LOWER VOLGA REGION

The article examines the organization of the process of accounting, training and retraining of national personnel in the Lower Volga region during the period of the first five-year plan, when the success of economic, economic and political campaigns carried out in the country was largely determined by the intensification of efforts in the field of training personnel for the party and state apparatus.

The article deals with the activity of V.A. Gorodtsov, an outstanding Russian archaeologist, in terms of the history of archaeology of the Lower Volga Region. His papers are of fundamental importance for investigating the Bronze Age monuments and artifacts of the Gorodets culture. He used to cooperate with the amateur archaeologists from Saratov and was the first one to recognize availability of the monuments of the Bronze Age pit, timber and Khvalynskaya cultures in the region. Gorodtsov gave special attention to the Sosnovo-Mazinskij hoard.

The article deals with the features of the industrial development of the Lower Volga Region in the pre-war years. The completion of some facilities, the implementation of rapid structural changes, the development of many types of new products, and the provision of sufficiently high rates of development contributed to the transformation of the region into a major industrial center. A comparative analysis of the industrial development of the region in the pre-revolutionary and Soviet periods proves the effectiveness of the socialist model of industrial development. 

This article is devoted to the formation of the Kalmyk National District on the Don and the problem of determining its administrative center at the turn of the 1920–1930s. The author, noting the positive phenomena that occurred in the life of the Don Kalmyks as part of the national district (education, preservation of national identity), draws attention to the artificial nature of the creation of this national district in the absence of compact residence of the Don Kalmyks.

Substantiation is provided for a model of culture genesis in the Lower Volga Region during the Late Bronze Age (LBA). Three phases corresponding to the succeeding archaeological cultures are recognized in the LBA of the region. The first phase (LBA 1) – the Pokrovsk culture, the second one (LBA 2) – the timber-grave culture, the third one (LBA 3) – the Khvalynsk culture of beaded pottery. At the change of phases, monuments of mixed types occur, with combined elements of the preceding and of the subsequent archaeological cultures.

The paper deals with the history of studying and interpreting the monuments of the Late bronze Age in the Lower Volga region. Viewpoints of various archeologists are analyzed concerning the archeological objects of crucial importance for modeling the timber-grave cultural-historical area.

The paper deals with scientific, pedagogical and museum activities of F.V. Ballod who was a professor at Saratov State University for nearly five years (1918–1923). The paper is dedicated to the 95^th anniversary of the first archaeological expedition organized and accomplished by  Saratov State University in June 1919 at the Uvek settlement. The expedition was led by professor Ballod.

The article discusses various aspects of historical and contemporary geodemographic dynamics of the Armenian population of the Lower Volga region. The author examines the migration history of the Armenians in the region, their number and sex-age composition, as well as the role of ethnic processes in changing the composition of the Saratov region population.

The article discusses the participation of foreign experts in the construction and reconstruction of industrial enterprises of the Lower Volga region in 1920–1930s. In the framework of the methodological concept of social history and the history of everyday life issues of productivity, socio-cultural and social adaptation of foreigners, their relationships with Soviet colleagues, with the administration of the are addressed. The article is based on the archival materials introduced into scientific circulation for the first time.

 The article examines the state of industry in the Lower Volga region in the late 1920s on the eve of the first five-year plan. The author studies the branch structure of the economy, the process of dividing industry by structure and forms of subordination. The extreme limitation of material financial resources has become one of the main reasons not only for the consolidation of territorial entities, but also for the allocation of priority areas for industrial development.