Regional economic development : the case of wooden buildings of Kazan Khanate

Abstract

The article considers one of the stages in the research history of one of the understudied areas in the material culture of the Kazan Khanate, which concerns the matters of residential and utility buildings. Their archaeological studying is one of the important directions allowing to trace the layout of the settlement, its material culture, and development dynamics. Among the most thoroughly studied archaeological monuments of this period is Kazan. Not a single architectural monument of 15th - first half of 16th XVI century has preserved in Kazan until the present day. This is also due to the fact that the primary construction material in the region was timber, which is subject to eventual complete natural destruction. Therefore, intact preserved structures are rarely discovered at excavations. In rare cases, due to a greater humidity of the ground, it is possible to reveal the foundations of preserved wooden buildings. In recent years, numerous wooden buildings have been revealed as a result of large-scale archaeological excavations in the territory of Kazan Kremlin. Their investigation provided new material on the understudied period in the history of the town.