Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 44 (3) 2016   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2016.44.3.121-129

Annotation:  The Middle Paleolithic of the Levant Faunal Remains from the Early Complexes of the Sagan-Zaba II Multilayered Habitation Site (9120–7880 Wooden Saddle-Trees from Yaloman II in the Altai: An Interdisciplinary Analysis A Scythian Age Sword from the Forest-Steppe Altai Above-Ground Frame Buildings in Western Siberia: Archaeological and Ethnographic Parallels New Evidence on the Early Saka Horse Harness from Eastern Kazakhstan “Caster’s Cache” from Tartas-1, Late Krotovo (Cherno-Ozerye) Culture, Baraba Forest-Steppe Modeling the Deformation of Bone Points: Archaeological and Experimental Data Woven, Knitted, and Wattled 17th–18th Century Textiles from Tara Fortress, Western Siberia Ceramics from Novoilyinka III, a Chalcolithic Site in Kulunda, Western Siberia Shatra and Jurt: The “Return Address” in the Altaian Ritual The Distribution of Bashkir Tribes Before and During their Integration into the Russian State Mythological Characters of the Domestic Space in Russian Folk Beliefs: Lexicographic and Ethnographi Dental Anthropology of the Mesolithic and Neolithic Populations of the Eastern European Forest-Stepp An Upper Paleolithic Human Mandible and a First Cervical Vertebra from Afontova Gora II   

The Distribution of Bashkir Tribes Before and During their Integration
into the Russian State

V.A. Ivanov

Bashkir State Pedagogical University, Oktyabrskoy Revolutsii 3а, Ufa, 450000, Russia

The ethnic geography of Bashkiria immediately before and during its absorption by the Russian Empire is a matter of debate, because few relevant written or archaeological sources are available. The only reliable sources are the toponymy and hydronymy of Bashkir historical legends, and genealogies (shezhere). Ethnographers believe that the legends originated at the early stage of feudalism; shezhere, at the time of the absorption of Bashkiria by the empire. Eventually, legends became the only documentation proving Bashkirs’ ownership of land. The preserved legends and shezhere, taken together, mention some eighty names of rivers and mountains matching modern toponyms of the Southern Urals and mirroring the ethnic geography of medieval Bashkiria. Our comparative analysis suggests that the boundaries of “Old Bashkiria” passed between the Dem River valley and the western foothills of the Southern Urals, as well as along the eastern foothills of the Southern Urals, from the Miass River in the north to the Sakmar River in the south. During the 15th and 16th centuries, these borders remained relatively stable, shifting mostly southward because of the annexation of territories emptied after Ivan IV had conquered the Kazan Khanate and ousted the Nogais from Southern Urals.

Keywords: Kazan Khanate, Siberian Khanate, Nogai Horde, folklore, shezhere, toponymy, hydronymy, Bugulma-Belebey Upland.

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