Sosnovoborsky District Museum of Local Lore

In 1992, the Expedition of the Penza Museum of Local History opened three more sites of the Stone Age - two near the village of Inderka and one near the village of Srednaya Lipovka, from which flint chips (waste from the production of tools) and several stone tools were collected.

The collected guns have a relatively late appearance and probably date from the late Neolithic, and the tip from the Sredne-Lipovskaya parking lot, possibly belongs to the early Bronze Age.

The main occupation of people in the Neolithic era was hunting and fishing. It is no coincidence that all the people of this time were located in the floodplain of large rivers. After the exhaustion of one hunting area or after the end of the fishing season, people left more or less inhabited place and moved to another, in search of rich game and fish lands. Therefore, all known parking lots are temporary and seasonal.

Significant changes in people's lives have occurred since the development of metal, first copper, and later bronze. Traces of the copper-stone age (Eneolithic) in the area was not found.

Significant changes in the territory of the region occurred at the beginning of the II-th millennium BC, when this land became the object of invasion by Balanovsk cattle-breeding tribes, which from the southwestern regions of European Russia went along Sura and Moksha to the northeast, at the mouth of the Sviyagi River. Probably, one of the tribes deviated from the direction of movement and came out in the Sursko-Kadadinsky interfluve. This is evidenced by the findings of early forms of Balanovsk battle axes. This finding indicates the far from peaceful nature of these tribes.

Balanovsk tribes led a nomadic lifestyle, engaged in cattle breeding. Their long-term settlements are extremely rare. A great success was the opening of such a settlement near the village of Russkoe Truyovo in 1992 - an expedition of the regional museum. The remains of two rectangular dwellings with an earthen floor deepened by 20-40 cm were excavated. From the settlement was collected an extensive series of tools made of flint, elements of ceramics.

A huge chronological gap in the archaeological past of the area - from the middle of the II-th millennium BC to the XI century. At this time on the lands of the district there are settlements and villages of the Bulgarian type, which a number of researchers associate with the legendary Burtas.

Burtas settlements are known near the villages of Nizhny Katmis, Srednaya Lipovka, Russian Truyovo. Near the oxen of the Nizhny-Katmissky and Russian-Truevsky settlement there are unfortified villages. Based on this, we can assume that the entire population did not fit behind the walls of the forts and built dwellings in the vicinity. So. The population of the settlements was numerous.

The Burtas are one of the Bulgar tribes. We came to the territory of Posuriye from the Middle Volga. According to a number of scientists, a trade route from Bulgaria to Kiev passed through the upper Posuriye.

The main occupation of Burtas was agriculture and cattle breeding. On their forts found the remains of grains of wheat, oats, rye, millet, barley, stored in large clay vessels - corchags.

They raised cows, sheep, and camel bones were found on one site. The burtas developed a pottery craft, the dishes were burned in the horn, which made the dishes more durable and acquired a characteristic red color.

In all Burtass settlements there are iron products, which indicates the development of blacksmithing.

After the invasion of the Mongol Tatars in 1236-1237, life on many settlements stopped. Someone was taken prisoner, some were exterminated, the settlements were looted and burned. The surviving population probably moved to safer places.

However, the Burtas did not disappear without a trace, it is argued that they gave birth to modern Tatars – Mishars. In our district there are two settlements of this people - Tatar Syromyas and Inderka.

In the first centuries of our era began to form Mordovian people from the tribe of Finno-Ugric language culture. Archaeologist M. Polesskikh, who has worked for many years in the field of local history museum, attributes a number of burial grounds and other monuments in the region to the tribes of Mordovian culture of the second and third centuries AD.

In the XIII - IX centuries, the Mordva became dependent on the Khazars, the Kiev princes, and later the Golden Horde khans.

The growth and strengthening of the Russian state, the rise of Moscow leads to the expansion of Russia’s borders and puts pressure on the Mordovian tribes of the border regions. From the lower reaches of the Oka and the Volga interfluve, the Mordva migrates to the upper reaches of Sura, Moksha, i.e. In the area of Penza, Saransk, Simbirsk.

At the same time, the Russian population from among the fugitive peasants penetrates into the upper and middle course of the Sura and Moksha rivers. Influence of the Russian state on the Zasur Territory – increases and becomes decisive after the attack of the Kazan Khanate (1552).

Thus, by the middle of the XVI century, there were three main ethnic groups that settled in the Zasur Stan: Mordva, Russian settlers and a less significant group of Tatars - Mishares, living in isolated large villages (Tatar Syromyas, Usmanka village (Inderka)).

And yet in the XVI - XVIII centuries Penza region remained the outskirts of Russia. There was a threat of attack by nomads – Nogais and Crimeans. Hordes of nomads raided the depths of Russia, burned, robbed, killed, took thousands of residents full.

In the middle of the XVII century, under Tsar Alexander Mikhailovich, it was decided to build a fortified line to cross the Surskaya road from Kerensk to Lomov, Insar, Saransk and further to Simbirsk.

In 1663, Penza was founded, around which posad and settlements of foot and horse Cossacks and cannons quickly grew. The distribution of land to service people and local residents who participated in the development and protection of the region began. At the beginning of the XVIII century, the Penza Fortress lost its military importance and the Penza lands began to be distributed to the most noble people of that time as a reward for diligence. Vast lands were owned by the princes and counts Kurakina, Shuvalov, Golitsyn, Sheremetyevo, Obolensky, Suvorov, and others.

In the Penza region, Mordvas were developed and settled, Tatars and other non-Russian population of the region were classified as state peasants. Privately owned lands were inhabited by the local population from among the fugitives, translators from other deep provinces: Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Voronezh, Kazan, etc.

In the newly annexed lands, clergymen appeared to fulfill the needs and missionary activities among the unbaptized population.

The Mordovian population, which constituted the majority of the inhabitants, professed paganism and indulged in sensual and other pleasures during rituals with abundant drink and food. And with their views parted reluctantly, but the baptized Mordovian did not immediately part with pagan prejudices. Christian customs in the Mordovian bizarrely intertwined with the remains of paganism.

Their contribution to the development of the region was made by nobles - farmers, among whom there were large royal dignitaries: Prince Kurakin, Count Shuvalov, who had estates in the district. Among the large nobles - farmers of Russia were Kolokoltsov, whose family estate was located in the village of Syromyas (256 dessiatines).

The Kolokoltsov family originates from a native of the golden horde of Scripey. His three sons gave rise to three branches of the family tree. From the eldest son Clementius led their lineage Penza nobles Kolokoltsov. The first five generations of the clan served as streltsy and sophomores in Moscow, Rzhev, Vladimir. Peter I demanded that the nobles become either gunners or navigators. The Pushkars were representatives of the sixth tribe of Mikhailo and the seventh Fyodor served for a short time, having retired, became the ober-prosecutor of the Senate and a senator, in 1801 he was awarded the title of baron. He is credited with approving the family coat of arms of the Kolokoltsovs. Fedor Mikhailovich Kolokoltsov is the first reliably known owner of land in Syromyas from this genus. His nephew Apollo Nikiforovich Kolokoltsov at the turn of the XVIII – XIX centuries headed the chamber of the Supreme Court in Penza and also owned land in Syromyas. The eldest son of Apollo Nikiforovich – Dmitry in 1811 – 1816 was in Penza the provincial leader of the nobility, did a lot to support the Russian armies that fought with Napoleon.

Another son, Grigory Apollonovich, rose to the rank of general-major, retired early, was listed as a Saratov and Penza nobleman, lived for a long time in Syromyas, building a cloth factory and a church there. However, in his later years, Grigory Apollonovich abandoned the business, entrusting them to the managers, bought a large house in Moscow, took a lot of servants there and for more than 20 years did not visit his possessions, which fell into complete decline. So Syromyas went to his son Dmitry (one of six sons), having resigned from the army and arrived there, he did not find a trace of the manor house and its furnishings, the factory barely worked, the workers scattered in search of earnings. It was in 1851. Dmitry built a new, modernly equipped factory and thus ensured the profitability of the estate. He received funds for construction by selling oak wood. Another source of funds is the mortgage and remortgage of his estate and the estates of other landowners at interest with their consent.

Instead of the serf system of labor, a wage (capitalist) system with piecework was introduced in the factory. Attracted by earnings, the workers returned, workers from other factories came. Orders for cloth grew. A new house was built and a large house was bought in Penza. He had a lot of losses. In Syromyas died his child - 4-year-old firstborn. (The headstone is displayed).

In 1857, in the midst of work, the machine case of the factory burned down. This threatened the collapse and confiscation of property and not only Kolokoltsov, but all the landowners who entrusted him with interest on their property.