Archaeologists find military garrison of ancient Bulgars in Tatarstan

Archaeologists found a military garrison of ancient Bulgars in the Alekseyevsky district, Tatarstan. An archaeological expedition, involved in excavations of the legendary Ostolopovsky settlement, which is located in this region, returned to Kazan on Tuesday. The settlement is about 1,000 years old.

The expedition made some very interesting finds, including the remains of household buildings and of a house of a well-to-do peasant. There are clay, iron and bone articles, decorated with skilful fretwork.

The archaeologists concluded that the settlement appeared here due to a military garrison of the ancient Bulgar kingdom. They found iron plates of armour of ancient warriors.

The abundance of ceramics shows that it was one of the largest and oldest houses of the Ostolopovsky settlement.

The expeditions started on July 3. The leader of the group is Konstantin Rudenko, a famous historian and explorer of the material and spiritual culture of the medieval population of the Volga-Kama region and archaeology and culture of the Bulgar Kingdom and the Golden Horde. Since 1997 Rudenko has headed the examination of the Ostolopovsky settlement.