This is the first publication of the materials recovered during the 1972 excavations at the Barsov Gorodok I/1 hillfort. The site is multi-component, and it includes complexes of the Kulyegan type of the Bronze Age, the Atlym type of the final Bronze Age, and the Beloyarsk Culture of the Early Iron Age. A few stone tools recovered from the excavations probably date to the Neolithic and Eneolithic period. The Kulyegan and Atlymsky complexes are represented by single dwellings damaged during the construction of the fort. The defensive structures of the hillfort overlay two small pottery complexes of the early and middle periods of the Beloyarsk Culture. The hillfort belongs to the late period of the culture, and is distinguished by its small size, with four overground sub rectangular dwellings inside and a utility building with a shallow ditch. The fortification includes a rampart and a trench; the exit from the hillfort is on the plain side. The artefact assemblage is represented by pottery, decorated with combed and figured (snake, diamonds, triangles, crosses) stamps, fragments of boat-shaped crucibles, and a fragment of a bronze single-blade knife. From the standpoint of modern knowledge and accumulated experience in the research into northern settlements on sandy podzols, the analysis of field materials and the collection of finds from 1972 allowed revising the original interpretation of the settlement as a hillfort with a bastion. The latter turned out to be the remains of a Culiegan-type dwelling.

Keywords: Surgut Ob region, Barsova Gora, hillfort, dwellings, Kulyegan Type, Atlym Culture, Beloyarsk Culture, Bronze Age, Early Iron Age.

 

Funding. The study was funded by the Russian Science Foundation Grant No. 24-28-00650 “Stratigraphy, Chronology, and Isotopic Studies of Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Monuments in the Surgut Ob Region”, https://rscf.ru/project/24-28-00650/.

 

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

Accepted: 02.10.2025

Article is published: 15.12.2025