TRANSFORMATION OF APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF NON-GLAZED CERAMICS (A CASE-STUDY OF MEDIEVAL CERAMICS FROM THE VOLGA REGION)
The paper examines the development of ideas about mass non-glazed ceramics from Volga Bulgaria and the Golden Horde settlements since 1870s. At the initial stage, ceramics was not considered as a historical source, the literature of the late XIX - early XX centuries contains very fragmentary information about this category of finds. Since 1950s the research of mass ceramics became systematic, several approaches were formed that remain relevant to present day. There was a need to study ceramic technology, the chronology of the pottery and the possibility of using mass ceramics as a chrono-indicator becomes relevant. At the end of the XX - beginning of the XXI centuries, the research of archaeological ceramics became complex, an interdisciplinary approach became relevant.