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THE CONTRIBUTION OF L.M. PLETNEVA TO THE STUDY OF MEDIEVAL IRON PRODUCTION IN WESTERN SIBERIA // Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology. 2016. Issue 3 (13). P. 103-111

The article is devoted to the contribution of L. M. Pletneva to the comprehensive study of medieval iron production in Western Siberia. For 30 years (1962–1991), L. M. Pletneva conducted extensive field research in the area between the rivers Ob and Tom, during which a vast array of data on iron production were obtained. L. M. Pletneva for the first time in the history of Tomsk archeology paid attention to a specific source as the archaeological metallurgical slag and started to study medieval iron production. She organized a comprehensive study at the archaeological site Shelomok, where for the first time in Siberia, magnetic survey was carried out in 1976, the first metallographic analyzes were made, as well as the first chemical analyzes of slag and ore from different archaeological sites were published. Due to many years of L. M. Pletneva’s research, today we can identify the area between the rivers Ob and Tom as a special region, where medieval population mastered the local iron ore deposits and provided itself with a "precious" and vital metal of the time.

Keywords: archeology, iron production, medieval, Western Siberia, Shelomok site, Ob-Tomsk river basin, L. M. Pletneva

UST-TAGAN HILLFORT: IRON SMELTING SITE IN THE UPPER OB RIVER REGION // Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology. 2018. Issue 1 (19). P. 84-98

The article for the first time publishes the results of interdisciplinary research of the hillfort Ust-Tagan, which is part of the Shaitan complex of archeological sites in the south of the Tomsk Region. It is concluded that the site Ust-Tagan in the 10th-13th centuries was a fortified point built near the iron ore deposit for its extraction. The main economy of the population were iron metallurgy and cattle breeding with a horses predominance in the herd. The origin of the ceramic traditions, represented in the materials of the settlement, is to be found in the complexes of the Upper Irtysh Region. The appearance of pastoralists-metallurgists in the Upper Ob River Region, who brought new knowledge about the production of iron, is most likely due to the disintegration of the "Kimako-Kypchak" Confederation and large migrations from the territory of the Upper Irtysh River Region.

Keywords: Ust-Tagan Hillfort, Upper Ob River Region, High Middle Ages, Iron Metallurgy

THE MUSLIMS OF THE HILLFORT ‘TOYANOV GORODOK’ // Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology. 2020. Issue 1 (27). P. 101-113

The article presents the results of research on Muslim burials in the hillfort named ‘Toyanov gorodok’ – one of the oldest Islamic sites in the Lower Tom region. The conclusion is drawn that in the middle to the second half of the seventeenth century, two different groups of Muslim burials coexisted here. The first group of the Muslim burials encompasses graves with no inventory, with the deceased placed with their heads to the north-west and their faces turned to the right. It is concluded that this tradition is not consistent with the burial rite spread in the Lower Tom and was brought in from outside, namely, the Tar Irtysh region. The emergence of such burials in the Toyanov Gorodok was associated with the settlement of the Chat Tatars on the outskirts of Tomsk in the first third to the middle seventeenth century. Characteristic of the second group was the placement of the deceased according to the Qiblah, with the head turned to the south-east and the face turned to the left. Some inventory was found in these burials, which is indicative of pre-Islamic beliefs. The origins of this group are accounted for by the transformation of the local burial rite. In the second half of the seventeenth century, the kurgan type of burials disappeared, whereas the number of burials with no inventory grew due to the strengthening of the new faith. At the same time, the vestiges of pre-Islamic beliefs can be seen in the burial rite, which in itself is natural for the spread of any religion in the world. The author concludes that at the turn of the seventeenth to the eighteenth centuries, the rite of placing the deceased with their heads to the south-east ceased to exist, and the ‘Qiblah north-west orientation’ replaced the local tradition. In the early eighteenth century, the burial rite changed significantly: the kurgan type of burials ceased to exist completely, the graves became deeper, and grave niches started to appear which were not reported to be found in older Muslim necropolises. These changes were connected with the arrival of the Muslim population from the Volga and the Ural regions and its settlement in the Tatar Sloboda. From the early eighteenth century up until the turn of the nineteenth to the twentieth centuries, the Muslim rite was consolidated and remained unchanged since.

Keywords: the ‘Toyanov gorodok’ burial site, Lower Tom region, Islam, seventeenth century, Eushta Tatars, Chat Tatars