Zelenskaya A.Yu.

THE BONE ARTIFACTS OF THE UST-BELAYA BURIAL GROUND, AND SOME ISSUES OF CULTURAL INTERACTION IN THE NEOLITHIC ON THE NORTH OF THE FAR EAST

The materials of the Ust-Belaya site and burial ground served as a basis for distinguishing the Ust-Belaya culture of Inland Chukotka by N.N. Dikov. However, the results of investigations of the burial ground were partially published, without morphometric and statistical description of the materials at the barrows, including bone inventory. This work is dedicated to analyze the bone inventory from the burial mound 15 and to identify on its basis the cultural and historical links with archaeological materials of cultures of the Late Neolithic — the Early Metal Age in the North of the Far East and the Pacific North. Based on the results of the technical-typological analysis of bone tools, classification elements of the types of bone tools (often cultural markers) were singled out; the economic life of the Ust-Belaya population has been partially reconstructed (namely, the orientation to inland hunting), the question of the presence of harpoons in graves has been considered; the relations (based on comparative morphological analysis) with coastal cultures of the Koryaks, Itelmen, Aleuts and Eskimos are identified, with the latter showing the greatest similarity in the types of bone inventory. Thus, a detailed analysis of the artifacts of the Ust-Belaya Site provides valuable information on the Late Neolithic of the Inland Chukotka.

Key words: Ust-Belaya burial ground, mound 15, Chukotka, the Neolithic, the Paleometal Age, the Chukchi, the Eskimos, bone and antler tools, technical and typological analysis.

Tkachev A.A., Zimina O.Y., Tkachev Al.Al.

SUZGUN FORTIFIED SETTLEMENT ABATSKOE VI IN ISHIM RIVER BASIN

The article introduces into the scientific circulation the materials of the Late Bronze Age of the ancient settlement of Abatskoe VI, located in Abatsky district of Tyumen region. The site contains materials from several cultures of different periods of the Neolithic, Bronze and Early Iron Age, but this area was most often used in the Late Bronze period by the bearers of the Suzgun traditions, which left a well-fortified settlement. The ruins of the buil-dings, characterizing the features of the house-building of the bearers of the Suzgun culture, were investigated at the site. The buildings were semi-dug-outs with square pits of 70–90 m², 0,3–0,5 m deep. The premises of the eastern row of the dwellings were interconnected by transitions, some had additional exits both in the center of the settlement and in the direction of the shore fence. Features of the interior design allow us to assume that the buildings had a frame-skeleton base, were heated by fireplaces and open-hearth fires. The inventory is represented by products made of metal, stone, bone, clay. Among them, a bronze knife-dagger with an annular stop, a fragment of a clay mold for casting a kelt, bone whips, a fragment of a piece of psalias, adzes, punching, playing astragals with spent facets, fragments of handle, billets and arrowheads, clay spindles. The ceramic complex of the Suzgun culture at the ancient settlement of Abatskoe VI is numerous. The analysis of the ornamentation features of the pottery of the ancient settlement of Abatskoe VI revealed close indicators with the main characteristics of the ceramic complex of Borki 1 in the Ishim river basin and a certain affinity with the ornamentation of the ceramics of Chudskaya Gora settlement in the Irtysh river basin. The graph of the connections of the main elements of the ornament allows us to speak about the complex structure of the ornament, which demonstrates that several ornamental patterns exist on the monument, somewhat similar to the models of the ornament of the ceramic complexes of the Irtysh river basin. The totality of the data obtained as a result of the analysis of inventory and ceramics allows us to assume that the ancient settlement of Abatskoe VI functioned at the beginning of the 1^st millennium BC.

Key words: Ishim river basin, Abatskoe VI, the Suzgun culture, house-building, ceramics.

Kostomarova Yu.V.

STONE TOOLS IN THE ECONOMIC ACTIVITY OF THE POPULATION OF THE LATE BRONZE AGE IN THE FOREST-STEPPE ZONE OF THE TOBOL RIVER BASIN

The article presents the results of a complex analysis of stone tools from the sites of the Late Bronze Age in the forest-steppe zone of the Tobol river basin. The new data were obtained due to using petrographic, typological, traceological methods. They characterized household productive activities of the ancient population. It was found out that raw materials for stone working are represented, first of all, by the local sources such as small rocks and boulders that could be moved by waterways or are located in colluvial-deluvial sediments, reaching the surface of the Tobol river and the Iset river; secondly, imported raw materials originating from the fields of the Middle and Southern Urals due to the trade-exchange relations. Pebbles and tiles of sandstone, siltstone, quar-
tzite, shale were used for household and industrial needs. Primary processing of the stone was reduced to splitting, and secondary, to lining, abrasive technology, polishing. It was the only design of working platforms, at least of the sides or of the perimeter. A multi-stage scheme was used only for making prestigious things, including still and heavy drilling. A significant portion of the tools is represented by raw debris. Minimizing the time spent on production of tools can be regarded as a progressive feature in the economic activity of the population of the Bronze Age in the Tobol river basin. The analysis of signs of use of the tools, their classification allowed us to determine the function of a significant series of products. Stone tools were involved primarily in metal processing — at the stage of casting, forging and finishing the products. Numerous pestles and passive plates were used for crushing and grin-ding of various materials. In other spheres, the stone tools were used sporadically and played a rather secondary role. As in the leather production they were replaced with bone and ceramic tools; metal tools were widely used. In general, a comprehensive analysis of stone tools from the monuments of the Late Bronze Age showed unifor-mity of materials: virtually no recorded cultural and chronological differences in the range of tools and technologies of their production were found, which shows stability and continuity of the main industries.

Key words: the Bronze Age, forest-steppe zone of the Tobol river basin, stone tools, raw materials, technology, functional attribution.

Kuzminykh S.V., Degtyareva A.D., Tigeeva E.V.

METAL PRODUCTION OF KRASNOOZERKA AND ITKUL CULTURES OF THE TOBOL-ISHIM INTERFLUVE

The data of an analytical study of copper and bronze products of the eastern (Tobol area) variant of the Itkul culture and the Krasnoozerka culture of the Early Iron Age of the Tobol-Ishim interfluve (37 items) are compared. The metal inventory was studied by the methods of X-ray fluorescemce analysis (a laboratory of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences) and metallographic analysis (Tyumen Scientific Centre of SB RAS). The main vectors of historical and metallurgical contacts between the Krasnoozerka tribes and the eastern group of the Itkul tribes are traced. There are connections with the eastern, mining Altaic metal-producing centers, where the tin and tin-arsenic ligature came from. Western, Gumeshevskiy sources of copper had a little significance only for the eastern Itkul tribes, the Krasnoozersk tribes had no access to that copper. Relatively weak contacts also took place with the Sayan centers, from where a small amount of arsenic bronze was delivered in the form of ingots and finished products. At the very beginning of the Early Iron Age in the Eastern Tobol river basin and in the Ishim river basin, casting techniques of artificial low-alloy tin-arsenic and tin bronzes were predominately used for manufacturing tools and weapons. Forging as a method of obtaining finished products was practiced in isolated cases.

Key words: Western Siberia, the Early Iron Age, metal production, historical and metallurgical contacts.

Anoshko O.M., Rafikova T.N.

NEW DATA ON THE BURIAL RITUAL OF THE YUDINO POPULATION (BASED ON THE MATERIALS OF ZAVODOUKOVSKY-3 BURIAL MOUND)

The article presents the results of a study of the Early Medieval burial mound of Zavodoukovsky-3. Almost complete absence of burial complexes of the Early Middle Ages in the forest-steppe and subtaiga Trans-Urals determines the high importance of the materials obtained for reconstruction of the burial rite of the Yudino culture population and, in the future, for reconstruction of genesis, development of chronology and periodization issues of the Yudino culture. The research materials are interpreted from the authors' point of view on the functioning of the Yudino culture during the VII (possibly, the end of the VI) — XIII centuries AD with distinguishing of several stages within the culture [Rafikova, 2015]. By now, only one burial mound of the Pereimino burial ground has been included into the Molchanovo stage. Zavodoukovsky-3 burial ground can be considered the second funerary complex of that time. The necropolis of Zavodoukovsky-3 is of a mound type, a part of its mounds is located on the area of the Bronze Age ancient settlement of Zavodoukovskoe 11. During the excavation of this settlement complex, one burial mound with a collective burial under it was opened up, as well as three graves were. Spatial arrangement of the latter allows us to assume that they were covered with mounds, which got leveled with the ground surface. The diameter of the mound was 5,6 m, the grave was surrounded by a ritual ditch with a break from the south-west side. The remains of wood dust, found at the bottom of an undisturbed part of the grave, give evidence of a floor. All bu-ried people are lying with their heads towards the south and south-west. The burial ground provided two radiocarbon dates indicating that the object functioned in the VI–VII centuries AD. As to grave goods, bone arrowheads were found, which had been in use throughout the Medieval period. The ceramic collection is represented by the Yudino culture vessels. Interestingly, the ornamentation of dishes is poor and is represented by multirow cord and comb lines, zigzags. Figurative stamps typical of the settlement utensils of that period were not found. This tendency — a poor ornamentation of funerary vessels — is characteristic of not only of the Molchanovo stage of the Yudino culture, but also of the Yudino culture in general, and is confirmed by the materials of all Medieval necropoles.

Key words: forest-steppe Trans-Urals, Zavodoukovsky-3, the Middle Ages, the Yudino culture, burial mound, burial rite.