Two Towns in the Lower Volga Region on the Mappa Mundi, 1457
Journal Title: Поволжская Археология - Year 2016, Vol 2, Issue 16
Abstract
The author analyzes a medieval cartographic source – an anonymous so called Genoese World Map of 1457, which has been discussed many times, including in relevant monographs. Unfortunately, most publications contain low resolution and thus unreadable images of this map, or just drawings instead of photos. One can even fi nd some wrong dating or erroneous attribution of this map to Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli. The cartographer strived to produce a combination of data from all available sources: ancient accounts (Claudius Ptolemy, mainly), medieval ecclesiastic mappae mundi, travel accounts from Marco Polo to Nicolo Conti, and navigational portolano-charts. Sources for presentation of the Volga and Caspian Sea basin on this map are not explicitly identifi ed, because there is no explicit protograph known, and the presentation itself is seen as an independent source. The author dates information about this terrain from the rise of the Golden Horde under Uzbeg Khan (1313 – 1341) and Jani Beg (1342 – 1357) to the rise of Tamerlane (ca 1370). Two towns are shown in the Lower Volga region: Sarai (Sala) and “the other Sarai” (Saraalis). Their correlation with the Selitrennoye and Tsarevskoye hillforts is not so obvious as on the maps derived from Fra Mauro’s protograph, but this correlation is most likely. This map is another source demonstrating that the idea of just one Sarai (this idea emerged in 1990s) is not plausible.
Authors and Affiliations
Igor Volkov
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP172755
- DOI https://doi.org/10.24852/pa2016.2.16.182.192
- Views 100
- Downloads 0
On the methodology of palaeohistorical reconstructions
Investigations into the pre-written history embracing more than 95% of the history of mankind (prehistory / palaeohistory) differs in terms of its sources and methods from the history taken in its narrow meaning, relying...
Environment and Economic Activity of the Pestretsy 2 Site Inhabitants on the Mesha River
Preliminary results of integrated archaeological and paleo-ecological research in the multilayer site Pestretsy 2 on the Mesha river (Middle Volga region) are discussed in the article. As a result of geology and geomorph...
50th Anniversary of Bilyar Archaeological Expedition: results and issues of Great Town investigation
The article outlines the main results of the investigation of Bilyar fortified settlement – a unique monument of medieval East-European archaeology located in Alexeyevsky District of the Tatarstan Republic. A small amoun...
Experience of a Reconstruction of "Archaeological" Costume
The article presents a reconstruction of “archaeological” costume restored by the Ostrov Krym Scientific Restoration Laboratory (Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan) by the finds uncovered from Early Iron Age graves. The auth...
On the Southern Border of the Forest and Forest-Steppe Cultures in the Urals in the Ist Millennium BC
The article demonstrates that the central part of South Ural Mountains with surrounding foot-hills was a special transzonal territory, where the natural conditions prevented development of homogenous and stable ethnic an...