A specificity of filling-up the cultural layers and dynamics of meat consumption in the town Bulgar (according to archaeozoological material of excavation trench CLXXIX)
The consistent selections of animal bones according to five chronological periods were obtained at excavation trench CLXXIX of the town of Bulgar are examined in the article. As a result a change of meat consumption in this part of the town from Pre-Mongol Period till the Late Horde period has been managed to discover. A beef was the most widely consumed meat during all the periods of the town history. The role of other meat-producing animals underwent some changes. Meat of cattle (beef) played a leading role in meat consumption in Bulgar during Pre-Mongol period. Meat of goats and sheep as well as horse supplemented the ration of settled people. Fish appears to be an important addition to a high-protein diet within the early period of town's history. During the Early Horde period the consumption of mutton increased, while the consumption of beef and horse decreased. By the Late Horde period a share of mutton in the consumption of meat had increased till 42 per cent from 15 per cent in Pre-Mongol Period till 42 per cent in this part of Bulgar. A rapid growth of mutton consumption in Bulgar during the period of the Golden Horde has been apparently mean the change of economic strategies of the Volga Bulgaria population and increase the role of steppe, nomadic population in the economic life of the region.