MILITARY AND POLITICAL FACTORS AND THE GRECO-BARBARIAN TRADE: ISSUES OF COMPARING DATA FROM WRITTEN AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOURCES (ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE KUBAN REGION AND THE INTERFLUVE OF THE VOLGA AND THE URAL)

The aim of the study is to characterize the issues of comparing written and archaeological sources in studying the impact of military and political factors on the Greco-Barbarian trade using the example of the Kuban region and the interfluve of the Volga and the Ural as the near and far barbarian periphery of the ancient world, respectively. Four groups of issues are identified and characterized. The first group is associated with the reflection of information on the dynamics of trade and the dynamics of military and political events. The second group includes issues associated with dating military and political events and changes in trade based on archaeological material. The third group includes issues of localizing toponyms and ethnonyms and ethnocultural attribution of archaeological sites and cultures. The fourth group includes issues of establishing probable cause-and-effect relationships between the action of military and political factors and the dynamics of trade. The general issues of comparing data from archaeological and written sources for the four groups described are related to the specifics of their various categories, the degree and features of the reflection of information on the dynamics of trade and military and political events and processes. The features and possibilities of comparison revealed for each of the regions, the Kuban region and interfluve of the Volga and the Ural, are related to the specifics of a certain range of written and archaeological sources, the degree and features of the reflection of information of a "military" and "trade" nature. They, in turn, were influenced by the differences between these regions of an ethnic, geographical, economic-cultural, military-political nature, as well as the degree and nature of their involvement in ancient trade and military and political events in the ancient world