The article is concerned with the problem of determination of local variants of the Early Iron Age Sargatka Culture in Western Siberian forest-steppe. The paper discusses the local differences between the Sargatka Culture sites based on the ceramic complexes. Pottery from the Rafailovo settlement was statistically analyzed taking into account the distribution of the items on building horizons and dated structures. This data was compared with collections of other settlements of the Tobol River basin, including the Pavlinovo hillfort. It has been determined that, in the set of forms, techniques and ornaments, the Sargatka Culture pottery of the Tobol region is consistent with the overall Sargatka standard. Chronological changes were traced only in the technique and motives of decoration. Some local features of the pottery have also been established. In the shapes, it is a small proportion of low and flat-bottomed vessels, and the absence of clay dishes. The carved ornamentation was the primary technique in the Tobol region. The continuous elements of Sargatka ornamentation prevailed: rows of inclined lines, horizontal and vertical herringbone pattern, vertical zigzags, pinches and a variety of festoons. The ware of the eastern area features carved ornamentation; in particular, the ornamentation of the early complexes is characterized by vessels with “pearls”, alien to other areas, probably dating back to the late Irmene tradition, and the later sites demonstrate an increasing proportion of vessels with dimpled and pricked patterns, possibly originating from the Bogochanovo Culture. However, pricked patterns are rare in the ornamentation of pottery of the Tobol region groups, while vertical herringbone, vertical zigzags and borders are common, which can be explained by the independent tendency of decoration in the west of the area at a later time. Significant appears the volume of adoptions by potters of the Tobol region from the western and northern neighbors. For the Tobol population, the houses appear to be more adapted for the settled lifestyle, and the funerary and defensive architecture is more complex, which may indicate a different ethnic environment and different lifeways. Further comparison of the well-studied sites of the Sargatka Culture should be carried out considering the micro-chronology of burial grounds and settlements, which will allow clarifying the nature and dynamics of interaction between the multicultural population of the Early Iron Age, both within single settlement and with various areas of the Sargatka Culture area.

Keywords: Western Siberia, Tobol basin, Early Iron Age, Sargatka culture, local features, pottery.

 

 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Accepted: 03.10.2024

Article is published: 15.03.2025