New Sarai The location and identity of the settlement or settlements called Sarai (which means, after all, simply "palace" and moreover seems to function as a synonym of "horde") have been subject to scholarly disagreement. Arguments have centered on whether or not there were two (or more) capital cities named Sarai and what were their respective locations. One of the influential views that emerged was that "New Sarai" was an enhancement or expansion of "Old Sarai", rather than a separate settlement. The other view was that "Old Sarai" and "New Sarai" were two separate settlements after all, separated by some distance, with "New Sarai" possibly associated with a satellite settlement called Gülistan. Already in the second half of the 18th and first quarter of the 19th century, Sarai was being sought variously at the large ruin fields of Tsarevskoe gorodishche and Selitrennoe gorodishche, both located (some 250 km apart) on the left bank of the Akhtuba, a left distributary of the Volga, which remain the most impressive archaeological sites in the area. During the late 19th-late 20th century, the dominant view that resulted from earlier studies, was that "Old Sarai" was founded in the 13th century by Batu and located at Selitrennoe gorodishche (previously also called Dzhigit Hadzhi, just northwest of modern Selitrennoe, about 30 km southeast of Kharabali and about 120 km north from Astrakhan), while "New Sarai" was founded later in the 13th century by Berke and made capital in the early 14th century by Öz Beg, and was located at Tsarevskoe gorodishche (previously also called Tsarevy Pady, , just northwest of modern Tsarev and farther west of Kolobovka, about 55 km east-southeast of Volzhsky). The Selitrennoe gorodishche archaeological site was described as "Gorodishche Selitrennoe ... remains of the Golden Horde capital Sarai-Batu" on the official sign in at the site, while the corresponding sign at the Tsarevskoe gorodishche archaeological site read "Ruins of Sarai-Berke (New Sarai)". This apparent certainty was eventually eroded by subsequent scholarship. First, it was noted that "New Sarai" could not be associated with Berke on historical, archaeological, and numismatic grounds, leading to a modification of the reconstruction: "New Sarai" was built by Öz Beg, and both "Sarai Batu" and "Sarai Berke" referred to "Old Sarai". Second, the analysis of the archaeological remains and distribution of found coins led to the realization that, while Selitrennoe gorodishche matched Sarai (or more specifically "New Sarai"), Tsarevskoe