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There were numerous villages and towns along the Crimean coast with its orchards, vineyards and other plantations. Many of the towns had convenient harbours and engaged in trade as intermediaries. Ethnically these towns had a very motley population including Alans, Greeks, Armenians, Polovtsi, Russians, Bulgarians, Hungarians, and other peoples.
Long before the Tatar invasion of the Crimea Italians (from Venice and Genoa) began to appear on the Black Sea coast of the Crimea trying to seize control over the trade between the West and the East. The Italians were particularly numerous there in the second half of the 13th century when Byzantium granted them the right of unimpeded passage through the straits. Soon Italian towns-colonies cropped up and intensively developed on the Crimean and Caucasian coasts of the Black and Azov seas, often springing up on the site of already existing settlements. Kafa (Feodosia), Soldaya (Surozh, Sudak), Chembalo› (Balaklava), Tana (Azak, Azov) and others became major Italian towns late in the 13th and in the 14th centuries. The biggest of them were Kafa and Tana which were a kind of storages for goods streaming in from various countries. The slave trade achieved large scope in these towns.
The Tatars often raided the rich Italian towns to plunder their wealth and seize their inhabitants.
Under Tatar rule the town of Solhat (now the town of Stary Krym, 23 kilometres west of Feodosia) became the centre of their domains in the peninsula and was renamed Krym. With the passage of time this name was applied to the entire peninsula.
By the end of the 13th century and in the first half of the 14th century the town of Krym (Solhat) already had a considerable population of merchants and craftsmen. The Arabian traveller Ibn-Battuta, who visited the town in 1334, described it as big and attractive. The residence of the Crimean vice-roy, appointed by the khan of the Golden Horde, was in Solhat, the main administrative centre of the entire Crimea. It was the vice-roy's duty to control the collection of tribute from the subjugated population of the peninsula into the khan's treasury.
The Crimea was more than once subjected to devastating raids by rulers of uluses who wanted to become totally independent of the Golden Horde, and by others who desired to crush the Horde's power. The most devastating raids on the Crimea were in 1299 by Nogai, in 1395 by Tamerlane, and in 1399 by Yedigei, when most of the peninsula was pillaged.
The military raids and the strife among Tatar feudals plagued the population with destruction and plunder. In anticipation of danger wealthy people tried to hide their riches by burying them. It was thus, it seems, that gold and silver articles of the present Simferopol treasure were interred and stayed buried until their discovery in 1967. There is no doubt that the owner had concealed his belongings in a hurry, trying to put them into something solid, most probably in a clay jar. One of the articles (a paitsa) was bent in half so that it could be inserted into the receptacle and for the same reason some other items were slightly damaged and bent.
In all probability the treasure belonged to a rich feudal who held a high military or administrative post. This supposition is supported by the articles in the treasure and first of all by the paitsa. Paitsa is a small plate usually elongated and much less frequently of a round form with an aperture at one end, so that it could be suspended on a belt. Khans granted them to officials as a symbol of authority. When a paitsa was produced everyone had to obey its possessor under penalty of death. The owners of paitsa capitalized on this and exploited the population by collecting tribute and making people work not only for the khan but also for themselves. Paitsa were also issued to messengers sent with khan's order, to merchants setting out to foreign lands with diplomatic missions or big consignments of goods and also to eminent travellers. On their way the owners of paitsa could demand means of transportation and fodder for horses, food and accommodation, protection along the most dangerous sections of the road.
Gold, silver, silver with guilt, bronze, cast iron and even wooden paitsa are known. The silver paitsa in the Simferopol treasure weighs 497.9 grammes, and has a guilt inscription on both sides reading as follows: "Issued by the great khan of the Eternal Heavens. Those unfaithful to Mongols are deprived of their lives." Shown on the obverse side of the paitsa, amidst fluffy clouds in its upper part is a guilt picture of the sun in the form of a circle with a six-petal rosette inside symbolizing radiating sunbeams. The reverse side is decorated by a guilt crescent also in the surrounding of clouds. These ornaments are similar to the drawings on paitsa discovered in the lower reaches of the Volga and containing the names of khans in their inscriptions. One is the name of khan Tokhta (1290-1312) and the other -of khan Uzbek (1312-1341). The similarity of the ornament on all the three items gives the reason to refer the paitsa from the Simferopol treasure to the category of a 14th-century paitsa of the Golden Horde.
It is quite possible that one of the Golden Horde khans had presented the owner of the treasure not only with the paitsa but also with some other articles. The famous Venetian traveller Marco Polo writes that along with the plates that is the paitsa, the great khans also granted silverware. There are also silver vessels in the Simferopol treasure. For instance, a bowl with a circular bottom and stylized inscriptions on its outer and inner surfaces, a small vessel with a spout, an inkpot decorated with fancy stamps with a floral ornament, a spherical vessel with a lid, its surface, divided into sections and adorned with floral patterns against a niello background. Only conjectures can be made about the designation of this wonderful vessel. It is quite possible that it was used to hold ceruse, antimony and other cosmetics that had to be sifted and ground by means of special articles. There is no doubt that the long narrow spoon and the spoon-sieve also found in the treasure served this purpose.
A spoon-ladle with an interesting figurine of a man at the end of the handle is worthy of note. The man is sitting, elbows resting on his knees, holding with both hands a vessel from which he is drinking. The man wears a conical Turko-Mongolian hat. Its crown has stitched vertical seams joining at the top. There is also a stylized figurine of an eagle-owl with huge round eyes at the place where the handle joins the ladle. Most probably this figurine served as a charm protecting the owner from evil spirits. The Mongols venerated the eagle-owl from ancient times.
By their nature, ornament and technique these articles, including the paitsa, are very close to similar objects encountered on the main territory of the Golden Horde. It should be believed that these things were made by Golden Horde craftsmen, chiefly from the towns in the lower reaches of the Volga known as the centres of developed handicrafts.
All the articles in the treasures, with the exception of coins, are men's and women's ornaments. They include parts of an extremely exquisite women's headdress consisting of 19 shaped gold spangles and a top one covered with gems, pearls and six-petal rosettes attached to curved stalks. The centre of the top spangle was adorned with two beads placed one above the other and passing through them was a core with a broken top end. Very likely the core was ended by a tube for inserting feathers. For instance, Ibn-Battuta reports that on the top of their hats women of the Tatar nobility wore golden circles covered with precious stones and adorned with peacock feathers. The hat of the Simferopol treasure also had a top spangle, the rest of the surface being covered with shaped spangles glistening with pearls and gems, among them - amethysts, turquoise, spinel, emeralds, sapphires, chrysoprase and jasper pebbles. It may be that chains of medallions with inserts of gems or pearls were suspended to this lavish head-dress. The reverse side of each medallion is decorated with a flower image, in some instance of lotus, against a niello background.
Among decorations earrings could also be found. In the Turko-Mongol society earrings were worn both by women and men. It is known that Mongols already wore earrings in the times of Genghis Khan. Describing khan Berke (1256-1266) the Arab writer Al-Mufaddal also mentioned his earring. He wrote: "At the time King Berke was 56 years old. He had a thin beard, a big yellow face, he combed his hair behind his ears and in one ear had a golden ring with a precious (octahedral) gem."
In all, the treasure includes five earrings in the form of a question mark. This type was widespread throughout the vast territory taken up by the Golden Horde, is found in even earlier traces of nomad tribes culture and has numerous variants. The earrings of the Simferopol treasure have a composite core wound with wire and have one or two pearls at the end. One earring has a spinel and a large pearl of irregular form, the so called "orphan", meaning it was matchless. Such rare pearls were highly valued. These earrings date to the late 14th and early 15th centuries. The already mentioned chains of medallions could also serve as decorations worn on the chest. Thus, even in the recent past Kazan Tatars adorned themselves with chains of coins and medallions hanging down from loops on the collar and were known by the name of "Dzhiaka". Scalloped and shaped spangles with holes for a cord or a chain in their looped sides could serve as similar decorations worn on the chest. There were 15 such items in the treasure. All the spangles are of an extremely fine filigree work with the exception of one, stamped, bearing the inscription in Arabic, "Glory and happiness". The form of the spangles and some elements of their ornament resembling of elements encountered in Central Asian architecture and applied art. A treasure found in the former Bukhara khanate (the actual place cannot be defined with more accuracy) contained ornaments similar to the spangles of the Simferopol treasure. Summing up the above, we can assume that the spangles in the Simferopol treasure were also made by skilled Central Asian jewellers.
Beads and buttons are a separate group of decorations. Most of them are golden. Their use was broader than their initial designation would indicate. Thus, they were often sewn to the garments or curtains in the houses of rich feudals. Some spangles in the treasure with punctured apertures also served this purpose.
In addition to gold and silver beads the treasure contained 47 separate cornelian beads of various form and size, one of sapphire and one crystal. It is possible that these beads were used as rosaries.
The treasure also included several bracelets. Of interest is a two-piece bracelet which, unfortunately is not intact. It has an ornament in relief and the following inscription in Persian: "May the Creator of the world patronise the owner of this (object) wherever he may be." It is interesting to note that two similar bracelets with an identical inscription were discovered earlier in the Bulgarian settlement of Dzhuketau, Zhukotin in Russian, situated near Chistopol on the left bank of the Kama river. They differ only in some elements and a finer and more skillfully executed ornament. It appears that the centre where such bracelets were produced was in Iran or in Central Asia.
Round paired bracelets with schematic carved heads of dragons at their tips are probably Central Asian in origin. Parts of the heads are covered with a scale ornament. Two other bracelets in the treasure are compiled of medallions: one of scalloped medallions decorated with granulation and niello and the other of medallions with inserts of turquoise and spinel, their setting also being granulated.
A group of articles comprises golden cases intended for keeping various charms, mostly texts of prayers that played an important role in the life of moslems. The cases were suspended on the chest or neck, sometimes placed in a special pocket or sewn into garments. The treasure contained ten various cases, including cylindrical, shaped and rectangular ones. Four similar cylindrical cases are remarkable for fine workmanship. Their medium part is formed by open-work while the sides are adorned by filigree curlicues on a lining of sheet gold. For decoration of other cylindrical cases stamping technique was applied. One of them has a scale ornament while two others (only parts of them remain) are adorned with curlicues and an ornament imitating an inscription in Arabic resembling the word "glory". The case with a scale ornament was filled with pistachio resin and the remaining two with turquoise. In the Orient it was believed that this stone brings happiness.
There are two shaped cases. One of them has a stamped vivid floral ornament differing on the obverse and reverse sides. Its obverse is adorned with green jasper and cornelians in the form of small hearts. The second case is filigree open-work, the ornament being done in the form of spirals, twigs and curlicues. The lace-like filigree includes ornaments of thin golden bands placed vertically. The entire ornament has a lining of sheet gold. The last case in the treasure is a rectangular one and is decorated with granulation, filigree and a pearl. It is quite possible that this case could be used for cosmetic accessories and was worn on the chest or more likely attached to a belt. A fine, shaped, double-sided object was probably a golden case for prayers, but more likely it was just a decorative pendant. Its open-work ornament is formed by wide spirals with curlicues. The central part of one side shows a setting for a gem (the gem itself has not been preserved), the other side presents an ornamental pattern of two leaves. The image of the rectangular part looks like an imitation of the Arabic ligature. Small holes here were used for suspending the pendant.
The treasure contained a great variety of belts. Belts were an indispensable part of the attire of many peoples. Turko-Mongols paid much attention to this element of their dress. The Tatar-Mongol khans, nobles and high-officials had expensive belts gleaming with precious stones and gold. Quite often belts were listed among gifts granted by khans to their adherents and officials for special services and as a token of reward and gratitude.
Of much interest is a golden belt set consisting of 31 articles: a tip, a spangle with a hook and two spangles with shaped clamps used for attaching necessary things, 22 rectangular, three heart-shaped, one scalloped spangle and a clip. This belt is decorated with inserts of cornelian, one of the most favourite gems in the Orient. The combination of gold and cornelian together with fine ornament made the belt extremely beautiful. The tip and the spangles are two-sided. The obverse is decorated with cornelian and an ornament of curlicues.
The goldsmith also turned much attention to decorating the reverse side. The centre of the spangles and the tip presents' open-work paillettes depicting vines made with great taste. To emphasize the ornament he placed a silver lining under the paillette. Open-work paillettes on each object are framed with floral ornament settings. The next belt set, some elements missing, consists of nine shaped golden spangles and a tip. Each of them has relief scalloped rosette depicting a water bird and floral ornament against a niello background. Not a single bird is repeated, they all are portrayed very dynamically and from different angles.
The last belt is more modest. It is made of silver and consists of a buckle, a tip, six rectangular and twenty shaped embossed spangles. With the exception of the shaped spangles all the details of the belt are decorated with enamel and images of an eagle, a dragon and rosettes with geometrical and floral ornament. This belt set has very close analogues among the belts found in burial mounds near village Belorechenskaya in the North Caucasus, showing evidence of the similarity of their origin and the time of use.
The Simferopol treasure stands out among the known treasures of the 13th-15th centuries by the abundance and diversity of the objects it comprises and the high artistic quality of many of them. It is also the largest treasure of dinars of Indian sultans.
Articles of diverse origin in the treasure testify to extensive ties between far-away countries in the period of the Golden Horde.
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© Государственный ордена Ленина Исторический музей Внешторгиздат. Изд. № 482р
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