Jewelry of the Buzuluk Chuvash people from the mid-19th – first third of the 20th century (Based on materials from the Russian Museum of Ethnography)

Vollständiger Abstract

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The presented article is based on materials from the Russian Museum of Ethnography. It examines jewelry worn by the Chuvash people of the Buzuluk ethno-territorial group, which formed in the Buzuluk and southern part of the Buguruslan districts of the Samara province in the second half of the 18th and 19th centuries. The museum collection represents all the main types of jewelry of this group (over 60 items), making it a comprehensive source for research. Utilization of new materials discovered in the museum collections during attribution provide an opportunity to clarify the origin and evolution of several jewelry pieces. The Buzuluk jewelry complex was fully formed by the mid-19th century and remained virtually unchanged throughout the period under review. It included festive headdresses (тухья and хушпу), a temple-occipital adornment (пуҫ йӗппи), various beads and necklaces, a chest adornment (сурпан ҫакки), bracelets, and belt pendants (хӳре, сарӑ, сарӑ ҫуммисем and енчӗк). The composition of the complex, as well as the distinctive shapes and decoration of its components, suggest that it is based on the Middle Lowland tradition. Individual pieces trace back to the creations of the Upper and Lower Chuvash. Some pieces are also similar to those of the Volga, Transkama, and the Ural Chuvash people, which is due both to the common origins of these groups and to mutual influence. Some Buzuluk Chuvash jewelry was influenced by the Mordvins. A significant number of pieces from the Buzuluk complex remained in use until the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They retained archaic features that had disappeared in the ethnic group’s main area of settlement, making it possible to reconstruct earlier forms of certain items.