Suvorovo Type Belts (for the study of the Volga-Ural paramilitary elite of the 4 th century AD)

Several Azelino sites yielded Suvorovo-type belts. These belts are characterized by a combination of B-shaped buckles, strap-ends with curved sides, belt mounts in the form of two lozenges. There is a correlation between the contents of the belt set and the warrior’s status. Similar belt sets are found in the Mazunino culture, Upper-Sura group of the Ancient-Mordva culture, and the late Sarmatian Suslovo burial ground. All of them are parallel lines of development based on local and late Sarmatian traditions and are dated from the 1st half to the 3rd quarter of the 4th century. It was the heyday of the cultures and of the Kama and Upper Sura regions; the Suvorovo circle belts are associated with their paramilitary elite. Most of the population actively using such belts was exterminated around the end of the 3rd quarter of the 4th century by interacting local military troops and steppe troops related with the Huns, therefore the tradition of making the belts in question also stopped.