Archaeological Museum of Kazan University

The Archaeological Museum of Kazan University is a departmental institution within the Institute of History of the Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education “Kazan (Volga) Federal University”. The purpose of the Archaeological Museum is to preserve, research, popularize the archaeological heritage and ensure the educational process.

The Archaeological Museum of Kazan University is one of the oldest museums of archaeological profile. Its roots go back to the early years of the university.

In 1815, a university cabinet of rarities was formed, which also kept archaeological objects.

Professor of Oriental Languages Franz (Fedor) Ivanovich Erdman (1793-1863) in 1824 was entrusted with the management of the Minsk Cabinet - a collection of coins - and the Cabinet of Rarities of the University. In 1826 F.I. Erdman published a brief description of the eastern Minsk office of Kazan University.

In the 1860s, the Minsk cabinet and the cabinet of rarities were merged into a museum of antiquities, fine arts and numismatics.

Of great importance in the study of the archaeology of the Middle Volga region was the discovery in 1878. Society of Archaeology, History and Ethnography (OAIE) at Kazan University. At the same time, on the basis of the exhibition of the IV Archaeological Congress, held in Kazan, the museum of OAIE was created. Members of the Society carried out extensive archaeological research, materials of which were regularly published and received in the museum of OAIE, which was significantly replenished with receipts from various, both Russian and foreign scientific centers.

OAIE did not escape the common fate during the dispersal of the local lore movement at the turn of the 20s - 30s of the XX century. In 1929, even before the liquidation of the Society, the exhibitions of the OAEE Museum were curtailed.

Revival took place only after the war. Khalikov for the first time in many years began to disassemble the old archaeological collections that were available at the university; later they were decorated as the archaeological office of KSU.

The museum was restored in 1978. Currently, the museum has an exposition and extensive funds. The exposition of the museum (authors A.Khalikov, S.I.Valiulina) has 4 thousand exhibits and reflects primarily the primitive and medieval archaeology of the Middle Volga region. The collections of the museum consist of more than 300 collections, which is a total of more than 5 tons of storage units. The museum has more than a hundred items of the "Golden Fund". The materials of the museum are intensively studied and used in the work of both domestic and foreign archaeologists. Museum collections are actively involved in the educational process: when reading courses in archaeology and anthropology, special disciplines, as well as in the process of writing coursework, diploma and competitive works by students.

The Paleolithic era in the museum’s collections is represented by materials from France (Dordogne), from where during the existence of the OAIE a significant collection of Paleolithic tools was obtained, in which there are products of both Shelsh and Acheulean and Mousterian times. From the materials of the Upper Paleolithic of the Middle Volga region there is a collection of M.G. Kosmenko 1968-1969 from the Syukeyevsky plaza (final Paleolithic). The Mesolithic is represented by materials of M.G. Kosmenko from the Deukovsky II parking lot (1968), materials of the parking lot near the village of Davlekevo (1967) and finds from the territory of Georgia. Several collections of stone products of the Mesolithic and Neolithic era, as well as Neolithic and medieval ceramics from the Baikal region (neighborhood of Irkutsk) were transferred in 1911-1914 to the Museum of OAIE V.I. Podgorbunsky.

Of great interest is the collection of N. F. Vysotsky of the 1880s from the Neolithic pile settlements of Switzerland, including materials from the settlement of Robenhausen on Lake Constance.

Among the collections of the Bronze Age stands the collection of Koban culture of the North Caucasus, received from P. S. Uvarova, who conducted excavations of the burial grounds of this culture in the second half of the XIX century. In 1913 B.F.Adler and S.A.Teploukhov in the Minusinsk basin a large and bright collection was collected, which includes metal tools of the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age, as well as a large number of medieval iron arrowheads. From colleagues-archaeologists of Ukraine (D.Y.Telegin) and Uzbekistan (V.A.Bulatov), the museum received a number of educational collections: Trypill, Dnieper-Donetsk, Srednestogov, Komarov, log, Scythian, Chernyakhov, Saltovo-Mayak cultures, early Slavic dishes, Central Asian irrigation ceramics.

The early Iron Age is represented in the funds by a large number of materials. From S.A.Teploukhov, materials of the Garevsky bone and other monuments were received. There are also materials of P.A. Ponomarev (1915) from the Svinogorsk settlement of Ananyin culture. In 1948, the expedition of N.F. Kalinin explored the settlement of the Rattle Key of the Ananyin and Azelin times. In 1958, T.A. Khlebnikova inspected the Elabuga (Devil) settlement.

In 1969-1970 E.P. Kazakov, A.H. Khalikov and E.A. Khalikova studied the Tetyushsky burial ground containing burials of early Anananin, Azelin and early Bulgarian times. In 1975-1976 and 1979, under the leadership of A.Khalikov, excavations of the Ananyinsky Pusto-Morkvashi burial ground were conducted.

Under the leadership of V.F.Gening in 1959-60 the expedition of Kazan University explored Turaev burial mounds IV-V centuries AD - a unique monument of the Hunnic time of Volga-Kamya. The museum houses a collection of rich and diverse equipment from the burials of male warriors: weapons, armor, belt sets, a Byzantine glass vessel and other items.

Materials from More - Tigansky burial ground belt set and armament of a warrior

In 1957 and 1960, V.F.Gening and A.Khalikov conducted large excavations of the early Bulgarian Bolshe-Tarkhan burial ground. The monument was further explored in 1970 by E.A.Khalikova.

1974-1975. E. A. Khalikova and in 1978-1985 A. Kh. Khalikov were fully explored Bolsho-Tigan ancient Hungarian burial ground with a large and diverse set of funerary equipment.

The museum contains materials from the university excavations of the Armievsky burial ground of the IX-X centuries, the fortifications of Sorochy Mountains of the early Iron Age, the Kokuzinskaya Parking lot - the Bronze Age (excavations of A. Kh. Khalikov), early Bulgar trade and craft settlements (Izmer and Semenov Circle of Monuments) in the zone of flooding of the Kuibyshevsky reservoir, the Bilyar settlement, the monuments of the Golden Horde and the Kazan Khanate in the district of Bilary settlement (Vraskola). Iranian faience bowl (Bilar settlement, XII c.)

The main revenues to the museum are the materials of the annual archaeological expeditions of Kazan University and lifting materials from the territory of Tatarstan. In addition to storing previously received collections, the museum conducts cameral processing and introduction into scientific circulation of materials of archaeological expeditions.