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.

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.

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, quartzite, 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.

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.

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.

The article analyzes tree-ring chronologies of contemporary pines growing on different hypsometric marks in relation to the modern level of the Andreevskoe lakes, on the low-ridges of terrace-like formations, floodplain lowlands and riams. The tree-ring chronologies from these areas, their correlation, dependence of the width of the rings on various natural factors, such as fires, harmful insects and fluctuation of groundwaters itself, reflecting the level of lakes in the Andreevskoe lake system are described. As a result of the study, 8 tree-ring chronologies were made, ecological and biological regularities were found out determining the formation of annual pine rings in the lake area due to a change in its level. The longest chronology of the lake coast for 197 years (since 1821) confirmed low water level in the lake, recorded on the map of surveyor Vasily Filimonov, created in November 1829. The use of chronologies was analyzed based on the difference in width of the annual pine rings according to the principle of contrasting biotopes (high — low, dryland — peatland), limited possibilities for reconstructions of this type based on individual ring chronologies are shown. A 174-year-old difference chronology (since 1843) was created, verified by a number of historical evidence, results of studies of lakes in the south of Western Siberia and cartographic material of the recent decades. The difference created chronology is recommended as a basis for reconstruction of the lake's level regime (possibly in combination with certain ring chronologies), although the fluctuation amplitudes can be specified for further dendrochronological reconstructions using old construction timber and fossil wood (in peat bogs).

The paper summarizes the results of a geo-chemical study of the soil samples collected from the ashy layer (zol’nic) at the Bronze Age settlement Streletskoye I in the Southern Trans-Urals and from the nearby natural deposition. The site is located on the left bank of the Ui river in Chelyabinsk region, Russia. The data on the distribution of phosphorus, potassium, calcium, manganese, sulfur, iron, titanium, rubidium, vanadium, cobalt, zinc and strontium are considered. The comparison demonstrates that concentrations of such elements as phosphorus, calcium, manganese, sulfur, rubidium exceed background values 2–3 times, while levels of potassium, iron, titanium, vanadium, cobalt, and strontium are below background values. At the same time, humus of buried soil underneath the ashy layer demonstrates highest values that exceed the usual one 2–4 times. The statistical analysis (t-statistics) supported the conclusion of very different proportions of elements between the cultural layer and the natural soil deposition, except for vanadium, cobalt, and strontium. There are two zones of element accumulations within the cross-section of the cultural layer, which are the ashy layer and the humus horizon. The conducted analysis contributes to the understanding of the subsistence strategies and craft. The high levels of phosphorus, potassium, calcium, possibly sulfur and zinc suggest the dominance of livestock breeding. The pre-sence of pottery production indicated by concentrations of manganese, iron, titanium, rubidium, strontium, vanadium and cobalt which could come with raw materials (clay) and broken ceramics. The discovered ashy layer is interpreted as a midden where wastes were repeatedly burned. Thus, layers of ash are complex objects that accumulate information of the economic activities and are unique for each ancient settlement.

Based on a reconstruction of paleolandscapes, the food resource base of the territory of the Andreevskoe lake system in the 3rd millennium BC is described. The complexes of the Shapkul, Bairyk and Andreevskaya cultures are analyzed. Their bearers represent typical groups with appropriating type of economy, based mainly on fishing with nets and, possibly, with traps. Fishing with nets is proved by settlements located, as a rule, near the water, spreading of a cultural layer containing fragments of clay weights on the coast of lakes. Hunting, most likely, played an auxiliary role. The diet could include meat of ungulates and birds, fish, eggs and various wild plants. Assuming that energy demands per day for a man are 2700 kcal, and for a woman are 2100 kcal, we can conclude that a person needed to have an annual diet consisting of approximately 73 kg of animal meat, 73 kg of poultry meat, 365 kg of fish and 730 eggs for a normal life-support. Wild plants, apparently, also formed part of the menu, but it is difficult to calculate their quantity. Keeping in mind the fullness of resources of the Andreevskoe lake system, we believe that a maximum of 250 people could live on its territory at a time, and taking into account possible volume of resources procured, about 130 people. Most likely, they lived in one or two villages. This number is close to the number of inhabitants of non-Slavic yurts according to the information given on the maps of 1701 by S. Remezov and of 1829 by V. Filimonov. In our opinion, the assumption that an increase in the number of monuments in the III millennium BC is related to an increase in the population engaged in fishing with nets, is unfounded.

The paper presents the results of an archaeobotanical study of charred seeds obtained with the water flotation technique on the site of Cherepakha-13. The multilevel site is located on the western seacoast of Ussuri Bay in Southern Primorye. The area of the site was totally excavated (7616 м²) in 2015. Remains of 52 pit-dwellings, one land based dwelling, 114 pits with different functions and 26 burials were unearthed at the site. The site deposits content materials of five chronological periods: the Zaisanovskaya archaeological culture of the Late Neolithic, the Lidovskaya culture of the Bronze Age, the Yankovskaya and the Krounovskaya cultures of the Early Iron Age, the Middle Age (XII c.). The vast majority of the constructions' remains and archaeological materials belong to the Yankovskaya culture. According to the analysis of the ceramic collection of the site and its location in pit-dwellings, we distinguished two chronological periods of the site occupation by the Yankovskaya culture population. More than 150 litres of soils were studied by the water flotation in pit-dwellings of the 1^st (№ 10, 17, 18) and the 2^nd (№ 1, 48) periods of occupation by the Yankovskaya culture and from a pit-dwelling (№ 19) of the Krounovskaya culture. 420 seeds of plants were obtained from 20 samples. Cultural plants seeds were found in all pit-dwellings. Seeds of foxtail and broomcorn millets dominated among them. We obtained the most numerous millet seeds from the samples of the pit-dwelling № 48, which is 87 % of all seeds in the dwelling. One seed of nuked barley (Hordeum vulgare var. nudum) and one seed of soybean (Glycine max) were found in the same deposit. But there were not many remains of cultural millets in the deposits of the 1^st occupation period by the Yankovskaya culture. Thus, our data demonstrates an increasing role of the millet agriculture in the 2^nd period. Seeds of barnyard millet were discovered in the Krounovskaya culture pit-dwelling. It is the first finding of millet of such species in the Prehistoric time of Primorye. The archaeobotanical data from Cherepakha-13 site testify a significant role of the agriculture in the subsistence system of the Yankovskaya culture population that chose to live on the seacoast. Our data do not confirm the importance of barley for the Krounovskaya culture population.

The retrospective analysis of geosystems is one of the most important methods of implementation of the historicism principle and assessment of conditions of use of the nature in the Holocene. The initial stage of such studies is analysis of the modern landscape structure and its detailed mapping. The purpose of the research is to develop methods for inventory and mapping of modern landscapes in the reconstruction of the original (natural) properties of anthropogenic complexes based on the interpretation of the Earth remote sensing data using geoinformation systems. The paper presents the results of a large-scale mapping of the restored landscapes of the territory of the Andreevskoe lake system (the interfluve of the Tura and Pyshma rivers). In the process of inventory and mapping of the landscape structure, special attention was paid to the definition of invariant features of landscapes. Vegetation and microrelief are the defining properties in the selection of species of the tracts. In the course of the landscape study, based on heterogeneous materials (space images, topographic maps, field surveys), 170 species of tracts belonging to 9 types of terrain were identified. Based on the experience of deciphering natural complexes and geobotanical studies using DDZ, the spectral angle methods (Spectral angle) and the maximum likelihood method (Maximum Likelihood). Classification with training was carried out in the following software packages: ArcGIS 10.3, ENVI 5.3 and Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin (SCP) module for QGIS 2.18.2. A large-scale map of reconstructed landscapes obtained in digital form is a necessary basic element for spatial modeling and further studies of the life support system and dynamics of the ancient population of the Andreevskoye Lake system and the adjacent territory of the Tura and Pyshma interfluve. A detailed cartographic database contains detailed information on the relief, type of soil and vegetation for each elementary landscape allotment, which will continue to use the resulting map as a factual basis for the evaluation of the territory resource base of the ancient and the modern population. Creation of a cartographic database by means of geoinformation systems will further involve a variety of tools for modeling and spatial analysis to solve research (archaeological) problems.

The article presents the results of technical and technological analysis regarding a pottery complex of the Cherkaskul culture from the settlement of Khripunovskoye 1 located in the forest-steppe area of the Tobol River basin. The analysis is made within the framework of historical and cultural approach and the structure of the pottery industry, developed by A.A. Bobrinsky. The conducted research revealed heterogeneity of the traditions that existed among Cherkaskul potters of the settlement Khripunovskoye 1. The potters used two types of soft raw material: clays and silty clays. Analysis of the moulding masses showed a variety of artificial impurities, which were used by the potters. Chamotte used with various organic impurities was a dominant tradition, but also they used talc, crushed quartz, calcined bone, crushed river moluscan shells. The construction of «seed-bodies» of the vessels was manufactured in accordance with the bottom-capacitive program. The vessels were made by the method of sculptural modeling on a plane and with the help of a form-basis. The «seed-bodies» and the hollow bodies of the vessels were constructed using patches. The surface treatment of the ceramics was carried out mostly by a simple method of smoothing with hard tools, after which the walls of the vessels were polished. The vessels were fired in simple hearths. Basing on the data obtained and comparing them with information from other territories, it is possible to say that groups of the Cherkaskul population in the Lower Tobol region appeared as a result of their migrations, most likely from the territories associated with the Ural region.

This paper is aimed to study Egyptian textiles from the grave 213 dated to 5–7 AD that belongs to the Deir al-Banat necropolis (Fayum). These textile finds are published for the first time which would extend our know-ledge on Egyptian Late Antique burial custom and would further enrich our understanding of the function that textiles had in Egyptian funeral practice. Moreover, the data from this burial would help us to study Egyptian weaving technologies of that time. The textile finds from the grave 213/1 are rather diverse. The male body from the grave was stretched out on its back with the head towards the west. It was dressed in three wool and one (closest to the body) linen tunics and wrapped in the fourth wool tunic. A rectangular linen cloth covered the face of the deceased. The head was resting on a pillow, under which an unfinished wool rectangular textile was found. A similar pillow was placed at the foot of the man. Fourteen textiles of different quality were used to wrap the body. Twelve of them were of a poor quality («wrappings» or «coarse funeral shrouds»). Two other textiles from the upper layer of the «wrappings» (probably, reused furnishing textiles) quite differed from the ordinary coarse shrouds. There are different groups of textiles: reused furnishing textiles, coarse funeral shrouds, tunics. Coarse shrouds with simple decorations were woven presumably on a vertical loom with two beams. This kind of loom was rather primitive and could have been used in small workshops specializing in production of large number of low quality textiles for burial needs. The woven-to-shape three-piece tunics and furnishings were not produced on the same loom as the coarse shrouds. Both one-piece and three-piece tunics have starting/finishing borders and were attached to a wooden bar or string but not simply looped around the beam. All these objects were rather heavy and demanded certain skills from a weaver. Besides large and complicated looms, Egyptian weavers could have probably used rather small and simple devices such as a band loom with a rigid heddle. Textiles of different functions were used in burial practice. Among them were both textiles specially intended for burial (coarse funeral shrouds) and reused lifetime items (tunics, furnishing textiles). From other archaeological sources, it is known that Egyptians of Late Antiquity did not have special garments for funeral. The economic context of the textiles from the grave 213 is rather unclear. Some of the objects could have been produced in small household workshops, the others demand professional skills.

The article deals with materials of excavations at Isetskoie 2, an unfortified settlement of the Middle Ages, located in the Lower Iset River basin. The published materials are important due to poor previous study of unfortified settlements of the Bakal culture. The place is single-layered which makes it a valuable source for reconstruc-ting house-building traditions and material culture of the Medieval population of the forest-steppe zone of the Trans-Urals. A representative series of radiocarbon dates allows us to refresh a problem of chronology of the Medieval antiquities of the Tobol-Ishim interfluve, indicating that the Bakal culture functioned throughout the Early and High Middle Ages. Fifteen buildings were studied during excavations at the settlement, three types of buil-dings were distinguished: above-ground buildings with log-framed or light-framed walls and deepened framed and pillared buildings. Dwellings erected in log technique were found at a site of the Bakal culture for the first time. Among the buildings, both temporary seasonal dwellings and outbuildings are singled out. The ceramic material of the settlement is represented by vessels of the Bakal culture, separate fragments of Kushnarenkovo dishes which often accompany the Bakal complexes in the territory of Western Siberia, are found as well. Statistical analysis of the ceramic material and a series of radiocarbon dates indicate that the settlement functioned for a long period of time, in the III–XII centuries AD. A lack of system in arrangement of the buildings, weak saturation of the cultural layer, absence of fireplaces inside the buildings, characteristics of the inventory allow us to conclude that the settlement was seasonal.

The results of 2007–2016 archaeological excavations of Tara and historical materials on the town planigraphy in the period under consideration gave birth to this work. The study made it possible to reconstruct the history of the territorial development of the town from its foundation until the adoption of an unified urban plan in 1775. The survey allowed to identify the principles of foundation and development of a Siberian Russian city at the end of XVII–XVIII centuries. During the work, we tried to determine the importance of such factors as defenses, availability of transit routes, fire safety, etc. for the development. In the course of excavations at Tara fortress, archaeologists from the Omsk Branch of Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS excavated about 1500 m² of the cultural stratum with a capacity of 2 m and more. We received information about different aspects of the culture of Tara population at the end of the XVI–XVIII centuries, including about the fortress planigraphy and conditions of its streets. Furthermore, considering the geographical features of the location of Tara stronghold, the authors have studied the roads leading to it. The article presents the results of these works considering the roads leading to Tara fortress from different angles, transitions across the rivers that surrounded it, Tara streets, transformation of planigraphy of the fortress in the late XVIII century. Tara fortress was built with the use of natural barriers. From the West, it was well protected by a marsh and a river. From the East, the road to the castle was complicated by the Irtysh floodplain and the Arkarna River's tributaries. There were only three roads to get to the city, which were covered by the towers of the fortress. Nowadays, these roads turned into streets and are used to travel more often than others located between them. By the end of the XVIII century, Tara had gradually become one of the most comfortable and clean town in Siberia. The town dealt with fires, and arrangements for drainage of wetlands solved the problem of mud at Tara streets. In general, the system of roads leading to Tara started to develop since the fortress was established, correct geometric planigraphy of the town began to take shape in the second half of the eighteenth century, taking into account the existing road. At the same time, indiscriminate housing development disappeared and improvement of the streets began.

The paper contains the analysis of a letter of archeologist N.N. Bortvin to archaeologist K.V. Salnikov. The text is filled with precious information on the history of archaeology in the Urals and in the Trans-Urals in the 1920–1930^th years, and information about known archaeological sites of the Southern Urals and Trans-Urals.

The results of a study of Neolithic skulls from the burial ground of Firsovo XI, on the right bank of the Ob River near the city of Barnaul, are presented. The restoration resulted in obtaining craniometric characteristics of 7 male and 3 female skulls of different degrees of preservation. The series is characterized by a structure of the facial skull, intermediate between the Caucasoids and the Mongoloids, it contains skulls of a more Caucasoid and a more Mongoloid appearance. According to the results of an intergroup comparison, the Firsovo XI series differs greatly from the Afanasyevo culture series and the similar cultural types of the Altai Mountains, which confirms the conclusion that the Afanasyevo population of Southern Siberia has no local roots. The craniological series under consideration is very similar to the synchronous groups from the Northern foothills of the Altai (burial grounds of Ust-Isha, Itkul, Solontsi V, etc.). There is also a great morphological similarity to the Neolithic series of the more Northern areas of the Ob River Basin near Novosibirsk and Kamen', Kuznetsk Depression, Baraba forest-steppe zone, the Irtysh River basin near Omsk, Northern Kazakhstan, and the forest-steppe Trans-Urals. The similarity to the synchronous groups of the Upper Lena and the Upper Angara is also revealed, as a reflection of racial and genetic connections between the population of the Altai foothill regions and the Neolithic population of the Circum-Baikal region. The male group under consideration also demonstrates a significant morphological similarity to the Neolithic and Early Eneolithic craniological materials from the burial grounds of Lebiazhinka IV and V, Chekalino V, S''iezzhe I in the Volga-Ural interfluve. A hypothesis is made that, before the Bronze Age, an anthropological community of ancient population of the plain forest-steppe zones of Eurasia with intermediate Caucasoid-Mongoloid racial features existed in the territories of Western Siberia and Eastern regions of Eastern Europe. Besides, the group, which left the burial site of Firsovo XI, especially its female part, demonstrates presence of brachicranian component, also with intermediate Mongoloid-Caucasoid racial features. Probably, it belongs to the Southern Eurasian anthropological formation, which determined the anthropological composition of the local population of the Altai-Sayan Highland in the Neolithic — Late Bronze Age.

Irrespective of era and habitat, people paid more attention to extraordinary and unlike phenomena, than to everywhere found and usual ones. This article is about unusual individuals of the 9^th–11^th centuries from Dvin, among which traces of delay of growth processes were revealed. The paper analyzes individual features of craniological, cranioscopic, odontological, osteological and paleopathological characteristics of two individuals. Basing on a comprehensive anthropological study of finds, an attempt to reconstruct the way of life of the buried was made. Due to the lack of bones of the post-cranial skeleton of the individual No. 1, we can state only nanocephalia. Markers of an incidental stress (hypoplasia of enamel, cribra orbitalia) in this individual indicate systemic influence of negative factors, such as infections, frequent periods of starvation which interfered with normal development of the organism in the childhood. The skeleton No. 2 is characterized by the Laron-type dwarfism (Laron syndrome). The research of bones of the skeleton showed presence of serious pathologies, unrepresentative for so young age, related to excessive exercise stresses. An optional version of the activity is possible: the dwarf was a clown-acrobat. Harris lines, or growth arrest lines are clearly seen on Х-ray images of two diaphyses of tibial bones. Another marker of growth delays (enamel hypoplasia) is also found in the individual No. 2. Existence of one of the diet indicators (odontolith) and absence of caries indicate similarity of ingredients of the meals of two individuals, and tying, perhaps, proteinaceous origin of their food.

The aim of this study is to systematize information on kerchiefs that the Mansi present to the guardian spirits. The analysis is based on the typological method. The article analyzes materials kerchiefs are made of and their ornaments, ways of throwing on and tying, their functions. The research is based on information gathered during ethnographic expeditions, studies of museum collections and ethnographic literature. It is found out that kerchiefs are the most common type of sacrificial offerings at contemporary Mansi shrines. Regardless of sex, they are presented to female and male guardian spirits. A coin tied into a corner is a distinctive feature of sacrificial kerchiefs. Kerchiefs with pendants made of seed beads, beads, bells or small bells sewn on have a special status. Two types of sacrificial kerchiefs are distinguished: home-made and tailor-made kerchiefs. Currently, the most common kerchiefs are tailor-made. It was determined that sacrificial kerchiefs perform a number of functions at sanctuaries. They form part of a costume of the images of guardian spirits as headdresses, belts, bedspreads, etc. Sometimes they completely replace clothes in the images of guardian spirits. Kerchiefs often form a basis of a figure depicting a guardian spirit. They are used to cover the skin of a bear during a bear feast. It is found out that kerchiefs exercise magical (apotropaic and carpogonical) functions in family rites.

The article is dedicated to a study of some components of a wedding ceremony of the Komi-Permyaks. Several problems are solved in this research. First, wedding terms which refer to wedding acts and rituals are divided into groups. Secondly, wedding traditions of the Komi-Permyaks and Russians are compared. Completion of these tasks allows us to identify analogies with the Russian local customs and ethnic specificity of the wedding ritual culture of the Komi-Permyaks. Most of the terms describing wedding acts and rituals of the Komi-Permyaks are borrowed Russian words. In addition, there are designations in the Komi-Permyak language, some of which appeared due to the influence of the Russian language, other terms can be considered as a result of the development of their own language as a part of ritual culture. The system of wedding terminology of the Komi-Permyaks is quite complicated, because it combines vocabularies of different languages and different local versions of the terms for the same ritual. The article analyzes in more detail the wedding rituals and acts which have an ambiguous meaning or, according to their names, suggest an ethnic specificity. Content analysis of the customs shows that the most important moment — action or its symbolic importance — is reflected in the name of a ritual. Perhaps, existence of different names of the same ritual is a result of changes in the wedding ceremony on different territories among local groups of the Komi-Permyaks. Comparative analysis of the Komi-Permyak and Russian wedding traditions indicates that more similarities are observed with those Russians who lives in Kama region and in the European North. A part of the wedding rituals and acts discussed in the article can be considered unique Komi-Permyak traditions, as they have no analogies found among the Russian customs. Among them are acts like eating dumplings at the bachelorette party, treating to people who were not invited to the wedding (kudpydes), a custom when a mother-in-law gives her daughter-in-law a handkerchief, and puts it on her shoulders or on newlyweds’ shoulders.

The article is dedicated to demographic characteristics of Siberian Nenets people and identifies their ethno-demographic potential in the 21^st century. The work is based on a set of published and unpublished data from the All-Russian Population Censuses of 2002 and 2010 for the Nenets people living in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District. We used ideas about demographic security of Novosibirsk Economic and Sociological School and of K.B. Klokov and S.A. Khrushchev about ethnoses as demoi and ethnoses as societies. Common and specific demographic features of the Nenets are identified, the indicators characteristic to the Nenets are compared with other ethnic groups, mainly Russians. The article considers both dynamics of the number of Nenets in general, and in towns and rural areas of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, attention is drawn to the peculiarities of formation of an urban group of the Nenets. Analyzing demographic processes and demographic behavior, we focus, first of all, on the characteristics of age and sex structures and the number of children born by a woman during her life. In addition, indicators characterizing natural population changes in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District by certain nationalities, including the Nenets, are provided for 2000–2008. It is noted that the nature of changes of the indicators in the first decade of the XXI century demonstrates that both the Nenets living in villages and the nomads perceive demographic stereotypes of behaviour of the dominant society. On the whole, the Nenets in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District are safe from depopulation. According to data from the All-Russian censuses, there is a favorable demographic situation among them in the first decade of the 21^st century. But current trends point out that some demographic risks exist, primarily those related to the number of children in the families. The nature of the quantitative indicators suggests that demographic behavior of the Nenets is determined by family values of the dominant majority.

The article deals with a study of ethnic composition of the Tunka Buryats and features of their settlement on the territory of the former Tunkinskaya Steppe Duma, which was split into four parts called Torskaya, Koimorskaya, Kharibyatskaya indigenous authorities and Okinskoe separate clan district in 1890. Creation of the first Buryat territorial administrative units — Mirskay izba and Steppe bureau (Stepnaya kontora) and their further evolution to Steppe Dumas led to formation of ethno-territorial groups of the Buryat people, the identity of which remains relevant to the present time. One of these groups are the Tunka Buryats. The ethnic composition of the Tunka Buryats occupying Russian border area with Mongolia is of great interest as they are tribes living in the border region. Buffer status of the territory along the East Sayan Mountains led to the emergence and settlement of different Mongol, Turkic, Samoyedic tribes, such as Khurkhut, Dalakhai, Khongodor, Khoykho, Chaldar, Terte, Shosholok and others in this area during different periods of history. The tribe of Irkit also lived among the Bu-ryats. Its genesis is connected to the Samoyedic peoples who had lived in the Sayan region long before Turkic and Mongolic tribes appeared there. Some of them preserved traditional reindeer husbandry in the 19^th century. This study continues a discussion on ethnicity and origin of small Buryat tribes and their relations with the Mongolic and Turkic tribes of Central Asia and South Siberia. Author's version of their origin is based on historical and linguistic analysis of ethnonyms of these tribes, which form an ethno-territorial group of the Tunka Buryats. Reconstruction of network of settlement of the Buryat ethnic groups on the territory under consideration in the 19^th century allowed us to demonstrate the most complete picture of settlement of the Tunka Buryats and Irkits, and to show the maximum number of uluses and villages, which existed there at the end of the 19^th century. The author's maps also show status of the territory, ratio and density of population of the Buryat tribes.

The article is dedicated to a local group of the Russian Germans living in the Central Ural Mountains (Sverdlovsk region). This research analyzes features of ethnical history, today's consciousness and complex identity of this group. Generally, episodes of the Russian national and regional (Ural) history are significant for the Germans in the Central Ural Mountains: Catherine the Great's manifesto, deportation, the Labor army, rehabilitation. European and German plots are manifested in historical memory much more weakly; but they are present in the religious and ceremonial sphere (for example, Osterhase, the Easter rabbit). The Volga River is a bright symbol of the Russian-German identity, for the Ural Germans in particular. In the 1960s, the Soviet Germans began a movement for rehabilitation of their people, restoration of territorial autonomy and culture. Ivan Kronevald, a resident of the Urals, was one of the leaders of that movement. In the 1990s, the Ural Germans actively initiated ethnical projects: public associations, centers for meetings and culture centers appeared, which aimed to restore the lost ethnical and cultural basis as the main objective. However, the movement for restoration of autonomy of the Russian Germans resulted in emigration to Germany.

Evolution of the myth of a hero as the central anthropic image in the mythology of the United States occurred under the influence of mentality of the groups/subjects of mythogenesis and has a complex character. The emergence of spontaneous plots with a significant share of regional specifics, where the starting idea was the demiurgic myth of the frontier, was the first stage of the heroic myth. The basic mythological images are constructed on the archetypal basis, being filled with content due to the Protestant context and constantly ongoing processes of expanding the cultural ecumene of the country. The images of national heroes as symbols of the people and as deputies of the idea of an ancestor constituted the majority of the United States' anthropological myths until the 1920s. External factors of the country's development, such as active urbanization, secularization of culture, the First World War, the Great Depression, served as an impetus for the transformation of the heroic myth. The heroes of the frontier were replaced by superheroes, whose images combine superhuman and totemic features. In the national mythology, images of superheroes are associated with presentation of archetypal patterns and traditional plots, pushing the heroics of the frontier to the spheres of advertising, glamour and some kind of hagiography, which leads to a change in the heroes’ paraphernalia and the accompanying symbolic and sign range. A superhero as the central image of the contemporary national mythology of the United States emerges on the cusp of the processes of secularization, rise of the idea of a man, mass culture and technology, in close relation with the archetypal ground.

The article analyzes the time of formation of the comb-pit ornamental tradition, its area, and periodization of the Neolithic of the Lower Ishim basin connected with the process. Lack of roads («corridors») to the Ishim and Irtysh basins and to the Baraba from the North-Western, Western and Northern territories marked by monuments whose complexes would have ceramics with the comb-pit decoration, as well as absence of enough early centers with such tradition in the «mother countries», assumed by some researchers, most likely, mean that it was formed within the limits of the Ishim basin and the Baraba region. Local complexes with divergent-scratched, divergent-scrathched-comb ornamentation probably served as a basis for its formation. However, already at early stages of the Neolithic, they had an increased number of single sequences of pits, or pits of various forms at different zones of a vessel in the region. Stratigraphical occurrence of the complex under consideration above the Boborykino-Koshkino culture in the settlements of Borovlyanka 2 and Avtodrom 2/2 and the fact that it is overlapped by dwellings containing ceramics proximate to the Sosnovka-Ostrov culture at the settlement of Serebryanka 1 are indicative of the time of formation of the comb-pit tradition or, more specifically, of the divergent-comb-pit tradition. A research of a complex in the Ishim basin, at the settlement of Mergen 7, which is close to the Kozlovo culture and chronologically follows the Koshkino culture, allows us to arrange the periodization scheme of the Ishim basin so that the Kokuy materials (with divergent-scratched-comb ornamentation) are between the Kozlovo culture and the settlement of Serebryanka 1, which is located on the Western border of the area and is close to the Sosnovka-Ostrov culture. Materials with comb ornamentation were not found in the settlement, thus the scheme of development of the comb-pit ornamental tradition there could differ, excluding a break between the Kokuy and Ekaterininsk complexes. Materials of the settlement of Mergen 7 narrow the period of the beginning of formation of the tradition under consideration. Taking into account correlation of the calibrated dates of the monuments of Mergen 7, Serebryanka 1, Protoka and Sopka 2, we argue that, most likely, it is a period between V and IV thousands BC.

This article analyzes ornamented items of bone and horn from the Neolithic complex of the settlement of Mergen 6 (forest-steppe zone of the Ishim River basin). Working method of application of an image was described with the help of use wear analysis. Micro photos of traces of application of images on the surface of the artefacts were made. The study highlighted two groups of images — marks and ornaments. Notches dominate in the first group, and zigzags and straight lines dominate in the second group. Composite constructions are singled out on the whole artefacts. Image location analysis on the whole artefacts revealed features of their dislocation, manifested in delineation with marks and ornaments of zones of hand grip and working parts of the items. Ornamentation and, in particular, its composition allow us to firmly connect the core Neolithic pottery complex of the settlement (Boborykino and Koshkino materials) and the artefacts under consideration. In addition to co-occurrence of ceramic vessels and tools of bone and horn in the dwellings, as well as to analogous compositions on ceramics and bones, the relation is observed on the basis of the dominant position of the main ornamental elements (straight lines, zigzags) regarding the others. Moreover, a clear determination of cultural identity of the ornamented tools and analogies within Boborykino and Koshkino antiquities of the whole Trans-Urals allowed us to to reach a wider range of comparisons and to consider the ornaments and the artefacts as links between the Trans-Urals and such Southern territories, as the North Caspian Sea, steppe Volga region, etc. This scale allows us to use the artefacts under consideration as one more evidence of a hypothesis that the Southern migrations were a driving force of neolitisation of the region. In turn, variability of functional purpose of the ornamented items of the Neolithic period, in comparison with the previous chronological periods, allows us to consider them as an indicator of changes in the ideology and the economic and ecological adaptation of ancient societies at the frontier of two epochs.

The article is dedicated to one of the aspects of symbolic activities of ancient population regarding the use of a rare variety of natural material. From ancient times, shells, as bright and unusual material, served for making jewelry: bead necklaces and pendants. In the Urals, such artefacts had been used from the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic to the Modern Times. The shells rarely served as combs punches, scrapers and containers for paints. Petrified shells were very rare and unusual. That is why they were used in symbolic activities and could serve as amulets, cult symbols and communicative signs.

The paper is aimed to discuss problems of synchronization and cultural affinity of Sintashta and Petrovka sites. The author denies a possibility of complete synchronization of Sintashta and Petrovka sites. He believes that comparing Sintashta and Petrovka sites, we try to compare incomparable phenomen: materialized remnants of the history of a community of the Sintashta clans of miners, metal-makers, blacksmiths, foundrymen, on the one hand, and sites of a community of the Alakul pastoral cultures, on the other.

In recent years, archaeological studies have covered a group of Fedorovo monuments, which demonstrate a «pure» line of development (Besoba, Sherubai-1, Bada, etc.). A multigrave structure 1 excavated at the Akshoky burial is one of these complexes. It consists of two rectangular fences penetrating each other and elongated latitudinally. Seven graves arranged in a line with remains of cremation are buried in the internal site. Key features of a burial rite of the Akshoky fence are similar to Fedorov antiquities of Saryarka and adjacent regions, they also reflect a combination of some essential features of the regional and common cultural scale: multigrave complexes (Sanguir II, Aishrak), paired boxes (Aishrak, Belasar, Balakulboldi II), construction of double fencing, including different construction methods which are known according to the materials of the burial grounds of Aksu-Ayuly II, Zhylandy III, Besoba. Simultaneous burials of many people are probably associated with exceptional circumstances of death beyond natural mortality. Perhaps, one of those reasons was some kind of military tribal clash, which is not contrary to the variegated cultural situation in Central Kazakhstan, where the complex processes of assimilation and integration at different stages occurred between the Petrovka, Alakul and Fedorovo groups of population. It is problematic to determine a specific chronological position of the Akshoky fence, firstly, due to lack of detailed periodization of the Fedorovo culture; second, because of the almost continuous robbery of the investigated graves in ancient times. It seems to the authors that the most correct decision is to accept a wide date range within the first half of the II Millennium BC, as it is evidenced by wide application of methods of radiocarbon dating of Fedorovo antiquities.

The paleoanthropological material discovered at a shrine in Bolshoy Log fortified settlement of the Kulay culture is of a big interest regarding the formation of the morphological type of the Kulay population. Despite the wide area of distribution (the Middle and Lower Ob River basin and adjacent territories of Western Siberia) and a long historical period of functioning (in the middle of the 1st millennium BC — the middle of the 1st millennium AD), there are only small data which would help to determine the morphological type of the Kulay population. These are materials from the burial grounds of Kamenny Mys, Aldygan and single skulls from Ust-Poluy and Kulayskaya Gora shrines. Investigation of a skull from Bolshoy Log shrine showed that morphological features of the individual (a male of mature age) completely fits into the variability, typical of the very Kulay population, despite of high individual variability. The morphological type of this male includes both Caucasoid and Mongoloid components. There are two trepanation holes on the skull, they were made after the skull had been separated from the body and after it had been cleaned off of soft tissues. The nature of holes location does not exclude a possibility of using it in ritual-magical actions. Facial reconstruction clearly demonstrates features of his appearance, which do not contradict a conclusion about the similarity of this male to a female from Ust-Poluy.

Newly excavated materials from Areni 1 cave allowed characterizing for the first time the anthropological composition of the Late Eneolithic inhabitants of Armenia. Based on anthropological and paleopathological data, physical features and disease pathology of the bones were analyzed. Results of the intergroup statistical analysis identified close morphological affinities between the Eneolithic skulls from Areni 1 with groups from Tepe Hissar II, Ginchi, Catal Huyuk, Alishar Huyuk and the bearers of the Kuro-Araxes from the Southern Caucasus. Their connection with bearers of the Maikop, Khvalynian, Pit-Grave and Catacomb cultures was also revealed. As for race and genetics, the Late Eneolithic inhabitants from Areni 1 cave, more probably, originate from the territory of the Middle East. Special treatment of the bones of the deceased is observed (polishing). Certain crania, mostly male, display traumatic lesions. Such markers of childhood stress as enamel hypoplasia and cribra orbitalia were found among individuals from Areni 1 cave. Exposure to cold coinciding with chronic staphylococcal and streptococcal foci was likely the major cause of otitis media. Auditory exostoses may indicate exposure to cold air and/or cold water, too. Unintentional deformation of the head (parietal and occipital) is found on the skulls, which is associated with social-domestic conditions.

 A.A. Savvin (1896–1951) was one of the first Yakut ethnographers and folklore specialists who left huge scientific heritage of which only a small article was published during his lifetime. The Manuscript collection of IHRISN of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Science keeps his personal collection consisting of about 100 items with a total amount of more than 500 printed pages. The guiding idea of his works was the question of the origin of the Yakuts. A.A. Savvin didn't have time to arrange his views into a well-knit system during his lifetime, but nevertheless, his notes and reflections based on a wide use of folklore, ethnographic, linguistic, archeological and historical sources have stood the test of time. The aim of this article is to select, order and systematize his random notes and essays and to reconstruct thereby the author's vision of the problem of the origin of the Yakuts. Many ideas stated by A.A. Savvin in his manuscripts find scientific support nowadays, confirming thereby his deep understanding of the scientific problem under consideration, for example, periodization of the ethnogenesis of the Yakuts in three main stages, distinguishing of the layer of Yakut-Hun parallels, personification of ancient and medieval clans which made up the central core of the Sakha people and their culture, early (prior to Russian) occupation of Northeast outlying areas by nomadic herders, etc. Hence, this article considers the modern conceptual ideas of the problem of the ethnogenesis of the Yakuts, basing on cross-disciplinary analysis of the latest paleoethnographic data and archaeological artifacts of the last several years. 

The article analyzes origins and interpretations of a mythologeme pioneer in Finnish culture. Its literary origins are rooted in J.L. Runeberg’s poems and O. Manninen’s «The Woodsman» (1902). The hero leaves human society and enters a silent forest. He becomes the sole master of his domain. Suddenly, he sees wood chips carried along by the river. The woodsman travels far, to the upper reaches of the river, to get rid of the unwelcome neighbor: «he discover, strikes dead». This poem has indexical and laconic tropes as ancient incantatory formulas do. In the literary Finnish language, information space is structured according to the definition kirjoitustaito, an ability to write, and lukutaito, an ability to read. The definitions are taken from the traditional worldview in which lukea means to cast a spell, and kirjoittaa means to create an ornament. This cultural dichotomy determines quasi-social division between those who produce and consume texts. Nietzschean idea of Manninen’s poem turns towards a traditional archetype, inseparability of the process of creation of a sign and its interpretation, «reading» and «writing». Literary code-switching of the image of a pioneer accompanied understanding of cultural and metageographical borders of Finland. Mythology of the woodsman is widely represented in the poetic prose of Samuli Paulaharju where history and ethnography are intertwined. The specificity of quasi-social division is reflected in the bjarmian tropes, discourses marking «red» and «white» Greater Finland.

The article is aimed to analyze possibilities of combining written, cartographic and ethnographic sources for studying history and problems of formation and development of household complexes of long-term resident settlements in the Irtysh River region near Omsk in the XVIII–XX centuries. The main object of the study is the village of Ananyino, which does not exist nowadays. Its study helped to overcome the problem of fragmentation of collective memory in case a unified community disappears. The paper describes the living place of the members of the community and its borders. Relatively precise localization allows us to specify the nature of established links between the population of Ananyino and nearby settlements. A comparison of written and ethnographic materials makes it possible to identify a degree of influence of external factors on the development of key sectors of the household of the long-term residents in the area under consideration, as well as to specify the role of agriculture, animal husbandry and fishing in the structure of the household. At the same time, the article describes the process of searching for and analysis of the source base within the local interdisciplinary studies. The materials de-monstrate an important role of the state fiscal policy in the development of all spheres of the economic complex in the XVIII–XX centuries: fishing equipment presented in the sources, social and economic stratification of the population, which consisted mostly of service-men in the XVIII–XIX centuries, were formed under its influence. In addition, the sources indicate that in spite of the abundance of fairs and active exchange of goods carried out by the population of Tara, the residents of Ananyino didn't participate in it. Available materials also reveal the presence of specialization of individual farms, which began to take shape in the XVIII — first half of the XIX century and affected migrational processes in the course of further settlement of Ananyino residents after the village disappeared.

Temporary summer dwellings of the Bashkirs of the Inzer River basin in the late XIX — early XXI century are analyzed. Data from the State Archive of Orenburg region (Orenburg) and the Scientific Archive of the Ufa Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Ufa) are used, as well as information gathered by the author during expedition trips in 2010–2011, 2016 to the villages of Gabdiukovo, Zuiakovo, Assi, Novokhasanovo, Usmangali, Inzer, Azikeevo, Aznalkino, Khusainovo, Sermenovo, Utkalevo, Uziannbash, Shigaevo of Beloretsky District, Republic of Bashkortostan. The Bashkir population, which for a long time had led a nomadic and semi-nomadic way of life, had temporary and permanent settlements: the first ones included spring, summer and autumn sites, the second ones are represented by winter camps, on the basis of which auls (villages) appeared. On the cusp of the XIX–XX centuries, the Bashkirs of the Inzer River basin kept on following a semi-nomadic cattle breeding way of life, raising large numbers of horses, sheep, cows and a small number of goats. They made hay and did forestry (wood logging and transportation, they prepared firewood for factories, produced bast and tar, etc.). Mass departures to summer camps in mountainous areas stopped before the Civil War and the crop failure of 1921–1922, but some families continued to migrate in summer until the collectivization of the early 1930s. At the end of the XIX century, mainly wealthy families went to the summer pastures, and some Bashkirs, who tended cattle or were hired for work, went with them. The places of seasonal camps and dwellings in them remained traditional for a long time. Three types of temporary summer dwellings got widespread at the end of the XIX century: a hut (burama) and two kinds of cottages, which differ in form, material, and size. A hut was made of logs, cottages were made of bark, (linden bark), laths, branches. Up to date, cottages are preserved in the area under consideration, they are mounted during haymaking as an overnight stops and for storing food and clothes. Burama as a temporary dwelling during haymaking is scarcely used today.

Using gender approach, the article describes mutually excluding standards for Muslim women who wear hijab in everyday life in one of the non-Muslim regions of Russia — Tyumen region. On the one hand, secular society imposes restrictions on wearing hijabs. On the other hand, Muslim women and Muslim community basing on religious norms insist that a woman must be «covered» when being in public. Besides, within the Muslim community it is discussed how a hijab should look, and the parties involved in this discussion stigmatize each other. In this regard, the issue of interest is to clarify what wearing a religious headscarf means for young Muslim women. What impact do hijab restrictions have on their daily lives?

The social sciences have been demonstrating a steady growth of interest in Islam in recent decades. It is becoming more obvious that the Islamic faith has different, often conflicting, variations in practice. What influences the process of formation of such different versions of Islam? One way to answer this question is to study religious authority. This article is based on the empirical material gathered in Tyumen region since the beginning of the 1990s and analyzes multiplication of positions of religious authority, which is one of the manifestations of fragmentation of authority in Islam. In the late 1980s — early 1990s, basic positions of Islamic authority in the region were mullahs, abystai, astana keepers, and organizers of religious rites among the residents of a particular place. Their activities resulted in the appearance of different interpretations of Adat Islam, which included, among others, Sufi practices. In the early 1990s, new positions began to form alongside with the previously mentioned authoritative Islamic positions: the Ulema and imams. Their attempts to centralize religious authority in order to ensure uniformity of Islamic meanings and practices led to even bigger fragmentation of that authority and increased the number of dogmatic and ritual interpretations of Islam. The already existing interpretations of Adat Islam were supplemented by interpretations of different schools of Sufism, which were more and more taking shape, as well as versions of Salafism, which rejects all practices and meanings not justified by the Koran, the Sunna and fatwas of authoritative, mostly foreign, theologians. Moreover, up to date, the region has a localized Shiite interpretation of Islam too. In addition, Islamic political activists, another position, new for the regional religious field, has been formed since the late 1990s. Due to their efforts, Islam began to be interpreted as a range of religious and political concepts: from recognition of the possibility of living according to the secular laws to jihadism. Thus, the study of the materials of Tyumen region dated starting from the 1990s up to the present day identified a growth in positions of religious authority in Islam, resulting in multiplication of interpretations of Islamic teachings.

In this paper, we explore the technological characteristics of the Bronze Age cloths produced by the Sintashta, Petrovka and Alakul archaeological cultures. It employs a detailed structural analysis of textile prints on ceramic vessels which were found in cemeteries from the Southern Trans-Urals and Northern Kazakhstan, dated back to the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. Plain weave dominates in the fabric and is divided into four types according to morphological features (density of working threads per 1 cm², distance between working threads, thickness of the thread). It can be concluded that there are significant similarities in the textile characteristics of Sintashta, Petrovka and Alakul cloth. However, the samples at the Petrovka-Alakul sites, compared with earlier Sintashta-Petrovka sites, demonstrate a clear tendency to growth of the average density of working threads per 1 cm². This is due to a greater proportion of rare type of plain weave in the Sintashta-Petrovka textile. This trend can be associated with a variety of weaving devices, manufacturing tradition or the presence of imported fabrics.

The article presents the materials of the burial mound of Katkovo-1 (excavations by Durakov I.A.), located in Kochenevsky district of Novosibirsk region, for the first time. A brief history of the changing views of researchers on the dating of the Verkhneobskaya culture gives us the basis for identification of the following issues: a definition of the upper date of the existence of the culture and a cultural and chronological definition of the monuments where a combination of the Verkhneobskaya culture material and later material complexes was found out, which greatly complicates its dating. A similar situation is observed at the settlement of Yurt-Akbalyk-3. Originally, the complex was considered as Yurt-Akbalyk stage of the Verkhneobskaya culture (VIII–IX centuries AD.). The cemetery is characterized by a combination of the material of the Verhneobskaya culture with a later material complex, which dates back to the X–XI centuries AD. The purpose of the work is to clarify the dating of the burial mound of Katkovo-1. The vessels found at the monument by their morphological characterstics and ornaments can be attributed to the Verkhneobskaya culture, however, there are some changes in the ornamentation observed, due to the influence of Northern tribes, while morphological characteristics are largely unchanged. One decorative element isn`t typical of the Novosibirsk Ob basin, it was brought by the Northern tribes of the Lower Ob river. Weapons, in particular, some flat iron arrowheads and spearheads are dated back within the VI–X centuries AD by the researchers, elements of harness date back to the IX–XII centuries AD. Bronze jewelry belongs to the VIII–X centuries AD. The ceramic material found, as well as items of armaments and harness, in comparison with their analogies found in Southern Siberia, the Ob river basin near Tomsk and Novosibirsk, and other adjacent territories, confirmed their dating back to the the Yurt-Akbalyk stage of the Verhneobskaya culture, but afforded ground for extension of the datings’s top limit of the burial ground up to the X century AD. This situation allowed us to question the IX century AD as the top date of the Verkhneobskaya culture. Presence of the materials used in the X–XI centuries AD on the monuments gave us an opportunity to expand the upper limit of the existence of the Verkhneobskaya culture up to the X century AD.

Sacrificial complexes in the intersepulchral space (SC) as explorative signs of the Mari Medieval burial grounds were designated by the author in the 90-s. Four variants of the SC are singled out, among which the variants III and IV are the most characteristic and mass scale for the Mari culture monuments. The article describes and introduces into scientific discourse 26 complexes from Rusenikhinskiy and Vyzhumskiy burial grounds, excavated by the author of this article in 2010–2015. Emergence of additional materials has allowed disclosing semantics of these objects in a new way. Internal contents of the complexes are represented by dishes, instrument of labour or welfare items, clothes and jewelry. With the help of an improved technique of excavation of these objects, opening and fixing by layers from 1 to 3 cm, level bedding of jewelry and elements of clothes in vertical direction from the head the legs is found out. Elements of headdresses and footwear, caftans, dresses or rectangular pieces of fabric were successfully distinguished among the fragments from certain objects. Judging by the external signs: abundance of fabrics, fragments of clothes (doth underclothes and top garments), structure and localization of jewelry in certain vertical zonal distribution corresponding to the place of a certain ornament or suit element — it is possible to assume that a doll made of clothes of a dead person was placed in these complexes. Connection of the soul of a dead person with clothes of the Maris is confirmed by ethnographic and folklore data. The ceremony of making dolls from clothes of the dead is known at Ugrian (Khanty, Mansi) and Turkic people. In spite of the fact that this ceremony has different names and various material forms of expression at diffe-rent peoples, but its essence is the same: the doll is a temporary receptacle of soul the of the dead. It is obvious that the complexes at the intersepulchral space or stock lines of sepulchral holes with a set of clothes in the Mari Medieval burial grounds were commemorative, they served as a receptacle of the souls of the ancestors and contributed to the transition of souls to the other world after a certain time period. This ceremony could appear under the influence of the Ugrian or Turkic tradition. The word for a doll — «kurchak» — favours the last version, because it corresponds to the Kyrgyz word for a doll («kkurchak») and coincides with the name of images of female ancestral spirits at the Shors (qurtujaq), the Kumandins (urtyjaq), and the Barabinsk Tatars («kurtsak»).

For the first time, this paper reports on and describes the data on three Yakutian burials of the Late Middle Ages (the 17^th–18th centuries): Ebyuge I-II and Sobolokh (Neleger), discovered  during research work of the International Sakha-French archaeological expedition in 2014 in Oimyakon district of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) (basin of the upper reaches of the Indigirka river). Before the beginning of the expedition, the Medieval (preliterate) history of the entire North-East of Yakutia was mainly based on the data on folklore, toponymy, and certain archival documents, according to which the settlement of those territories by the Yakuts, probably, dates back to the period of internecine wars of the 16^th–17th centuries.  However, certain archaeological monuments of that period were not known. The analysis of the discovered objects and items shows their chronological and typological affinity with the data on the monuments of the 17^th–18th centuries, belonging not only to Central Yakutia, but also to its other districts — Vilyuysky and Verkhoyansky. The only noticeable difference of the Oimyakon monuments from the others is its lack of funerary dishes, a usual attribute of almost all known Yakutian burials. This fact could be a result of the predominance of horse breeding (its products) over cattle breeding during that period in Oimyakon.

The article introduces modern ethnic processes among the indigenous inhabitants of the island of Saint Vincent — the Garifuna Indian people («Black Caribs»). It is based on a 2015 ethnographic study when 10 % of the Garifuna were interviewed with the help of a special questionnaire on their ethnic territory. The Garifuna make up only 3 % of the country's population, their number which had grown during the entire twentieth century, has begun to decline rapidly in recent years. Negroes and «mix» («mixed») people are the vast majority of the population. The last ones include not only mulattos (born of one white parent and one black parent) but all the mixed population, including children of mixed marriages among the Garifuna and the Blacks. Less than a third of the Garifuna remained on their main ethnic territory, in Sandy Bay district, the others migrated to other parts of the country, and many of them moved abroad. The proportion of the Garifuna in the district is reducing, the number of Negroes and, especially, «mix» people is growing rapidly. There have been active migrations in recent years. The reason is a limited number of jobs in this agricultural district. Migrants go mainly to the South of the island, where tourist industry is actively developing. There are almost no ethnic differences left in the material and spiritual culture and in the language between the Garifuna and the majority of the surrounding Saint Vincentians (blacks and mulattos). The native language went out of use in the first half of the twentieth century. Almost all Garifuna are Christian (Catholics, Anglicans, etc.), as well as the rest of the population. The number of mixed marriages with Negroes and «mixed» people in Sandy Bay district is close to 50 %, and most of the children do not belong to the Garifuna, they join the community of the «mix» people. During the twentieth century, the situation was different: almost all Garifuna were concentrated in the neighborhood of Sandy Bay, where they were the vast majority of the population, there were significantly less mixed marriages, and children in mixed families were often consi-dered to be Garifuna. As a result, the number of the Garifuna on the island was rapidly growing, as well as their proportion in the total population. Things have begun to change only recently, in the last 20–30 years, which threatens the very existence of this ethnic group in the decades to come. At the moment, the uniqueness of the Garifuna is manifested only in their ethnic identity and some minor anthropological features, although there are little differences in appearance of the Garifuna and the Blacks (as a result of an intermixture several centuries long with the surrounding majority).

The paper presents the first compilationof information on the history and culture of the Evenks of the Lower Irtysh valley. Comparison of different information sources allowed to argue on reasonable grounds that several Evenk family groups named Likhachev and consist of 20–30 individuals migrated from Turukhansky Krai to the Demyanka-river and Turtas-river valleys in the last decades of the 19^th century. The migration was caused by the need of finding unoccupied hunting grounds. The migrants were initially characterized by well-preserved traditional culture, they led a nomadic existence and relied primarily on transport reindeer herding and hunting. The easy penetration of this community into the territory, which was already populated by other Siberian ethnic groups, was due to their occupation of vacant areas of watershed swamps. Being small-numbered the Evenk migrants were compelled to look for marriage partners among neighboring ethnic groups from the very beginning of their relocation. By the end of the 20^th century, they lost their language and almost all of their traditional ethnic characteristics. However, their ethnic identity persisted, due to a specific set of strong cultural boundaries, the composition of which have been evolved over time.

The paper addresses conditions and factors of transformation of the female space in the traditional culture of the Nenets of Yamal up to the beginning of the XXI century. It is noted that the impact of socio-economic and cultural transformations of the modern society contributes to the deformation of the traditional life supporting system and the penetration of non-traditional elements into the life of the indigenous population. The work is based on the data of the author’s sociological research conducted in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District (Tazovsky, Yamalsky, Purovsky, Shuryshkarsky, Priuralsky and Nadymsky areas). Education is considered as one of the main factors of this transformation, in particular, an increase in educational level of women, leading to greater economic independence and a change in the position of the Nenets women in the family. Changes in ritual and ceremonial culture are studied as factors of transformation of the female space in the traditional Nenets culture, in particular, changes in the ceremonies of the life cycle (wedding and maternity ceremony), as well as interethnic marriages associated with intensification of industrial development of the Nenets traditional territories.

The paper makes an attempt to highlight the most important concepts for the Siberian Tatars and to characterize a set of ethical rules and regulations specific to their culture on the basis of the analysis of their proverbs because they define the foundation of the national picture of the world, the philosophy of life. More than four hundred proverbs of the Siberian Tatars collected and published by one of the authors of the article were the source of the study. Those proverbs and sayings were collected during long-term expedition trips, in places of compact residence of the Siberian Tatars, mainly in villages in the South of Tyumen region. The proverbs were recorded as they sounded in the living speech of the Tatar speakers, thus they preserved phonetic, lexical and grammatical peculiarities of the people's spoken language. It was found out that special attention in the Siberian Tatar proverbs is paid to family, work, knowledge, friendship, fate, homeland, faith. There are a lot of proverbs which regulate relationship between a husband and a wife, parents and children, and determine rules of behavior among them. A Siberian Tatar woman was a keeper of the family foundations, she was responsible for peace and joy in the family, a husband was the undisputed family head, and the children were its main wealth. Proverbs on the topic «work — laziness» have a special place in the paremial fund of the Siberian Tatars. For them, an ability to work hard is an important, inalienable human quality; it is work that brings income. The people's wisdom teaches us not to be afraid of any work, we can judge a person looking at the results of the work he or she did. The topic «knowledge — ignorance» is of high importance in the proverbs of the Siberian Tatars. All the examples address the importance and benefits of knowledge for humans. The topic «poverty — wealth» is also central to the paremial fund. Many Tatar families had a hard life in the harsh climate of Siberia, it was difficult to earn means of living. As a result, we can find far more proverbs and sayings about poverty. As for human relations, the Siberian Tatars valued restraint, perseverance, hospitality, kindness, modesty. Excessive talkativeness, meanness, indifference, curiosity, greed, hypocrisy, envy were subject to condemnation and rejection.

The article is dedicated to a cultural and anthropological description of the process of museumification among a Chuvash ethnolocal group in the Tobol river basin in Tyumen region. The paper aims to show how museumification becomes a technology of construction of modern ethno-cultural space in the group under consideration. At the end of the XX century, an urgent demand for ethnic self-determination and preservation of cultural traditions appeared among the Chuvash people in the region. In this regard, processes of ethnic consolidation activated. Museums and museum rooms in various villages of the Southern part of the region gradually start to become centers of such consolidation. They contain artifacts of the culture of daily living activities of the Chuvashes. In course of time, museumification activities of such centers rise to a new level. They begin to have a significant influence on the formation of the ethnic and cultural space of the Chuvash people in the Tobol river basin in Tyumen region through  the preservation of traditions, and innovations in cultural transmission. Similarly, private museumification begins to affect the ethno-cultural space. This is a new phenomenon for the group under consideration, and it has been not previously studied.

The article is written on the basis of comprehensive studies carried out at the place of compact residence of the Evens, one of the Northern aboriginal minorities of Russia. Characteristics of contemporary socio-economic, demographic and ethno-cultural situation of the local indigenous population were examined during field observations in Lamynkhinsky nasleg of Kobiayskiy region of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Statistical social indicators of the settlements in recent years were also studied, a survey and interviews were carried out among the local residents. The geographic factors cause challenges: our collected data indicate the presence of latent unemployment. As a result the migration persists at high level. High percentage of cancer-related mortality is to be underlined among negative social facts. Population of the nasleg needs the material base of social institutions to be improved, at first, and housing construction to be accelerated. Our field study shows that the natural isolation and limited linkages with communities related to other cultures play a positive role in maintaining the Even language and culture. Also, positive demographic trends are observed in Lamynkhinsky nasleg. The birth rate exceeds the death rate, and the youth is prevalent in the age structure. Local traditional economy has a potential for the development. These factors have a positive impact on the modern subsistence of the Evens. It should be noted that these realities of Lamynkhinsky nasleg, according to the author opinion, are typical for the majority of isolated settlements in the Russian North.

The article deals with insufficiently studied issues related to education reforms among the Siberian Tatars. Peculiarities of the development of education in Tobolsk District (County) in 1918–1930 are brought to light for the first time. That period was characterized as a transition from a traditional religious school to a secular labor one. In that period, schools for the Tatar population of Tobolsk District were national, which corresponded to the proclaimed principles of the Soviet state. The authorities carried out an active policy towards education reform among the Siberian Tatars of Tobolsk County, taking into account their national characteristics and, to some extent, maintaining continuity of education. The schools which already existed were simply included into the state network, and the teachers of the new schools were those who received the traditional Muslim education. A special feature of the control over the system of education for the Tobolsk District Tatars during the period under consideration was the fact that the organization of educational field was being conducted by the Muslim subdivision, a specially created body affiliated with the District Department of Public Education, and the solution of financial and current matters was transferred to the local authorities. Due to objective reasons, the Soviet state was experien-cing great financial difficulties, and shifted logistical and financial support of the schools to the local population. The authorities failed to fully solve the main problem: to achieve mass literacy as soon as possible by introducing universal, compulsory, and free education. But still there were positive results, which certainly had been achieved thanks to the great efforts and enthusiasm of the local authorities and certain people of the regional education. Almost all maktabs, which were present in Tobolsk County, were incorporated into the network of public schools, turning from religious schools to the 1^st degree schools. The number of schools, students and teachers was growing, there was co-education for boys and girls. Such events as congresses, educational courses and conferences contributed not only to improvement of professional level of the teachers, but also served as a tool for propaganda of socialist ideas among the indigenous population.

In this paper, the authors attempt to reconstruct the history of the Eastern most compact group of the Izhma Komi currently known — the one living in the village of Samburg, Purovski District, Yamal-Nenets Autonomus Okrug, Russia. The authors also describe ethno-cultural processes (changes in material and spiritual culture) which have been going in the group as well as the distinct ways its members maintain, re-create and transform their ethnic identity. The research is based on the ethnographic observations and interviews performed by the authors in 2004, 2009 and 2016 as well as on published and unpublished (archival) documents. The arrival of the Komi population to the lower Pur and the establishment of the village of Samburg were related to the formation of the state reindeer herding enterprise (sovkhoz) «Purovski» in 1937. This sovkhoz was formed on the basis of the earlier «Kutopyuganski» sovkhoz, which was situated in Nadym District of YNAO. The personnel of this earlier sovkhoz, which now became the personnel of «Purovsky» enterprise, consisted of reindeer herding families originated from different villages with large Komi population situated in the former Tobolsk Gubernia. Many of these families were victims of the infamous dekulakization campaign (the campaign of political repressions, including deportations, against the wealthy peasants) of 1929–1931. Mainly due to ecological reasons, the Komi re-settlers in Samburg have not re-created the complex of settled culture and economy, which is traditional for the Izhma Komi, and have almost lost those aspects of spiritual culture that were related to this complex. At the same time, they retained and continue to retain the traditional complex of nomadic reindeer herding culture of the Izhma Komi and some elements of this complex have been borrowed by the local Nenets reindeer herders. Since the late 1930s, the Komi re-settlers maintain close contacts, including numerous inter-ethnic marriages, with the local tundra and forest Nenets. These contacts were made easier due to the Komi-Nenets bilingualism, which became widespread in the region. Currently, the majority of the local Komi live in mixed Komi-Nenets families. In these families, children are usually registered as Nenets in official documents. However, many of these Nenets unofficially identify themselves as Komi and express strong preference for Komi culture and language. Therefore, the process of assimilation of the Samburg Komi by the local Nenets is going on, but it has an interesting peculiarity: the assimilated Komi use and express their Nenets identity in official circumstances but retain their original ethnicity in the unofficial ones.

The features of the holiday “The Village Day” in the settlements, founded by the Komi on the territory of Western Siberia in the 1840s, are identified. The focus is made on the celebrations dedicated to the 170^th anniversary of the village Saranpaul’ of Berezovsky District of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug — Yugra (15 September, 2012), and of the village of Ivanovka of Yalutorovsk District of Tyumen Oblast (7 July, 2014). The basic elements of the holiday, its functions in relation to the territory and population are highlighted in the article. «The Village Day» in the Komi settlements is characterized by a series of meaningful symbolic actions. The population reconstructs plots of the historical legends about the first settlers and difficulties of development of the new territory, which is related to the ancestor worship and emphasizes labour rights to the developed territory. They de-monstrate family heirlooms and/or reconstructed genealogies which embody the idea of a clan. They use their mother tongue for congratulations, and elements of traditional clothes or other cultural attributes which have a high semiotic status in this situation and emphasize group identity.

The article analyzes mythological beliefs about the parks, which are laid out at old cemeteries or very close to them in the Siberian cities of Tyumen and Tara. The complex of such beliefs is presented in the local narratives and urban practices that are transmitted and actualized among the people, who identify themselves with these cities. This research is based on the interviews with local people and regional historians and on the data of local media. The research points out a number of the most common motifs for constructing the image of «the park on bones» in the actual mythological landscape of the Siberian cities. First of all, there is a folk motif of «it is impossible to build something on the place of a burial». Its popularity is mainly based on the influence of images and plots of popular culture on the urban texts and practices. There are some other typical motifs, such as «this place attracts marginal people», «this place attracts some ghosts», and «the place can punish you for misbehaviour». The last motif is often accompanied by some reflections on the causes of punishment and on what kind of beha-vior is wrong in this special place. For example, Tara people believe that the fate of the city has changed from a positive (a successful merchant town) to a negative (a little depressing town) one, because of impoliteness to the old cemetery. Additionally, the version of «misbehaviour» depends on cultural identity of the person. The phenomenon of creating a park on the site of the old cemeteries requires symbolic understanding by the urban community and inscription of these positive and negative spaces into the urban mythological landscape with the help of the motifs that already potentially appear in the narratives.

On the basis of multi-temporal remote sensing data received with an interval of 50 years, a study of ancient forms of farming in the territory of Western Crimea was carried out. The results of quantitative assessment of structural and textural features of ancient farming forms, typical of Western Crimea, are presented. A method of estimating textural features of ancient farming forms, which are located at the site of today's agricultural land is suggested. The method is based on calculating the parameters of texture within the contours of modern farmland, split into cells of a size which let us visually analyze the spatial features of the ancient forms of agriculture. A possibility of spatial transformation of images in order to identify and quantify ancient agricultural forms, which are located in the place of today's agricultural lands, is shown. It was found that the efficiency of the same spatial transformation of satellite images depends on a number of adjustable parameters, which are determined by the geometric features of the analyzed forms of archaeological objects.

The article presents the results of a research of pathological changes in bones of livestock from five settlements of the Middle and Late Bronze Age of the Southern Trans-Urals: Kamennyi Ambar (Ol'gino), Konoplyanka, Malaya Berezovaya-4, Bol’shaya Berezovaya-2 and Alexandro-Nevskoe-II. It was found that most of all identified pathologies relate to the cattle bone remains. Far fewer cases of pathologies were observed on the bones of small cattle and horses. In more than a half of cases, pathologies on the cattle bones are manifestations of diffe-rent forms of limb bones osteoarthritis. This group of deviations has a chronic and age character. The remaining part of pathologies relates to the dental system. Pathologies of the skeletal system of small cattle and horses generally have an inflammatory character. The number and nature of the identified abnormalities in the bones of the livestock indicate to satisfactory health state and conditions of handling at the settlements under consideration. Different forms of osteoarthritis in the cattle limb bones in the settlement of Kamennyi Ambar (Ol'gino) suggest that some animals of those species were used as draught animals.

This study focuses on the problem of the relationship between two distinctive Early Bronze Age cultures — Yamnaya of Eastern Europe and Afanasyevo of Southern Siberia; the issue is still very topical and appealing to a wide range of specialists in the field of history. Here we summarize the existing hypotheses on the origin of the Afanasyevo population, compare cranial material of geographically and chronologically different groups of these cultures with the series of Eneolithic — Middle Bronze Age skulls from Eastern Europe, Caucasus, Central Asia and South Siberia. Multivariate statistics techniques, such as canonical analysis and clustering of Mahalanobis distances, were used. The heterogeneity of the local Yamnaya and Afanasyevo groups, as well as predominance of wide-face European-type anthropological components in both populations, were shown. Comparative Neo-Eneolithic craniological materials of Altai, adjacent areas of Southern Siberia and Northern Kazakhstan demonstrate morphological complexes with moderate face profiling. The population with such appearance cannot be considered as a basis for the European-type Afanasyevo population. Among available Neo-Eneolithic craniological series from Central and Western Asia, Caucasus and South-Eastern Europe, various types of dolichocranial meso- or hypomorphic European-type individuals clearly prevail. They are morphologically different from the Afanasyevo craniological samples of Altai and the Minusinsk Hollow. As such, we deny the existing point of view on the origins of the proto-Afanasyevo population in Central and Western Asia regions. From the overall results of morphological analysis, we suggest that the ancestors of the proto-Afanasyevo population need to be sought specifically among the steppe and forest-steppe Eneolithic — Early Bronze Age populations of Eastern Europe. According to our data, Yamnaya groups from Volga-Ural regions, which, moreover, appear to be chronologically the oldest ones within the populations of the Yamnaya cultural-historical area, demonstrate the greatest craniological similarity with the Afanasyevo groups from the Altai Mountains. Therefore, we support archaeological research and anthropological arguments which suggest that the appearance of the proto-Afanasyevo people in the Altai region is related to the migration of some Eneolithic — Early Bronze Age Eastern European population, most likely from the Volga-Ural areas.

The article is dedicated to reconstruction of paleodiet in three groups of the Odino archaeological culture from the burial sites of Sopka-2/4A, Tartas-1 and Preobrazhenka-6. The main goals of the article are to analyse carbohydrates and protein consumption, to determine the level of biological stress and to compare the Odinovo diet with the same features of the Neolithic — Late Bronze Age populations from the South region of Western Siberia. Chronological changes in the composition of the diet were analyzed too. Frequencies of dental pathologies allow us to suggest a complex composition of the diet in the Sopka-2/4A group where a low level of carbohydrates and prevalence of animal protein were presented. The level of the food stresses was low. There are no serious differences between men and women. Basing on the sample from Tartas-1, we can suggest a higher, than in Sopka-2/4A, level of carbohydrates consumption and also a low level of stress. There is a higher level of animal proteins in the late burials. Very high frequency of caries was found in the samples from Preobrazhenka-6, which indicates a high level of carbohydrates here. Also there is a high level of food stresses, which is respectively low in women than in men. Women from this site are characterized by lower frequency of ante-mortem tooth loss and caries than men. The results of the comparative analysis showed that the strategy of food consumption had been common for the population of the Baraba forrest and steppe area during at least three thousand years.

The article presents results of the study of archaeological and paleoanthropological materials from burial mounds in the basin of the river Ket (XV–XVII AD). The region was a special contact area in the Late Middle Ages. The phenomenon is in the fact that people of different ethnic groups lived there: Kets, Selkups, Evenks and Russians. The researchers made a clear conclusion about ethnic identification of the peoples from burial grounds (XV–XVII AD). They were Samodeic-Selkup. The research focused on anthropological materials from burial grounds of the low (Yoltyrevsky burial mound II, Yoltyrevsky burial mound III), and middle (Karbinsky burial mound II) Keta river basin (Kolpashevsky and Verkhneketsky Districts of Tomsk region). Those artifacts were made by members of the Southern group of Selkups (Narym), representatives of the ethnic groups of siussekum (siussykum). The appearance of representatives of that population is recreated with the help of anthropological reconstruction in graphic technique.

The article deals with an attempt to interpret archaeological and paleoecological sources obtained during the excavation of a Selkup grave in an ancient burial ground situated in the upper river Taz area (Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District, Russia), by comparing them with ethnographic data. The goal of the paper is to examine historical dynamics of these components in the funeral ritual of the Northern Selkups during the 19^th century as traditional preparation of burial food and the funeral feast process. The choice of this particular archaeological site relates to the unique and unusually well-preserved remains of organic materials in the grave that gave a most detailed and complete picture of the composition of the burial food and the funeral feast. In order to interpret the archaeological data we have used information from published ethnographical sources and archival documents as well as materials from the ethnographic field research of funeral traditions of the Selkups of the Upper Taz river, held in 2013 simultaneously with archaeological work. The study made it possible to determine not only probable burial food and funeral feast food of the Northern Selkup burial but also the form and the content of the ritual practice, and to present them in the cultural and historical contexts. As a matter of fact, it was concluded that the closest analogies to the ritual of the studied object are found in earlier archaeological data associated with the Southern Selkups and Eastern Khanty (16–17^th centuries) and in ethnographic sources on the Khanty from remote areas which are not directly adjacent to the Taz River basin. The clearly appeared trace of the Southern Selkups and Khanty in the funeral ritual, in our opinion, marks cultural components which played a key role in formation of the Selkup local community of the Upper Taz river. Bones and food scraps of the abundant funeral feast buried on top of the grave are a notable feature of the studied Selkup burial sites which indicate the ancient origin of considerable variability of the Northern Selkup’s funeral ritual.

 The article is dedicated to systematization and generalization of ethnographic data about Mansi home sanctuaries. The author considers ethnographic descriptions published in the XVIII — XX centuries and uses her own field data. The author held expeditions to the territory of inhabitance of Northern Mansi in the settlements situated on the banks of the rivers Severnaya Sos’va and Lyapin in 2006–2010 years. Two types of home sanctuaries in traditional Mansi dwelling were marked out during the research. The first type is a holy ceiling, located directly in the living space. The second type is an attic, separated from the living space of the house by a ceiling. The research shows their interrelation and development as well as present functional features. The article also deals with the question of origin of Samsay-oyka, a house guardian spirit of Northern Mansi. The attic is considers as one of the places where it lives. A hypothesis of late formation of the image of Samsay-oyka is formulated.

The article is dedicated to an ethnographic description of national food of the Vishera Komi differentiating in originality of the language and ethnographic relation within a big ethnographic group of Komi (Zyrians) living in the Verkhniaia Vychegda river basin. The local tradition of culture of alimentation reflecting features of subethnic character is closely connected with an ecological niche and economic and household traditions which have predetermined contents and structure of food raw material, ways of its preservation, and technology of preparation of the dishes. The developed strategy of alimentation is one of the results and, at the same time, a mechanism of adaptation to the environmental conditions, while religious identity of the ethnos forms a system of food preferences and taboos. Grain, meat and dairy products with a share of commercial production are typical for the Vishera Komi. Carbohydrate components of the food ration are represented by grain crops which were used for preparation of various bakery products, grain soups and porridges. Grain soups and porridges formed a food basis which was reflected in the collective name of food «soup porridge». The range of meat, dairy and fish dishes as protein food components was not very rich, and their inclusion into the menu wasn't so frequent which was connected with a practice of Christian fasts observance. However the collective name of food meaning «full life» was defined by the phrase «to live by milk and meat». The range of vegetable menu was not rich but it brought some variety into the food ration. In general, it was the main layer of products connected with the major economic activities. Wild plants rich in vitamins brought some variety to the food repertoire and represented a substrate layer connected with rudiments of the previous economic order. The third, superstrate layer was represented by grocery raw materials acquired through a commercial network. Technological ways of cooking are predetermined by the use of Russian furnace which is not created for frying. Absence of fried food and minimum use of spices makes the food useful for health. Daily practice of consumption of hot food and compliance of a nutrition regime acted as indicators of a healthy lifestyle.

Mission itineraries disclose problems of cultural interaction and reflect the authors’ unique individual experience of communication with local people and reflections about it. The article reviews the book «The Obdorsk mission itineraries (60–70s of the 19^th century)» as a historical source in order to evaluate its information capacities in historical research and its characteristics  as a historical and cultural phenomenon. The source analysis allowed us to reveal background of the edition, its structure and principles of document selection, of writing of scientific commentaries to the itineraries, and of compliance to the rules of archeographic preparation of the publication. The comparative analysis of the original work and the publication has proved their authenticity. This publication is considered to be valuable as the Obdorsk mission itineraries have become available to readers, and, what is more important, it contains scientific commentaries on the missionaries’ personal data and explains many concepts and terms employed in the text. The geographical index serves for the purpose of quick reference for readers, and, what is more significant, it can be considered as an independent research focus of geography of northwestern Siberia in the 19^th century. The name index serves for the purpose of bringing to light some local and foreign names and also allows us to consider these names in the context of cultural interaction of the Orthodox clergy with the indigenous people of Northwestern Siberia. The study of the Obdorsk mission itineraries urges us to single out the key concept of overcoming: overcoming the unkind Siberian nature, inertness and indifference of the native people, their savagery and superstitions, and what is more, self-overcoming — getting rid of fears, weaknesses and doubts. The missionary itineraries are a unique source of curriculum vitae of the Obdorsk mission priests living in the 19^th century, but sadly this potential is still beyond historical researches. The missiona-ries’ written heritage requires further scientific study as a historical source in the modern Russian historiography. Publication of those sources contains rich potential which may be demanded in the comparative historical researches of written heritage of missionaries of the spiritual missions in Western Siberia and other territories of the Russian Empire aimed at revealing its similarities and differences.

Tam Hang was opened in 1934 by Jacques Fromaget who worked at the Geological survey of Indochina.
17 skulls were discovered by Fromage, but the Museum has only 10 whole skulls. Six skulls and postcranial skeletons belonged to six individuals. And in total 3 male and 4 female postcranial skeletons was studied osteologically. The obtained date of one skeleton from burial was 15,7±0,8 ka. The population Tam Hang from was morphologically uniform according the angular morphometry of skulls. Craniologically men from Tam Hang were heterogeneous. One of them was similar to the sample from the Combe Capelle, another was close to the group of skulls from Pzedmosti. Characteristics of people from the Tam Hang were: a small body length, relatively elongated lower leg in male individuals and the elongated forearm in women that could be associated with adaptations to hot climatic conditions. The group was noted of the frequent occurrence of sacralization of last lumbar vertebra and so increasing of sacrum strength. Main pathologies associated with diseases of the teeth-jaw apparatus.

The palaeopathological study of  sub-adult sample comprising 215 individuals from Gonur-depe Bronze Age site (Bactria-Margiana archaeological complex, Turkmenistan) has shown predominance of dental diseases and indicators of anemia compared to other types of bone lesions. Low frequency of traces of infections, as well as absence of a single case of scurvy, rickets or trauma suggest the optimal living conditions of the population. The typical prevalence of different types of osseous pathology in the sample was probably driven by high population density and farming activities as the main factors of morbidity.  

The paper is an attempt to study the deformed skulls, representatives of the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age from the territory of Armenia. The results of this study allow to assume, tump-line deformation may result from activities, such as carrying loads with a band across the parietal bones. Structural changes appearing in human bones during physical activity people were investigated in populations. The proposed method makes it possible to classify the occipital suprastructures. The occurrence of superstructures in the occipital bone has been attributed to physical activity and habitual motion such as lifting and transporting heavy loads. Used singly, loads were slung from the ends and the poles were balanced on the head or across both shoulders or on the one shoulder in the fore and aft position. Structural rearrangements skull bones and unintentional artificial deformation can be consi-dered as a unique phenomenon, allowing to reconstruct some aspects of economic life of ancient people.

The article deals with studying the phenomenon of bear fetish called Aba tös by the Khakass people. The cult of tös is a phenomenon that has arisen and existed in a traditional environment, where the shape of the relationship between visible (rational) and invisible (irrational) peace is characterized by the absence of hard insurmountable borders. Moreover, the religious-mythological consciousness of the people has an idea (as a common thread) of direct intersection of these worlds and their constant interaction with each other. Periodic violation of these relations, as believers considered, may turn into an imbalance of nature and human life. For the latter, this is turning into a variety of disasters and misfortunes. The ritual practice of the traditional society, in this case, was focused on the restoration of the balance and as a consequence, on the resolution of conflicts arising between the worlds as well as on the protection of vital interests of the people. A huge role in this process was assigned to ministers of religion, including the shamans, as well as directly — tös'es.

There was analyzed the myth-ritual complex associated with the cult of tös’es, based on a broad range of sources, including some archive materials brought for the first time into scientific circulation and museum collections. According Khakass belief, the image of the bear was surrounded by an aura of sanctity and therefore enjoyed special respect. In the traditional consciousness the bear was regarded as a formidable ruler of taiga area and all its inhabitants. At the same time, the believers might deemits image asaguardian spirit. This fact contri-buted to its general symbolization and fetishization. In the cult practice of Khakases, the bear, honored as a deity, has several symbolic images. Sacred features of Aba tös' were extensive. The people believed in its apotropaic, healing and protective powers, regarded it as a totem and ancestral spirit. There was created a special ritual for Aba tös' consisted of periodic sacrifices with prayers and other ceremonies. Herewith, the ritual ceremony was strictly regulated and included some special requirements for participants, certain sequence of actions and the special food composition.

The article introduces an item from funds of the State museum «Tsaritsyno» — a female headdress kokoshnik with the rare ornamental composition embroidered with silver threads. The details of the kokoshnik are attributed by analogy with the published earlier similar part of a headdress from Novgorod, dated with a turn of XIX century. General description of a form, decor of the item and embroidery technique are presented. The embroidered composition represents in general a vertical model of the Universe. Russian version of this image includes the central axis consists of three main motives — the blossoming world tree, of the solar goddess Makosha with the lowered hands and ancient Russian solar motive of two-headed eagle. The top world on a headdress occupies a half of the image which is filled with solar heavenly motives (located heraldic). The motive of an elk-horse is especially interesting and archaic among them. It is suggested that the headdress belonged to the young woman till the birth of her first child, perhaps, was also used in course of wedding because all images are connected to ideas of fertility, abundance, good wishes.

This paper is a continuation of the planned study of the spatial orientation of the Nenets, initiated by emp-loyees of the Institute for the Development of the North Russian SB RAS (Tyumen) in 2014. Aspects of using animals for orientation and navigation have been undeservedly neglected by ethnographers, and this applies not only to the ethnography of the Nenets, but of northern peoples in general. The system approach used in this study involves consideration of the object of the research (system of orientation) in a broader context: in addition to the skills and techniques of reconnaissance, there has also been analyzed, inseparable from them, travel ’survival techniques’ — experience of settlement in difficult conditions, proven algorithm of actions which eventually allows a person to be on the right side of a problem. The objectives of the article are: 1) to prove that turning to the help of animals is indeed one of the most important components of the spatial orientation system of the Nenets; 2) to present the particular facts that the methods and techniques of the use of this aid is not so obvious and simple as it initially may seem. The materials presented in the paper show the widespread use of domestic animals for orientation and navigation by the Nenets. In case of need to find the way, they skillfully use the immediate assistance of animals as well as their deep knowledge of the biology of reindeer and dogs, that allows them to draw important conclusions about the location of various objects in an area. Herewith the Nenets not only carefully observe the behaviour of their animals, but also use special techniques, activating useful behaviour of reindeer and dogs for finding the way. Among the specific features of the Tundra Nenets (in comparison with the Forest Nenets) we can mention: a) more frequent resort to the abilities of reindeer than of dogs in the orientation; b) the practical difficulties with simultaneous use of both animals during a trip. In summary, it can be argued that the scope of traditional knowledge and traditions certainly deserves special attention in advanced studies of other ethnic groups, especially those who are hunter-gatherers and pastoralists.

In the Hindu mythology an avatar is a deliberate descent of a deity to Earth, or a descent of the Supreme
Being. There is the human and divine natures of avatar as they coexist within one person. Talking in a metaphorical we can say that every monument to historical figure is another reflection of his or her avatar. The object of our study is Yermak memorials regarded as the representations and mainstreaming historical memory about the meaning of «Conqueror of Sibiria». Usually life period of the memorial is limited to a time period of the existence of a political regime which established it. in the case of Yermak we have phenomenon «monumental reincarnation» of the historical figure. Yermak Memorials were established and re-established in the Russian Empire, in the USSR and in the post-soviet Russia. Thereby if the case of Yermak is not unique, it is an atypical one at least. Incarnation of Yermak was formed in multiple steps. Initially Yermak too seemed to Russian authorities as some kind of highway robbery. In the second half of XIX century Yermak turned national hero of the Russian Empire. The first Yermak Memorial was raised in Tobolsk in 1839, it perpetuated only the name of the cossack leader who started the Russian conquest of Siberia. The first body incarnation of Yermak related to 1896. He was represented by a high-artrelief picture among «military men and heroes» on the Millennium of Russia in the Novgorod. The first Yermak Memorial with his full length sculpture was erected in Novocherkassk in 1904. At a later time Yermak was represented in the form of the warrior hero of Russian folk epics, the frontier man and the chthonic creature. As a legendary hero Yermak was in demand for the construction of a diversity of local communities. At the present day the promotion of the historical memory about Yermak serves the interests of a wide range of social groups and constitute them to a certain extant. The supporters and the opponents of Yermak, historians, tourism officials, bureaucracy, sculptors and architects are combined in heterogeneous associations arising in connection regarding Yermak.