An attempt to briefly present the scientist's views on the past of the Volga-Kama region is made in this article on the basis of the analysis of published works and archival data. In essence, the dissertation by N.F. Kalinin "The most ancient population of Tataria" and its subsequent publications in 1948 and the updated chapter in the collective monograph of 1955 were the first generalizing works on the “primeval” and “early medieval” archaeology of TASSR. An innovative development of the researcher was marking out of three local groups of the Bronze Age population based on the prevailing type of economy, the reconstruction of the women’s costume of the Pyany Bor time was carried out. No less significant is the contribution of Nikolay Filippovich in the study of the so-called Prikazanskaya culture.