Keywords: Stateyny Lists, thar, shah, sultan, shamhal, sovereign

The article discusses an actual source on the history of medieval mountain societies — the Stateyny Lists of the Russian embassies of the end XVIth — middle XVIIth centuries. Various aspects of the North Caucasian peoples’ daily life are reflected in the Nakaz (questionnaires) of the embassies. They are very important due to conservation in them the materials on so called Dark Age (XIII‑XV centuries), and «troubled and dramatic epoch» of the post-Mongol period as well. The data on the social structure is invaluable, despite its paucity.