The Participation of Juchid Coins from the Middle Volga Region in the Monetary Circulation of the Aral Sea Area in the XIII – XIV Centuries

Abstract

The aim of this work is to determine the degree of involvement of coinage from the Middle Volga region in the commodity-money relations of the Southern Aral Sea region in the 13th–14th centuries. In the course of this work, an assessment was made of the composition of the coin stock that served the markets of the Southern Aral Sea region in both the 13th and 14th centuries. It is noted that there was a regular and virtually uninterrupted supply of Khwarezmian coins to the studied region throughout both centuries. The single find of a small hoard of Bulgar puls from the mid-13th century, discovered in the area of medieval Jend, is described, and an assessment of this fact is provided. In the 13th century, the monetary circulation of the studied region was formed with virtually no participation of coinage from the Volga region and other western areas of the Ulus of Jochi. The absence of coins from the Middle Volga in the 14th century also leads us to the same conclusion. The changes that occurred in monetary circulation in the 14th century led to the emergence of a new direction of monetary flows from the Sarai region towards Khwarezm, but this did not change the situation regarding the influx of coins from Bulgar and/or Mokhshi to the markets of the Aral Sea region.