The Golden Horde Solkhat/Crimea in the military and political events of the second half of the 13th–14th centuries in the context of written and archaeological sources

Purpose of the study: To summarize information from written sources regarding military and political events in which Solkhat/Crimea was involved in one way or another as the capital of the Golden Horde under the control of which the territories of the Crimean Peninsula and adjacent regions were located, as well as in the correlation of these written sources with archaeological ones. Research materials: Data from historiography, written sources (Arabic, Persian, Armenian, Latin, etc.), as well as some published archaeological data obtained during the excavation of monuments of the Golden Horde period on the Crimean Peninsula, primarily its southeastern part. Results and scientific novelty: There are still discussions in historiography about individual military episodes of the period of the Jochi Ulus, their probability, and scale. At the same time, a number of authors do not take into account the archaeological data revealed recently which can confirm the data of written sources. For the first time, the study examines a number of archaeological complexes in combination with information from medieval authors. It is noted that not all archaeological materials have been systematized and published to date, which complicates further research and their correlation with the data of narrative sources. At the same time, there is archaeological evidence of the military and political events of the end of the 13th century. The consequences of the “Great Jamming” and the confrontation of the Blue Waters are reflected in the construction of defensive structures of Solkhat, which is also recorded by archaeological excavations. Despite the fact that a number of authors question the fact that Timur’s troops came to Crimea, it is assumed that a limited contingent of the military forces of the ruler of Samarkand nevertheless visited Crimea, which can be confirmed by individual traces of fires and local destruction on a number of Crimean monuments, the scale of which is comparable to small raids. The study is preliminary in nature, designed to identify gaps in archaeological interpretations and to intensify work on the introduction of new materials into scientific circulation

Excavation · Historiography · Peninsula · Politics · Eurasian Exchange Networks · Ottoman and Turkish Studies · Security, Politics, and Digital Transformation

• Information about the Golden Horde in the Saltuk-name of the Ottoman author Ebul-Khayri Rumi

  Open Access•Il’nur M Mirgaleev•Golden Horde Review•2025

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