On the History of the Study of Settlements and Housings of the Mordovians
Authors: Mokshina Elena N. , Svyatkin Mikhail I. 
Published: October 2021

Introduction. The article deals with the history of studying traditional settlements and dwellings. The authors pay attention to the analysis of medieval mentions of Mordovians in the works of European missionaries and oriental travelers. The contribution of domestic and foreign researchers in the study of material and spiritual culture of the Mordovian ethnos is considered. Based on the works of Soviet scientists shows the transformation of some architectural and structural details in the development of settlements, housing and economic buildings of the Mordovian people. Modern tendencies in ethnographic studying of a traditional economic and inhabited complex of constructions of Mordovian people are revealed. Materials and Methods. The research is based on the following methods: comparative-historical, historical-genetic, problem chronological, structural-systemic. Among the general scientific methods of research, logical, descriptive, narrative, generalizations, classifications and systematization were used. Numerous works on the topic of research of domestic and foreign authors were analyzed. Results and Discussion. Interest in the study of traditional settlements, dwellings and outbuildings of Mordovians arose quite long ago. The historiography on this issue can be divided into three periods: pre-revolutionary, Soviet and post-Soviet. If in the sources up to the XVIII century could be found only fragments of information on the topic of interest to us, then with the beginning of the reforms of Peter I interest in the study of peoples who lived in the Russian Empire, increases. The Russian Academy of Sciences organized a number of scientific expeditions for comprehensive analysis of the life activities of the peoples of Russia. P. S. Pallas, I. I. Lepekhin, N. P. Rychkov, I. P. Falk, I. G. Georgi and other researchers of the 18th century made a significant contribution to the study of traditional culture of the peoples of Russia and, in particular, of Mordovia. In the XIX century, with the creation of the Russian Geographical Society in 1845, was published a number of scientific papers, which are quite deeply and in detail considered the features of material and spiritual culture of Mordovians. During the Soviet period ethnographic expeditions became regular. Thanks to this, valuable information on the history and traditional culture of the Mordovian people was collected. Among the Soviet researchers who made a significant contribution to the study of Mordovians settlements and dwellings, we should remember N. P. Makushin, V. N. Belitzer, V. A. Balashov, E. I. Goryunova, P. D. Stepanov, V. F. Vavilin and others. In the post-Soviet period, the problem of studying Mordovians settlements and dwellings is still relevant. For example, a number of scientific works by M. V. Suldinsky were devoted to the study of the semantics of Mordovians peasant dwellings; various aspects of this topic were covered in the works of N. F. Mokshin, G. A. Kornishina, A. S. Luzgin, E. N. Mokshina, V. B. Makhaev, A. I. Merkulov, M. I. Svyatkin and others. Conclusion. Thus, the settlements, dwellings, and farm buildings of Mordovians were the objects of study by many researchers.