Location

Saqsin was a medieval city that flourished from the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries. It was situated in the Volga delta (modern-day Astrakhan Oblast). For other meanings of the word Volga see Volga (disambiguation) Волга Length 3,690 km Elevation of the source 225 m Average discharge  ? m³/s Area watershed 1. ... Delta can signify: Δ or δ, a letter of the Greek alphabet. ... Categories: Stub | Oblasts of Russia ...

Saqsin in History

It was mentioned by the Arab writers al-Gharnati and al-Qazwini, among others. Saqsin may be an Arabized version of "Sarighsin", Turkic for "Yellow City". The identity of its inhabitants is unclear. It was situated near the ruins of Atil, the old Khazar capital, but there is no indication that it was part of any latter-day Khazar polity. It was situated in Kipchak territory and may have been the center for one of their principalities. Some sources claim that it was under the influence of the Volga Bulgars. The definition of who an Arab is has three main aspects: Political: whether they live in a country which is a member of the Arab League (or, more vaguely, the Arab world); this definition covers more than 300 million people. ... Atil, also spelled Itil (Turkic for Big River), was a name of the Volga River and of the capital of Khazaria from the middle of the 8th century until towards the end of the 10th century. ... The Khazars were a Turkic semi-nomadic people from Central Asia who adopted Judaism. ... The site of the Khazar fortress at Sarkel. ... Kipchaks (also Kypchaks, Qipchaqs) are an ancient Turkic people, first mentioned in the historical chronicles of Central Asia in the 1st millennium BC. Their language was also known as Kipchak. ... Bulgaria, known today as Volga Bulgaria, is a historic state that existed between the 7th and 13th centuries around the confluence of the Volga and Kama Rivers in what is now the Russian Federation. ...

Excavations

In 2003 Dmitry Vasil'ev of Astrakhan State University led a series of excavations around the site of Samosdelskoe in the Volga delta. Vasil'ev connected artifacts from the lower strata with Khazar, Oghuz and Bulgar culture, leading him to believe that he had discovered the site of Saqsin. The matter is still unresolved. For all Turkic groupings and Turkic history, see Turkic peoples. ... Bulgars (also Bolgars or proto-Bulgarians) a people of Central Asia, probably originally Pamirian, whose branches became Slavicized and perhaps Turkic over time. ...