorod was finally subordinated to the Moscow princes.
In the 80s. 15th century a significant part of the Mordovian land was part of the Muscovite state. In connection with the aggravation of relations with Kazan and the frequent raids of the Nogai and Crimean khans, the Russian state carried out the strengthening of the eastern borders. To this end, the construction of new fortress cities on the Mordovian outskirts (Kadom, Temnikov) began. Several campaigns were undertaken against the Kazan Khanate, in which the Mordovians also took part. In the summer of 1551, the peoples of the right bank of the Volga took the Sviyazhsk oath of allegiance to the Russian Tsar, which was a legal confirmation of the entry of the Mordovian people into the Russian centralized state. The fate of the Kazan Khanate was decided by the campaign of 1552.

The Republic of Mordovia in the XVIII-XIX centuries.

In the XVIII century. there were significant changes in the administrative structure of the region, which was divided between 3 provinces, 5 provinces and 6 counties. The political development of the Mordovian region in the Petrine era took place in line with all-Russian trends. Among the political events of the early 18th century that affected the Mordovian region was the Great Kuban pogrom of 1717, which became the last raid of nomads into the region. According to the materials of the 3rd revision (1762-66), the population of the region was about 334 thousand people. The Mordovian Territory was an agricultural region of Russia: 96% of the total population were peasants.
In 1706, Peter I, by his decree, demanded that the process of Christianization be accelerated. During its implementation, religious intolerance and fanaticism were noted. Violence served as a pretext for the speeches of the Mordovian peasants. Under the conditions of the empire, the largest was the uprising of the peasants in 1743, the immediate cause of which was the attempt by the Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Alatyr D. Sechenov to destroy the Mordovian cemetery near the village. Sarley. The uprising had an impact on the government's policy towards the Mordovians, and it turned to peaceful means to bring Orthodoxy to the region. Benefits for the newly baptized were increased: exemption from taxes for 3 years, from recruitment duty, material rewards. The most important thing was that the adoption of Orthodoxy, which was the state religion, meant the social and legal equalization of the Mordovians with the Russians. The consolidation of Orthodoxy in the Mordovian environment occurred in the 2nd half. XVIII - early XIX century., When it penetrated into everyday life, it became an integral part of the way of life.
In the Mordovian region in the XVIII century. an industry associated with the processing of local raw materials was created. Potash production reached a significant development, the products of which were used in the glass, leather, cloth industry, distillation. The state owned Brilovsky, Shtyrmensky and other factories.
Metallurgical enterprises on the territory of the region were small: the Ryabkinsky and Sivinsky plants of the Milyakovs, the Vindreysky plant of the Batashevs, the Insarsky Nikonov, etc. In the 18th century. expanding market relations of the Mordovian region. There were more than 10 fairs in Saransk uyezd alone.
In the XVIII century. the Mordovian region in the field of socio-economic development acted as a part of Russia, closely integrated with other regions. In the all-Russian division of labor, he was assigned the role of a producer of marketable bread, alcohol, wood chemical products, etc.
In the 19th century the vast majority of manufactories were patrimonial possessions. The most important role in organizing the industrial production of the region was played by the distilling industry, in which, before the reform of 1861, the nobles occupied a monopoly position. Only 2 state-owned factories competed with noble factories: Brilovsky and Troitsko-Ostrogsky.
During the industrial boom of the 1890s. Russia was turning from an agrarian into an agro-industrial country. But the Mordovian region remained a typically agrarian region. Another feature of its socio-economic situation was the poor development of cities - only 5 (Ardatov, Insar, Krasnoslobodsk, Saransk, Temnikov), and they were among the small ones.

Republic of Mordovia in the first half of the XX century.

In the spring and summer of 1918, in the Mordovian region, as well as in Russia as a whole, a policy of "war communism" took shape, which included a number of economic, political and social measures. An accelerated nationalization of industrial enterprises was carried out (1918), including non-qualified production, Councils of the National Economy were created, a ban was introduced on private trade, direct trade between the city and the countryside, landlord estates and possessions of large owners were confiscated, land was redistributed among the peasants on an equalizing basis, etc. d.
The authorities created various forms of Soviet and collective land use - agricultural artels, agricultural communes, partnerships for the joint cultivation of land, collective farms, state farms. However, the experience of the first Soviet and collective farms was unsuccessful, and the situation in the countryside continued to deteriorate; the middle peasants, wealthy peasants and kulaks had a negative attitude towards the new formations, and the famine among the poor strata of the population, which began as early as the years of World War I, intensified. Because of the threat of starvation in the cities, especially in the capital and large industrial centers, in the spring of 1918 a food dictatorship was introduced in Russia, carried out by food detachments of soldiers and workers who were sent to the countryside to seize "surplus" grain. By the end of 1918, there were more than 3,000 food detachments working together with emergency bodies (revolutionary committees, emergency commissions, VOKhR, ChON) and committees of the poor created by the authorities. Kombedy practically turned into authorities in the countryside, often committed serious abuses. The harsh actions of the food detachments and commanders became the cause of peasant revolts that swept the Soviet Republic in the spring and summer of 1918, unrest and uprisings of peasants in the village. Bolshoy Azyas, Yakovshchina, Barancheevka, Lada, Pyatina, Gumny, Staroe Sindrovo, etc.
The economic situation in the counties of Mordovia became seriously complicated in 1919 with the introduction of food distribution. In 1918–21, about 10,000,000 poods of grain were collected from the surplus in the region.
In the spring of 1918, the Civil War began. The counties of Mordovia during the period of "war communism" twice (1918 and 1919) became the front line, the closest rear of the Eastern Front; significant armed forces of the Red Army were stationed on the territory of the region. When at the end of May 1918 the Czechoslovak Corps revolted, one of the first centers of the uprising was Penza, where 660 fighters from Saransk and Ruzaevka were sent to suppress the counter-revolution. In June 1918, the First Army of the East was created from scattered units operating in the direction of Simbirsk - Syzran - Samara. In with. Paygarma, near the station. Ruzaevka, the headquarters of the 1st Eastern Army was located. On August 15, 1918, a mobilization department was created in Saransk to replenish the Twenty-fourth Samara-Simbirsk Iron Rifle Division, the Fifteenth Rifle Division and the Twentieth Penza Rifle Division at the expense of the local population. In October 1918, the formation of the First Saransk Soviet Rifle Regiment began, which participated in battles with the Whites on the Eastern and then Southern fronts. In April-May 1919, the Bashkir Revolutionary Committee was located in Saransk, which formed the Bashkir division, in 1918-20 there were a significant number of international military formations of the Red Army in the region.
In total, about 74 thousand people were mobilized. Local authorities and workers provided every possible assistance in providing the army with food and fodder for the cavalry. However, the harsh policy of "war communism", especially the surplus appraisal, increased the discontent of the Russian, Mordovian and Tatar peasantry. The uprisings of 1919 became the largest on the territory of the Mordovian region; as a rule, all social strata of the population took part in them. Along with the peasants, performances took place in military units, deserters became participants in the performances. In July-August 1919 alone, 7,096 deserters were recorded in Insar, Krasnoslobodsky, Ruzaevsky, Saransk, and Narovchatsky uyezds, and 6,004 in Temnikovsky uyezd; by 1920, desertion in the region had grown into a "green movement." In total, in 1918–20, more than 200 peasant uprisings took place in the Volga region.
The result of the policy of "war communism", along with the victory of the Soviet government in the Civil War and the elimination of foreign intervention, was a deep crisis in the economy of the country and the Mordovian region: a reduction in industrial production, a widespread decrease in acreage, the leveling of the peasantry and the naturalization of its life, the crisis of the financial system, inflation , the degradation of tax policy, the curtailment of democracy and the spread of the state of emergency.
In 1928, Mordovian statehood appeared - as part of the Middle Volga region, the Mordovian district was formed with the center in Saransk. In 1930, the district was transformed into the Mordovian Autonomous Region, since 1934 - the Mordovian ASSR.

Republic of Mordovia during the Great Patriotic War

The Great Patriotic War was not only a dramatic, but also a heroic period in the history of the peoples of our country. Together with other fraternal peoples, the natives of Mordovia contributed to the defeat of Nazi Germany. Without waiting for summons from the military enlistment offices, communists, Komsomol members, and non-party people went to recruiting stations with a request to send them to the front. Over 6 thousand volunteers went to the front in the first 2 months, incl. more than 4 thousand communists.
Special units of skiers, tank destroyers, specialists for underground work behind enemy lines, partisan detachments were trained in the republic. Here they received and created military units, prepared partisan bases in the forests of the Zubovo-Polyansky and Temnikovsky districts. Military units of naval aviation, 29th, 85th, 94th and 95th divisions were stationed on the territory of the MASSR. chemical repulse battalions, armored train regiment, 178th division. communications battalion, etc. The 112th ski battalion participated in the battles near Moscow. The 326th Roslavl Rifle Division, formed on the territory of Mordovia, began its combat path near Moscow and ended on the banks of the Elbe. Many natives fought in parts of the 91st Guards Dukhovshchina Rifle Division. Up to 100 thousand inhabitants of Mordovia were mobilized for the construction of the Sursky defensive line of Moscow and the region. Mordovia could receive combat aircraft at specially equipped airfields.
The republic became one of the centers of the Middle Volga region for the rehabilitation of the wounded: there were 14 hospitals on its territory, 6 of them in Saransk.
The evacuated equipment of 17 enterprises of Ukraine, Belarus, Bryansk, Kursk, Orel regions was placed on the production facilities of Mordovia. and other regions of the country. In the autumn of 1941, many of them began to produce products for the front, but by the middle. 1942 worked at full capacity. The reorganization of the work of the industry of the republic on a military basis was carried out mainly at the beginning of 1942, earlier than in the whole country (mid-1942), since it did not require significant changes in the technological process. Thanks to the commissioning of the Saransk Mechanical Plant and the Elektrovypryamitel plant in Mordovia, the foundation was laid for the post-war development of large-scale industry and the formation of its national personnel. The first produced fuses for shells, the second - rectifier units used in the army, navy, and the national economy. The Sarov plant, which produced artillery shells, also belonged to the defense industry. Trade cooperation has been developed in the republic, traditional crafts, primarily associated with women's labor, have been revived. Sewing, cloth, fur, felting and felt production, separate branches of the food industry developed.
Mordovia accepted about 80 thousand people. evacuated population, including 25 thousand children under 15 years old. To accommodate more than 3 thousand children from orphanages and children from pioneer camps, taken out of the front and the front line, 26 orphanages and boarding schools were created. In the first months of the war, the inhabitants of the republic adopted and raised more than 1,300 children.
Mordovia helped the territories affected by the Nazi occupation. In 1942–43 about 4,000 horses, 3,000 pigs, and 10,000 heads of cattle were transferred to the Smolensk, Oryol, Ryazan, and Tula regions; assistance was rendered to Leningrad, since 1944 each district patronized one of the districts of the Gomel region, liberated from occupation.
More than 240 thousand people went to the front from Mordovia. of different nationalities. More than half of them died. Thousands of fighters - natives of Mordovia performed heroic deeds on the battlefields: in the defense of the Brest Fortress, Moscow and Leningrad, in the besieged Sevastopol, in the battles near Stalingrad and on the Kursk Bulge, in the steppes of Ukraine and the forests of Belarus.
During the war years, more than 100 thousand people. awarded the medal "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945." In Mordovia there are 104 Heroes of the Soviet Union, 25 people. became knights of the Order of Glory of three degrees.

Republic of Mordovia in the postwar years

The war with fascist Germany caused great damage to the national economy of the country. Its consequences were also severe for Mordovia. Human losses amounted to 131 thousand people. The village was the most vulnerable link. Almost the entire able-bodied population was called to the front. There were women, old men and teenagers. The number of able-bodied people decreased from 342 thousand people. at the end of 1940 to 208 thousand in 1945. The collective farms were actually left without cars. The lack of tractors, combines and other agricultural equipment led to a delay in spring field work and harvesting. Cultivation areas have sharply decreased, crop yields, livestock numbers and productivity of livestock have decreased. In 1945 there were 1,623 collective farms, more than 1,000 of which were lagging behind.
In the industry of Mordovia in the post-war years, the machine park was almost completely updated. The production technology has changed radically. The peculiarity of the development of industry was that, with the reconstruction and expansion of old enterprises, the construction of new ones began: tool, cable, cement, electric lamp and other plants, for which 500 million rubles were allocated from union funds. The volume of gross industrial output in 1950 increased by almost 20% in comparison with 1940. However, there has been a trend towards a decline in industrial production. The situation in agriculture of the republic was more complicated.
At the end of 1950, out of 1,652 small farms, 910 large farms were created; in 1959 there were 707 of them; the other one caused dissatisfaction among the peasants of strong farms with the fact that the land was left without an owner, the infrastructure of villages and villages attached to other farms was violated. Other measures were taken to restore agriculture. The decisive role was played by the increasing supplies of high-quality seeds, fertilizers, fuel, spare parts and equipment to the republic. All this has sharply reduced the volume of manual labor, increased productivity, and actually made it possible to increase the rate of development of agriculture. In the course of the restoration of the national economy, the problems of the social sphere were solved. Housing construction revived: in 1946–50, more than 57,000 m2 of housing was commissioned, and 20,000 houses were built in villages and villages. Prices for consumer goods were reduced (by 1.9 times in 1952 against 1946).
In June 1957, the Mordovian economic administrative region was created, headed by the Economic Council. 71 industrial enterprises and 3 large construction organizations were transferred to his subordination. The placement of a complex of enterprises in the chemical and lighting industries, a foundry, the expansion of the construction base (Kovylkinsky plant of silicate brick and slate in the Komsomolsky district), an instrument-making plant, reconstruction of cable, instrumental and other plants began. The 1st turbine of the Saransk CHPP-2, a workshop of a dump truck plant, a pasta and furniture factory were put into operation.
1950s - early 60s are considered the most successful in the development of the Soviet economy. The average economic growth rate was 6.6% in the 1950s. and 5.3% in the early 1960s.
An important result of the industrial development of Mordovia in 1959–65 was the transformation of the republic from an agrarian-industrial into an industrial-agrarian one.
In 1965, Mordovia had 12,300 tractors in agriculture. By 1965 all collective farms had been electrified, but the level of mechanization in animal husbandry remained low. The gross grain yield was 700,000 tons. The average monthly wages of workers and employees increased by 25.8%, and the incomes of collective farmers increased by 2.8 times. Many collective farms have switched to a monthly guaranteed payment. More than 44,000 new houses have been built in rural areas.

MORDOVIA - Mordovian Republic, in the Russian Federation; in the East of European Russia. The area is 26.2 thousand km2. The population is 955.8 thousand people (1996): Mordovians (32%), Russians (60.8%), Tatars (4.9%), etc. The capital is Saransk. In the 13th century the territory of modern Moscow was part of the Ryazan and Nizhny Novgorod principalities; in the middle of the 13th century. captured by the Mongol-Tatars. With the fall of the Kazan Khanate (1552) as part of Russia. In November 1917 - March 1918 Soviet power was established. In 1928, the Mordovian Okrug (in the Middle Volga Territory) was created, which in January 1930 was transformed into an autonomous region, and since December 1934 - the Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In December 1990, the Declaration on the State-Legal Sovereignty of the Republic was adopted. In 1994, the modern name was introduced.

The Republic of Mordovia is located in the center of the East European Plain. Therefore, its relief is relatively simple - a plain, somewhat elevated and hilly in the southeastern part, flat and low, mainly in the valley of the Moksha River and its tributaries in the west and northwest. Mordovia is located at the junction of forest and steppe natural zones. Therefore, its nature is extremely diverse. These are the dense forests of Meshchera, and the forest-steppe, and black soil, and traces of the Central Russian Upland. Swamps and sands, rivers and lakes, chalk mountains and soft outlines of black earth regions. Hot days of summer and crackling Christmas frosts. More than one thousand species of only higher plants are found in the flora of Mordovia. Over two hundred species of birds, about sixty species of mammals. In the north-west of the republic, in the Temnikovsky district, there is the Mordovian State Reserve. P.G. Smidovich. On the territory of Mordovia, the Moksha and Sura flow with their tributaries belonging to the Volga River basin. In total, there are 114 large and small rivers in the republic, about 500 lakes. The soils of Mordovia vary in fertility and, if properly used, can produce high yields. Our territory is characterized by a combination of leached and podzolized chernozems and a complex of gray forest soils with a small distribution of soddy-podzolic soils. The agro-climatic resources of Mordovia are quite favorable for the development of many branches of agriculture. There is enough heat for growing winter rye, spring and winter wheat, oats, potatoes, hemp, fodder crops.

Mordovia is located at the junction of forest and steppe natural zones.

The Republic of Mordovia is one of the densely populated regions of the center of Russia. In terms of population density (36 people per 1 sq. km), it ranks third in the Volga-Vyatka region after the Chuvash Republic (70) and the Nizhny Novgorod region (40 people per sq. km). The population density is almost five times higher than the Russian average.

Mordovia is a multinational republic. Mordovians, Russians, Tatars, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Udmurts, Armenians and other peoples live on its territory. The indigenous population - Mordovians is ethnically heterogeneous and consists of two groups: Erzi and Moksha. The ethnonym "Mordva" was first mentioned in the work of the Gothic historian Jordanes (VI century AD). The Byzantine emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus (X century) knew about the country of Mordia. The ethnonyms Erzya (Arisu), Moksha (Moksel) are found in the message of the Khazar Khagan Joseph (X century) and in the travel notes of the traveler-monk V. Rubruk (XIII century). Starting from the 11th century, the ethnonym "Mordva" in various spellings is repeatedly mentioned in Russian chronicles. “... and along the Otser river, where you flow into the Volga, Murom has its own language, and Cheremisi has its own language, Mordovian has its own language” (“The Tale of Bygone Years”, XII century) The long and complex process of the entry of Mordovian lands into the Russian state finally ends only with the fall of the Kazan Khanate (1552). The adaptation of the Mordovian people to the conditions of Russia was quite difficult. As a result, a significant part of the Mordovians from the end of the 16th century became involved in resettlement processes, which contributed to their settlement throughout the territory of the Russian state. On the indigenous territory, the Mordovians found themselves in an ethnic minority - the Russians became the predominant part of the population. In total, 1,117,492 people of Mordovian nationality live in Russia (according to the 1989 census). The most numerous diasporas are in the Samara region (116,475 people), in the Penza region (83,370 people), in the Orenburg region (68,879 people), in the Ulyanovsk region (61,061 people), in Moscow and the Moscow region (59,244 people).

The capital of the Republic of Mordovia is the city of Saransk

After 1917 the movement for the creation of a Mordovian national-state entity begins. In 1928, the Mordovian District was formed, and in January 1930. it was transformed into the Mordovian Autonomous Region. The territory acquired the status of a republic on December 20, 1934. In January 1994 The Mordovian ASSR was renamed the Republic of Mordovia.

The Republic of Mordovia is an industrial and agricultural region and maintains a strong position in Russia and in the international market for the production of light sources, power semiconductor equipment, electronics, excavators, rubber products, medical products, petrochemical engineering products, etc. More than 50 enterprises export their products to 100 countries of the world.

SD Erzya Russian and Soviet artist, sculptor Stepan Dmitrievich Erzya, real name Nefyodov belonged to the ethnic group Mordvin - Erzya, hence the pseudonym. Born October 27 (November 8), 1876 in the village of Baevo, Alatyrsky district, Simbirsk province (now the Ardatovsky district of the Republic of Mordovia). A world-famous sculptor, he is best known as a master of woodcarving. The largest collection is kept in. Mordovian Republican Museum of Fine Arts. S. D. Erzi. He worked in modern style. Almost died during the Civil War. With the permission of the Soviet government, in the 1920s he went to Paris to do a solo exhibition. And then - to South America (to Argentina). In 1951 he returned to his homeland with a huge collection of works made of wood, marble, and bronze. His exhibitions in Moscow were very popular. People stood in long lines to see his work.

. Another person who glorified our region was the artist F. V. Sychkov (1887 -1958). Evidence of this - numerous canvases. In his own way, he opened for us an interesting and peculiar world of the Mordovian village, rural children. In the village of Kochelaevo, not far from the town of Kovylkino, on the top of a hill stands a small house, of which there are many in our villages. But as soon as you enter this modest village hut, you will find yourself in the realm of paintings. This is the house-museum of the remarkable artist FEDOT VASILIEVICH SYCHKOV. Here he was born and lived almost all his life. Many wonderful masterpieces were written by the artist. Folk holidays and festivities are depicted on his canvases. The heroes of his paintings are Russian and Mordovian peasants. Sychkov especially liked to portray children. The work of the famous artist is highly appreciated. He was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor, he was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR, People's Artist of Mordovia. Sychkov, a painter, devoted many paintings to the Mordovian people.

R. M. Bespalova On January 21, 1925, People's Artist of Russia Raisa Makarovna Bespalova was born. This woman made a significant contribution to the spiritual culture of the republic and forever connected her creative destiny with Saransk. R. M. Bespalova occupies a special place among the most prominent representatives of the artistic intelligentsia of Mordovia in the second half of the 20th century. Her creative activity was connected with vocal performance, and with the acting profession, and with pedagogical work. She was not only the first in Mordovia to be awarded the high title of People's Artist of Russia (1970) and the first among the artists of the republic to be awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor (1960), Bespalova became the first representative of the artistic intelligentsia of Mordovia. Admirers of vocal talent lovingly called her nothing more than "Mordovian nightingale", comparing with a bird whose singing abilities became the subject of poetization in Russia.

F. F. Ushakov Admiral of the Russian Navy Feodor Ushakov was born on February 13, 1745 in the village of Burnakovo, Romanovsky district, Yaroslavl province, and came from a poor, but ancient noble family. At sea, the Russian fleet under the command of Ushakov did not suffer a single defeat. No wonder the admiral was called the sea Suvorov. Ushakov spent his youth and the last years of his life in the small village of Alekseevka beyond Moksha. In honor of Admiral Ushakov, an order and a medal were established, which are awarded to the most courageous, courageous sailors.

Ogaryov N. P. The name of the poet and publicist Nikolai Platonovich Ogaryov bears the name of the largest university in the Volga region - Mordovian State University. . The monument to N.P. Ogarev is installed at the main building of the Mordovian University, and the line from the poem “Young Man”: “Study! Understand that knowledge is power” became the motto of students who proudly call themselves “Ogarevians”.

AI Polezhaev At the intersection of Proletarskaya and Polezhaev streets in 1967, a monument to the poet, revolutionary democrat Alexander Ivanovich Polezhaev was unveiled. The poet is depicted full-length in an overcoat thrown over his shoulder. He spent his early childhood years in Saransk. The working people of Mordovia highly honor the memory of AI Polezhaev. One of the central streets is named after him. The Mordovian book publishing house published collections of Polezhaev's poems, studies, books are devoted to his work

The first Mordovian poet - Dorofeev Zakhar Fedorovich was born on March 24, 1890 in the village of Salazgor, Torbeevsky district of Mordovia. In 1912 in Moscow, Dorofeev published a primer and books for reading in the Mordovian language.

V. N. Dezhurov. Vladimir Dezhurov is the only cosmonaut born in Mordovia. He made his flight on March 14, 1995 as part of the international Russian-American crew on the Soyuz TM-21 spacecraft (V. Dezhurov (commander), G. Strekalov and American astronaut N. Thagard). For 79 days, he and his colleagues had to do difficult scientific work on the Mir orbital station. After returning, our fellow cosmonaut was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation

MP Devyataev Mikhail Petrovich - the legendary Soviet pilot. He entered the history of the Great Patriotic War by accomplishing an unprecedented feat: he hijacked an V-1 carrier aircraft from a secret German airfield. The terrible days of trials lived in concentration camps are described by Mikhail Petrovich in the book Escape from Hell. She is a parting word to the younger generation: to remember and never again allow this to happen. Mikhail Petrovich was born on July 8, 1917 in the Mordovian village of Torbeevo in a peasant family. Mordvin. He was the thirteenth child in the family. Member of the Great Patriotic War from June 22, 1941. Already on the second day, he participated in an air battle on his I-16. At the entrance to the village of Torbeevo, a real-life monument is erected - the Mi plane. G-17 - in honor of the heroic escape of M.P. Devyatayev from fascist captivity.

M. E. EVSEVIEV Makar Evsevyevich, Mordovian scientist-educator, teacher, wrote the first primers for Mordovians-Mokshas and Mordovians-Erzi. The name of M.E. Evseviev was given to the Mordovian State Pedagogical Institute, the library, the street of Saransk, also the Malokarmalinsky secondary school of the Ibresinsky district of the Chuvash Republic, a monument was erected here and a museum named after. Evseviev, which is constantly updated with new exhibits. Our countryman was awarded the orders of St. Stanislav, St. Anna.

Introduction

Archaeological monuments are one of the most valuable assets of historical science, the most important source that reveals the history of human society, the centuries-old history of peoples. They themselves, whether it is an ancient tool or a monument of art, a dwelling or a defensive structure, are the creation of the people - the creator of all the material and spiritual benefits of society, the creator of history. They are an inextricable part of his life, a clear evidence of the long and complex path of historical progress that human society has traveled since the very initial stages of its formation.

Archaeological material is the main historical source for studying the ancient period of human history, which lasted hundreds of millennia - primitive society. But even for subsequent periods, including the Middle Ages, the study of the history of society, the history of the masses, the creation of a true historical picture is unthinkable without careful and comprehensive involvement of archaeological material. This is especially true in the past of non-literate peoples, including the history of the Mordovian people.

The Mordovian people are one of the ancient peoples of Eastern Europe. Archaeological excavations suggest that the first pages of the history of the Mordovian tribes proper should be considered in early iron monuments dating from the 1st millennium BC. before the beginning of the 1st millennium AD. The problem of the Gorodets culture provides the key to solving the issue of isolating the Mordovian tribes from the general conglomerate of tribal groups of the Middle Volga region.

1. Age of stone and early metal

In the Late Paleolithic (30-10 thousand years ago), primitive communities settled mainly in Eastern Europe. Their sites were found north of the 64th parallel (about 175 km from the Arctic Circle). The oldest traces of human presence in the Middle Volga region date back to this time. Late Paleolithic flint tools were collected on the banks of the Volga, near the village. Polnoe-Yaltunovo in the lower reaches of the Tsna. Among the known sites, the closest to Mordovia is the Karacharovskaya Late Paleolithic site near Murom on the Oka.

The beginning of the penetration of primitive man into the Moksha-Sura interfluve dates back to the Mesolithic era (10 - 7 thousand years ago), but its solid development took place only in the Neolithic era.

The appearance of groups of wandering hunters on the territory of our region was due to a change in the lifestyle of the Late Paleolithic population of Eastern Europe. With the onset of the Mesolithic, large settlements with long-term communal dwellings, which were built from stones, large bones and mammoth tusks, disappeared. The transition of the Mesolithic communities to a mobile way of life is closely related to the fundamental changes in natural conditions caused by the retreat and melting of the last glacier at the turn of the geological eras - the Pleistocene and Holocene (8500 - 8000 BC).

At the beginning of the Holocene, the vegetation cover is restructured, cold steppes and periglacial tundras are replaced by coniferous-broad-leaved forests. These changes had a dramatic effect on the development of the animal world. They led to the disappearance of the mammoth, woolly rhinoceros and other large animals of the Ice Age, which served as the main object of hunting for Paleolithic man. At the same time, the populations of elk, wild boar, waterfowl and upland birds, and fish have increased significantly. Significant changes in the composition of game animals led to the development of new methods of hunting (stalking, hiding prey), which remains the basis of the economy of the Mesolithic communities. The bow and arrow, invented in the late Paleolithic, are established as the main hunting weapon. Now there was no need to organize driven hunting for large animals, which required the participation of a significant number of people. It became more expedient to send small groups of hunters in different directions from the place of residence. The effectiveness of new hunting techniques was increased by the use of a dog tamed in the Mesolithic. There are such specific forms of fishing as poultry production.

The intensification of hunting led to the rapid destruction of animals in the areas of residence of each community. This forced the Mesolithic man to move more frequently within his territory and contributed to the development of new hunting grounds. Untouched forests between Oka and Sura began to attract the attention of primitive hunters. The remains of monuments of that time were found near Lake Imerka, the village of Tarvas-Molot in the Zubovo-Polyansky district, the village of Shiromasovo in the Tengushevsky district. Obviously, the penetration of the Mesolithic communities into our region did not occur simultaneously and from different directions. Archaeologists note in the materials of so far isolated sites features of the cultures of the southwestern, Volga-Oka and Kama regions.

The mobility of hunting groups led to the appearance of short-term camps, small in area, without residential structures or with temporary hut-like buildings. For them, elevated places near rivers and lakes were chosen. Large stationary settlements of the Upper Paleolithic time, located in places of convenient driven hunting, are losing their significance.

The rapid depletion of hunting grounds stimulated the development of such a form of appropriating economy as fishing, which in the Mesolithic era becomes not a sporadic hunt, but a purposeful branch of the economy. Fishing hooks appear, finds of the remains of nets suggesting the use of boats are known, and harpoons are very widely distributed. However, in the economy, fishing becomes predominant later, already in the Neolithic. Gathering, practiced in the Paleolithic, in the Mesolithic time becomes selective.

An important invention of the Mesolithic man is the stone axe, which appeared with the wide spread of forests. The technique of making tools from stone continues to improve. Of great importance are composite tools made of a wooden or bone frame with a groove into which small inserts of silicon knife-like plates were inserted.

Changes are also observed in the social organization of the Mesolithic society. The small size of the sites and the temporary nature of the dwellings indicate a significant reduction in the number of Mesolithic tribes compared to the Late Paleolithic. However, there is the existence of a tribal community based on maternal kinship, with a developed joint household characteristic of it.

Thus, within the framework of the Mesolithic in the north of Europe, as well as in the Middle Volga region, there were no fundamental changes in the economy, although manufacturing industries appeared in the south, primarily agriculture. However, by the end of the Mesolithic time (5th millennium BC), the forest tribes had reached such a level of development of the appropriating economy, at which the prerequisites for obtaining an excess product, characteristic of the next era of the Stone Age - the Neolithic, were created. This led to a demographic leap, which led to the active development of the forest zone, including the territory of the Moksha-Sura interfluve.

In the Neolithic period, the spaces between the Oka and Sura were covered with mixed forests, in which spruce, pine, birch, alder, oak, and hazel grew. Elk, bear, beaver, hare, fox and other representatives of the animal world lived in them. This time is characterized by a relatively humid and warm climate, close to modern.

If in the steppe zone of Eastern Europe the beginning of the Neolithic was marked by a transition from an appropriating economy (hunting, fishing, gathering) to a producing one (agriculture, animal husbandry), then in the forest zone the appropriating economy continues to develop, but already with a bias towards fishing rather than hunting. But everywhere the main result of economic activity is the creation of an excess product that does not go directly into the sphere of consumption. This is one of the main differences between the Neolithic and the Mesolithic.

In the Neolithic time, the territory of our region was firmly mastered by primitive tribes. In the spaces of the Moksha-Sura interfluve, several dozen Neolithic sites are known (a complex of monuments near Lake Imerka, Kargashino sites in the Zubovo-Polyansky region, the settlements of Mashkino and Shaverki in the Krasnoslobodsky region, the Andreevsky settlement in the Kovylkinsky region, etc.).

The abundance of calm, fish-rich rivers with an extensive hydraulic system, inundated floodplain lakes and forests created favorable conditions for the life of numerous Neolithic communities. At that time, the Moksha-Sura interfluve was inhabited by fishing and hunting tribes, whose ancient settlements were located on floodplain sand dunes along the banks of rivers and lakes. Flint arrowheads and spearheads, bone harpoons, fishhooks, net sinkers, etc., are evidence of their occupations.

In the Neolithic era, among the local tribes, fishing finally prevailed over hunting. Thus, a whole layer of fish scales and bones was found at the Kargashin sites in the Zubovo-Polyansky district. The main methods of fishing with the use of boats, nets, tops, fences required the settlement of fishermen near the places of fishing and settlement.

Neolithic monuments are small permanently functioning settlements with a layer rich in cultural remains. There are from one to three stationary dwellings in the form of oval-shaped semi-dugouts with a frame-pillar structure and deep open hearths. Earthen bunks were located along the walls, niches-pantries or cellars were built in the floor of the dwelling. Similar buildings have been explored by archaeologists at the Andreevsky settlement in the Kovylkinsky district, the Shaverki settlement in the Krasnoslobodsky district of Mordovia.

One of the characteristic features of the culture of the Neolithic era was the appearance of hand-made pottery. Now it is assumed that the entire forest zone received ancient ceramics, quite homogeneous, from one source, most likely from the Balkans, through the transmission links - the cultures of the early Neolithic of the Bug-Dniester and Dnieper-Donetsk regions. This is also evidenced by the parallel development of the forms and ornamentation of ceramics in many cultures of the forest belt for a long time.

The fragility of large clay cauldron-shaped sharp-bottomed vessels, which were not taken during migrations, the widespread presence of clay, which served as a material for making dishes, were the reasons why ceramics did not enter into an exchange item in this era, which prevented the spread of a certain type of dishes outside the settlements of a particular group tribes. Therefore, ceramics, the shape of vessels and especially their ornamentation formed the basis for the identification of archaeological cultures of the Neolithic.

For this time, in the Moksha-Sura interfluve, archaeologists distinguish three different cultural groups of the population. The first is characterized by ceramics ornamented with comb-shaped impressions, the other - by dishes decorated with triangular pricks, the third - by applying a combination of pit-comb prints to the surface of the vessels. Their interaction determined the direction of the main ethno-cultural processes.

The Neolithic era is characterized by the flourishing of the technique of making tools from stone and bone. At that time, such methods of processing products as drilling, grinding, sawing, and various types of retouching were used.

The ax, invented in the Mesolithic, was widely used in the Neolithic. More advanced stone adzes and chisels appear, which is associated with the spread of grinding and sharpening techniques for products.

Thus, despite the leading role of fishing in the Neolithic economy, the collective economy of tribal groups remained complex, that is, fishing was combined with hunting and gathering. Fishing, unlike other sectors of the economy, was a year-round occupation that provided the primitive tribes with an excess product, which largely determined their sedentary lifestyle.

Starting from about the middle of the second quarter of the 3rd millennium BC. in Eastern Europe, natural conditions are changing. The climate is becoming drier, but colder than at present. The area of ​​broad-leaved forests is shrinking, and the role of pine and birch forests is increasing. The marten, red deer and other animals that lived here in the previous era reappear in the forests.

Changes in the natural environment coincided with major ethno-cultural and economic shifts in the development of Late Neolithic cultures. In the III - early II millennium BC. local tribes enter a period of transition between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age - the Eneolithic era.

If in the south at that time copper tools were widely introduced into everyday life, producing types of economy were developing, then Neolithic traditions still dominate among the population of the forest belt. However, copper items also appear here, although still very rarely. At the settlement of Imerka in the Zubovo-Polyansky district, a copper figure was found - the head of a bear. Familiarity with copper foundry production is also confirmed by the finds of crucibles for melting metal and a clay mold for casting an ax at the Eneolithic settlements near Novy Usad in the Krasnoslobodsky district of Mordovia. More widely, non-ferrous metalworking spreads only among the Late Lithic population, when it comes into contact with the tribes of pastoralists and farmers of the Early Bronze period who penetrated the territory of the Middle Volga region.

The stone industry continues to play a major role in the production of tools. In the Eneolithic era, combined flint tools appeared, performing several working functions, which saved labor and raw materials for their manufacture and gave a greater effect.

Changes also affected the organization of fishing and hunting: the role of net and shut-off fishing increased, which increased the productivity of the appropriating economy and contributed to a more sedentary population.

Eneolithic settlements located on the banks of rivers and lakes are becoming larger and more durable. They consist, as a rule, of several residential buildings in the form of semi-dugouts of a rectangular shape with a pillar structure, sometimes connected by passages. The population is growing noticeably. Monuments of the Eneolithic time are known near Lake Imerka, the villages of Kargashino, Shiringushi of the Zubo-Polyansky region, Shiromasovo of the Tengushevsky region, Nizhny Satis of the Temnikovsky region, Lepchenko of the Elnikovsky region, Novy Usad of the Krasnoslobodsky region, Volgapino of the Kovylkinsky region, etc.

One of the characteristic features of the Eneolithic culture of the forest zone of the Middle and Upper Volga region is the production of various flint sculptures of people, animals, birds and fish. In the antiquities of the Moksha-Sura interfluve, flint anthropomorphic figurines were found in a settlement near the villages of Shiromasovo, Tengushevsky district, Lepchenko, Elnikovsky district. The figurine of a beaver comes from the Kargashinsky site in the Zubovo-Polyansky district. Most researchers consider them ritual objects and see them as reflections of the cult of ancestors or totemism.

The specificity of ethnocultural processes on the territory of the Moksha-Sura interfluve in the era of stone and early metal was determined by the fact that here, due to the geographical location, two cultural worlds met and mutually enriched: the population of the forest-steppe zone, on the one hand, and the forest tribes, on the other. It is in these conditions that a special way of development of the Neolithic cultures of our region is born.

In the early Neolithic era (late 5th - first half of the 4th millennium BC), two cultural groups of the population lived together in Moksha and Sura, differing primarily in the traditions of ornamentation of ceramic dishes. Most of the Early Neolithic sites discovered in our region are included in the circle of forest cultures of the Middle and Upper Volga region with the comb tradition dominating in ornamentation. There is reason to believe that these monuments were formed on the basis of the Late Melithic industry, the origins of which, due to the limited source base, are still unclear. In another group of monuments, ornamentation of the surface of vessels with triangular pricks predominates. The pricked tradition is characteristic of the Early Neolithic population of the forest-steppe and steppe belt from the Don in the west to the Volga in the east. Despite the insignificant population density and the still mobile way of life of the tribes, the main development of the Neolithic culture of the Mokshano-Sura interfluve proceeded along the line of integration of these two population groups, as evidenced by a number of syncretic archaeological complexes.

In the second half of the IV millennium BC. ethnocultural processes were due to the movement of newcomers from the Lower Poochya up the Moksha, who left monuments with pit-comb ceramics. The Moksha basin and its tributaries become the permanent habitat of these tribes, who displaced the carriers of the prickly-comb tradition from here. In the future, the Primoksha population with pit-comb ceramics acquires some specific features in the material culture, distinguishing it from the community of tribes of pit-comb ceramics on the Oka and the Middle Volga.

However, on Sura in the Late Neolithic period, a further development of traditional culture is observed, reinforced by related tribes who came from Moksha. Despite the penetration of certain groups of the population with the pit-comb tradition, the carriers of pricked-comb ceramics successfully resisted their onslaught.

The Eneolithic era in the Moksha-Sura interfluve is marked by the appearance at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. two new cultural formations: the Volosovo and Imerk cultures. According to the features of material culture, they differ significantly from the local Late Neolithic tribes, whose historical destinies on the territory of the region have not yet been traced.

The formation of the Volosovo culture took place in the spaces of the Volga-Oka interfluve and the middle Volga on the basis of local Neolithic tribes. ITS development can be traced where there is a mutual enrichment of two traditions: the Upper Volga and Volga-Kama cultures, closely related to the Moksha-Sura carriers of ringed-comb ceramics, on the one hand, and to the population with pit-comb ceramics, on the other, with the dominance of the former. The appearance of the Volosovo antiquities in our region was a consequence of the settlement of the Middle Volga Volosovites, who found a population in the Moksha region that left monuments of the Imerk type. The newcomer tribes came into contact with the local population and adopted some of its traditions.

The Imerk culture, singled out among the local Eneolithic antiquities only in recent years, differs from the Volosovo in features in house building, flint industry, molding and especially ornamentation of pottery. Its carriers were familiar with the original metalworking - copper casting, while the classical Volosovites had their own non-ferrous metalworking only at a late stage of development under the influence of alien cultures of the early Bronze Age.

The ways of penetration of Imerkian antiquities into our territory have not yet been established, although the question of their autochthonous origin can hardly be answered in the affirmative. Some researchers, not without reason, point to the proximity of the Imerk materials to the Late Neolithic complexes of the forest-steppe Don region.

Significant disagreements are observed in determining the linguistic affiliation of the carriers of the Volosovo culture. A new interpretation of the question of the origin of the Volosovo antiquities allows us to reconsider the traditional point of view about the indisputably Finno-Ugric origin of the Volosovites. In connection with the latest discoveries in the Neolithic area, more and more arguments are being taken to look at them as descendants of the northern Indo-European tribes.

The further fate of the late Eneolithic population of the Moksha-Sura interfluve is closely connected with the appearance at the turn of the 3rd - 2nd millennium BC. alien pastoral and agricultural tribes of the Early Bronze Age.

Bronze Age

The beginning of the Bronze Age coincided with the development of bronze metallurgy and the introduction of tools from it. Bronze metallurgy ensured the mass production of the most rational forms of tools and created the prerequisites for distinguishing artisans as a special social stratum of society. The historical significance of the Bronze Age for the population of the Moksha-Sura interfluve lies in the fact that within its framework a diversified economy developed, dynamically combining appropriating crafts (hunting, fishing, gathering) with producing industries (cattle breeding and agriculture). These achievements contributed to an increase in the population, the development of the social organization of society. In the new conditions of management, a man begins to play an ever-increasing role - a cattle breeder, a metallurgist and a warrior. The matriarchy is being replaced by a patriarchal-tribal system.

At the beginning of the II millennium BC. among the Eneolithic population of the Moksha-Sura interfluve, alien cattle-breeding and agricultural tribes settled, leaving monuments of the Balanovo culture. Their appearance in our region was one of the impulses in a wide wave of migration that covered the territory from the banks of the Rhine in the west to the Volga in the east.

The ancestral home of the Balanovsky (Middle Volga) tribes of the battle ax culture was the Southern Dnieper and Carpathian regions, from where they moved to our region along the Desna and the Upper Oka under the influence of changing climatic conditions at the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, which led to a sharp increase in water levels in the Nemala, Vistula and other rivers of the Southern Baltic. The transgression of the hydraulic system has significantly limited river floodplains suitable for agricultural and pastoral farming and has necessitated the search for new habitats.

These were the first cattle breeding and agricultural tribes in our region. Cattle breeding among the Balanovites was of a sedentary pastoral nature, as evidenced by stationary settlements located on high, inaccessible capes or hills, and the predominance of cattle and pigs with a minimum number of small cattle. At the well-known Balanovsky settlement of Osh0Pando in the Dubensky district, bones of cows, pigs, horses and sheep were found, but with a predominance of the remains of cattle and pigs. Probably, bulls were used by the Balanovites as a traction force, as evidenced by the finds of clay models of wheels from wagons.

It is assumed that the carriers of the Balanovskaya culture practiced slash-and-burn agriculture with secondary and, possibly, long-term cultivation of areas cleared of forests, but it did not play a significant role in their economy. Hunting, fishing and gathering were of secondary importance in the economy.

An analysis of bronze items indicates that the Balanov tribes created their own center of metallurgy, which was based on the copper sandstones of the Middle Volga and Lower Kama regions. The ancient metallurgy of the Balanovites had a decisive influence on the development of metalworking among the local Late Volosov tribes.

The carriers of the Balanovo culture, along with other related tribes of the battle ax culture of Eastern Europe (Fatyanovo, Middle Dnieper, Vistula-Neman and Baltic culture of boat-shaped axes), are unanimously attributed to representatives of the Baltic branch of the Indo-Europeans.

The development of the Balanovo culture in Moksha and Sura was accompanied by peaceful relations between its bearers and the local Late Neolithic Volosovo population, which noticeably intensified in the second quarter of the 2nd millennium BC. This was facilitated by the fact that the Balanovtsy fell into a partially related environment of the Volosovtsy - the descendants of the northern Indo-Europeans. The result of their contacts was the formation by the middle of the II millennium BC. in the Middle Volga region of a new cultural formation - the Chirkov horizon of antiquities. Monuments of this type in our region are just beginning to be outlined based on the materials of the Shiromasovsky settlement in the Tengushevsky district.

In the middle of the first half of the II millennium BC. the forest-steppe zone of the Middle Volga region is invaded by the Indo-Iranian tribes of the Abashev culture, who were at enmity with the local Balanovo-Volosovsky population. This is demonstrated by the presence of a number of group burials of the Abashevo warriors dating back to the time of the spread of antiquities of this type from the regions of the forest-steppe Don region. Flint arrowheads, with which they were often killed, were used by the local Balanov tribes or related Chirkovians. The monuments reflecting hostile attitudes towards aliens include the Staroardatovsky mound in the Ardatovsky district of Mordovia, under the mound of which the burial of seven Abashev warriors was found. However, the orientation of the leading pastoral economy to various ecological niches (forest in the zone of broad-leaved formations among the Balanovites and forest-steppe with a gravitation towards the meadow steppe among the Abashevites) allowed them to coexist peacefully in rather limited territories.

The Abashev population was quite mobile and was engaged in pastoral cattle breeding with the subordinate importance of agriculture. The herd was dominated by large and small cattle, a horse is known. The level of development of cattle breeding allowed them to use cattle for transport and military purposes. Findings of parts of a horse bridle in the Abashevo antiquities testify to the appearance of chariots in the Eurasian steppe. This contributed to the spread of the Abashevsky population in the vast forest-steppe spaces from the Left Bank of the Dnieper in the west to the river. Tobol in the east. It was the first in a significant amount to begin the development of the Ural copper deposits and created its own form of tools, weapons and jewelry.

The further fate of the Abashevo population in our region is connected with the advance into the forest-steppe zone along the sections of the meadow steppe of the Iranian-speaking tribes of the Srubnaya culture in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. ITS carriers occupied a vast territory of the forest-steppe and steppe zone from the Left-Bank Ukraine to the Urals. The process of their settlement along the southern border of the forest-steppe Volga region was accompanied by the absorption of the carriers of the Abashevo antiquities and their inclusion in the Srubnaya cultural historical community.

The vast majority of the monuments of the Srubnaya culture in Mordovia are located on the site of the former meadow steppe, wedged into forests along the Issa, Insar, Pyana rivers and their tributaries. The topography of mounds and settlements corresponds to the leading direction of the economic activity of the Srubny tribes - steppe pastoral cattle breeding. The basis of the herd was large and, to a lesser extent, small cattle. In the log period, the role of horse breeding increases significantly. In addition to a significant proportion of horses in the herd, this is also evidenced by numerous finds of cheek-pieces and other attributes of a horse team at the monuments of the Srubna culture. It is assumed that along with the use of horses as draft animals, they served for riding.

The bearers of the Srubnaya culture of the forest-steppe zone were well acquainted with the slash-and-slash system of land use. They used bronze hanging axes. For harvesting, a very perfect form of bronze sickles was developed, which, in the form of finished products and casting molds, were found in many settlements of the Srubnaya culture of the Volga region. Hunting and fishing did not play a significant role in the economy.

Non-ferrous metalworking among the Timber-Grave population has reached the level of a craft, involving the manufacture of products not only for their own needs, but also for sale or exchange. In the forest-steppe zone, entire settlements of foundry metallurgists have been identified. An analysis of a small series of bronze items (knives, awls, bracelets) from log mounds in the territory of Mordovia showed that ore springs east of the Urals served as raw materials for them.

Most of the monuments of the Srubnaya culture in our region (near the villages of Atyashevo, Tarasovo, Alovo, Atyashevsky district, Morevka, Old Settlements of the Bolsheignatovsky district, etc.) belong to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. With the appearance of tribes of the Srubnaya cultural and historical community in the forest-steppe of the Oka-Sura interfluve, the ethno-cultural diversity characteristic of the Early and Middle Bronze Age disappears, and on the basis of their synthesis with the local forest (formerly post-Stvolovskaya) population, the Late Bronze Age culture is formed.

Monuments of the Pozdnyakovo culture are widespread in the forest and forest-steppe zone from the upper reaches of the Oka to the right bank of the Volga. The Akim-Sergeevskoye settlement in the Zubovo-Polyansko district, near the village of Kulikovo in the Tyangushevsk district, Lake Churilka in the Krasnoslobodsky district, and others have been best studied in our region.

A diversified economy developed in the Pozdnyakov tribes. Floodplain cattle breeding was of pastoral nature with stall keeping of cattle in winter. The herd included cattle, horses, pigs and small cattle. The Pozdnyakovites practiced a slash-and-burn system of agriculture; they used bronze and flint sickles when harvesting.

Of great importance in the economy of the Pozdnyakovo population were traditional forestry - hunting and fishing, the development of which was facilitated by the location of settlements in floodplains near vast forests stretching along the Oka, Moksha, Sura and their tributaries.

Along with the flint industry, the Pozdnyakovites developed bronze metallurgy, based on imported metal of eastern (mainly Volga-Ural and Volga-Kama) origin. The existence of its own metalworking is confirmed by the finds of foundry molds, crucibles for melting bronze, clay pits, including in dwellings in a settlement near the village of Kulikovo in the Tengushevsky district. The significance of the Pozdnyakovskaya culture in the evolution of the forest tribes of the Oka-Sura interfluve is determined primarily by the fact that it prepared the prerequisites for the establishment of productive forms of economy (cattle breeding and agriculture), which were developed in the Iron Age.

Early Iron Age

The first iron products in Eastern Europe appeared in the Late Bronze Age, however, the mass production of iron tools and weapons begins only in the first quarter of the 1st millennium BC. If in the steppes the onset of the Iron Age coincided with the transition of pastoral and agricultural tribes to a nomadic way of life, then the forest tribes of the Middle Volga continue to develop a complex economy inherited from the population of the Late Bronze Age. Ferrous metallurgy among local tribes, based on swamp ore, is hardly gaining ground in the production of tools against the background of the traditional bronze and bone industry. After a series of invasions, regroupings of tribes during the Bronze Age in the Early Iron Age, a relatively stable ethno-cultural development of the Gorodets culture took place for seven to eight centuries without noticeable external influences.

The culture of the early Iron Age in the Moksha-Sura interfluve was formed on the basis of the monuments of the final Bronze Age as a result of complex ethno-cultural processes, the main content of which was determined by the interaction of the descendants of the local Late Kovnik tribes and alien carriers of the Reticulated Pottery culture, who penetrated the Pozdnyakovskaya environment of the Volga-Oka interfluve of the 2nd millennium BC. AD from the regions of the Upper Volga region. The bulk of the Okskoe Pozdnyakovo population was pushed back to the forest-steppe regions of the Dnieper left bank and the Northern Donets, where on its basis the Bondarikhinsky culture arises, which later takes part in the formation of the Scythian cultures of the left-bank forest-steppe. A part of the Oka Pozdnyakovites could have been assimilated by the newcomers or moved upstream the Moksha into the environment of the closely related population of Primokshany and Surye.

By the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. the material culture of the Moksha-Sura late-Kovtsy is significantly transformed. The heirs of the Pozdnyakov's traditions move the settlements to naturally protected high areas. This was due both to climate change, accompanied by cooling and rising levels of the hydro network, and to the nature of the producing economy. In addition, hard-to-reach capes were more convenient for protecting the herd from predatory animals and settlements from enemies.

Cultural strata with pottery decorated with pricks, left by the descendants of the Pozdnyakovo population, were found in the lower layers of most sites (Kargashinsky settlement in the Zubovo-Polyansky district, Novopshenevskoye in Kovylkinsky, Kazna-Pando settlement near the village of Paevo, Kadoshkinsky district, etc.), on which later on, fortifications fortified with ramparts and ditches were founded by carriers of reticulated ceramics.

The economy of the tribes with bonded ceramics remained complex, but judging by the topography of the settlement, the role of cattle breeding significantly increases in them compared to the Late Kovian period.

At the end of the first quarter of the 1st millennium BC. In the midst of the population that left the monuments with bonded ceramics, tribes of culture with netted ceramics move up the Moksha from the regions of the Middle and Lower Poochye and build the first settlements here on the site of post-Pozdnyakovo settlements. These processes were accompanied by the absorption of the local population of the Moksha-Sura interfluve and marked the formation of the Gorodets culture of the Early Iron Age, which all researchers attribute to the Finno-Ugric peoples. Its carriers occupied almost the entire forest-steppe and steppe zone of the right bank of the Middle Volga region and the Ryazan Poochie. The main indicators of the material complex of all local variants of Gorodets antiquities were stucco pottery covered with pseudo-mat and textile prints, a special form of weights and whorls, as well as a developed bone industry.

For settlements, a high section of the bedrock bank, bounded by two difficult ravines, is usually chosen. Some settlements are located in such a way that they dominate the terrain and are visible at a great distance (for example, the Novopshenevskoe settlement), others, on the contrary, are hidden by neighboring hills in the depths of the ravine system (Shiromasovskoye settlement in the Tengushevsky district). From the floor side, the site of the settlement was protected by ramparts and ditches, often forming two or three lines of defense. To increase the steepness, the slopes of the ravines were often filled up. The inhabitants of the settlements carefully monitored the state of the fortification system, correcting the ditches and increasing the height of the ramparts. The construction of artificial fortifications testifies to the tense intertribal situation in the Gorodets environment, due to the fact that large herds attracted the attention of not only fellow tribesmen, but also aggressive southern nomads. In the fortifications of the Gorodets monuments (Kargashinsky settlement, Kazna-Pando, etc.), arrowheads of the Scythian, and in later Sarmatian types were found.

The settlement was a family settlement. Its population apparently consisted of several large patriarchal families, who could only work together to carry out the laborious work of building fortifications and protection from enemies.

The layout of the settlements, in which dwellings were located along its perimeter or along the rampart, testifies to the leading importance of cattle breeding in the complex economy of the Gorodets tribes. The undeveloped central part of the site was used for cattle drive. The Gorodets herd included pigs, large and small cattle, horses. The finds of cheek-pieces and bits indicate that, in addition to food purposes, horses were used for riding. The population used the slash-and-burn system of agriculture, but it played a supporting role in the economy. Small iron hoes and sickles are known from agricultural implements.

Hunting and fishing continue to play a significant role in the economy of the early Iron Age forest tribes. Bones of wild boars, bears, elks, beavers and other wild animals are frequent finds in the settlements. There are numerous series of bone harpoons, spears, arrowheads, iron and bronze fishhooks, stone and clay sinkers from nets, as well as bone needles for weaving them, at the Gorodets monuments. With the development of local and intertribal commodity exchange, the fur direction in hunting is widely developed.

With the degradation of the flint industry, bone becomes the main material for the manufacture of tools and utensils among the Gorodets tribes. A building with traces of bone-cutting production, the raw material for which was the bones of large domestic animals, as well as elk horns, was studied at the Tengushevsky settlement in the Lower Moksha region.

The ferrous metallurgy of the Gorodets tribes, based on the development of swamp ores, was developing in the Early Iron Age. Very rare at the early stage of the Gorodets culture, iron products (knives, hoes, sickles, etc.) only by the beginning of the new era displace bone and bronze from use. Since that time, non-ferrous metalworking has focused primarily on the production of jewelry.

The last centuries of the 1st millennium BC marks cardinal changes in the material and spiritual culture of the Gorodets population, due to both the further development of production forces and external factors. On the basis of the Gorodets community, ethnic formations of the Volga Finns begin to form - tribal associations of the ancient Mordovians, Maris, Muroms and the population that left burial grounds in the Ryazan Oka.

interfluve Bronze Age Iron Age

Conclusion

Thus, the beginning of the history of the Mordovian region dates back to the Mesolithic era. Its most ancient population was small groups of wandering hunters who lived 10-7 thousand years ago. Their main weapon was a bow and arrow. In the IV millennium BC. whole tribes of primitive people appeared in the region, who were engaged not only in hunting, but also in fishing. In the III millennium BC. the first pastoralists entered the territory. But they were aliens and lived here temporarily. Only from the II millennium BC. agriculture and animal husbandry became permanent occupations of the ancient population. For several millennia, the history of the Mordovian region has gone from the primitive state of man, when nature satisfied all his needs, to the emergence of his ability to grow bread and breed livestock, from stone tools to metal tools (copper and bronze).

List of used literature

1. Vikhlyaev I.V. The origin of the ancient Mordovian culture / I.V. Vikhlyaev; scientific editor: G.A. Fedorov-Davydov, Yu.A. Zelenev. - Saransk: 2000. - 132 p.

Vikhlyaev I.V. Ancient Mordva: textbook. allowance / I.V. Vikhlyaev. - 2nd ed., corrected. and additional - Saransk: Publishing House of Mordov. un-ta, 2004. - 80 p.

Zhiganov M.F. Memory of centuries / M.F. Zhiganov. - Saransk: Mordov. book. publishing house, 1976. - 136s.

History of Mordovia: From ancient times to the middle of the XIX century / ed. N.M. Arsentiev, V.A. Yurchenkov. - Saransk: Publishing House of Mordov. un-ta, 2001. - S. 12-34.

Mokshin N.F. Mordva and faith / N.F. Mokshin, E.N. Mokshina. - Saransk: Mordov. book. publishing house, 2005. - S. 3-151.

Mokshin N.F. Mordovian ethnos / N.F. Mokshin. - Saransk: Mordov. book. publishing house, 1989. - 157p.

Stepanov P.D. Andreevsky Kurgan / P.D. Stepanov. - Saransk: Mordov. book. publishing house, 1980. - 108s.

Stepanov P.D. Conditions for the emergence of the ancient Mordovian archaeological complex or the ancient Mordovian culture / P.D. Stepanov / / Issues of history and archeology of the Mordovian ASSR. - Saransk, 1973. - 134 p.

Yurchenkov V.A. Chronograph, or Narrative of the Mordovian people and its history / V.A. Yurchenkov. - Saransk: Mordov. book. publishing house, 1991. - 368 p.

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The history of the Mordovian people is multifaceted and interesting, like the history of any other ethnic group in Russia. Each of its pages is full of events, facts and conjectures, the knowledge of which gives rise to an understanding of who the Mordvins are. What is the history of the people? The geography of settlement, nature, the development of relationships with other ethnic groups ... All these factors, taken separately and taken together, form the economic way of life, anthropological type, spiritual world and culture.

The history of the Mordovian tribes can be traced back to the 1st millennium BC. The Mordovian people historically developed on the territory of the Oka-Volga interfluve, in the forest-steppe zone, rich in forests and rivers, with a temperate continental climate. The main habitat for the Mordovian people was the forest, it supplied both building material and food and clothing, served as a safe haven from enemies. A healthy climate and lifestyle, fertile land and the benefits of the forest contributed to the formation of a healthy, physically fit population.

Mordovian land at all times was relatively densely populated. In addition to the Mordovians, other peoples also lived here, influencing the formation of its culture and economy. These were Tatars, Chuvashs, Russians, Mordovians and Huns, and Bulgarians, Khazars, Pechenegs, Polovtsy, Mongols invaded the land.

The Mordovian epic is permeated with motifs of the common destinies of Erzi and Moksha, the inseparability of their economic and spiritual life.

Being carriers of a high agricultural culture, the Mordovians associated many pagan religious rites with agriculture. Before the start of all agricultural work, prayers were held, the Mordovians believed in good and evil spirits, and worshiped the gods of fertility.

After separation from the Finno-Volgian proto-language, a single Mordovian language functioned for at least one and a half thousand years.

The Mordovian language has acquired many borrowings over its history of development, but has retained its foundation. The language belongs to the Volga branch of the Finno-Ugric group of the Ural family. After separation from the Finno-Volga proto-language, a single Mordovian language functioned for at least one and a half thousand years. From the second half of the 1st millennium AD. territorial dialects began to form in it, two of which - Erzya and Moksha - became languages.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the area of ​​the Mordovian people covered the whole of Russia. Mordovian settlements were noted in Iran and Turkey, but most lived in the Nizhny Novgorod, Tambov, Penza, Simbirsk, Saratov and Samara provinces. At this time, most representatives of the Mordovians from paganism switched to Orthodoxy.

And of course, all historians agreed that the most characteristic features of the Mordovians, the so-called national qualities, are stubbornness, shyness, not prudence and low communication skills.

The whole of Russia is reflected in the portrait of Mordovia, where about 900 thousand people live today. "Shumbrat!" - this is how guests have been welcomed on the Mordovian land for many centuries in a row. Shumbrat, we welcome guests!

The history of the Mordovian tribes can be traced back to the 1st millennium BC.

At the end of the 14th century, the process of entering the Mordovian lands into the Moscow principality began.

From the second half of the 1st millennium AD. territorial dialects began to form in it, two of which - Erzya and Moksha - became languages.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the area of ​​the Mordovian people covered the whole of Russia. All of Russia was reflected in the portrait of Mordovia, in which about 900 thousand people live today.