Abstract: In this jubilee essay the author presents the main scientific and pedagogical contributions of the prominent Russian scholar Nataliya Vadimovna Ryndina, professor at the Section of Archaeology of the History Department of Lomonosov Moscow State University. N. V. Ryndina graduated from the Section of Archaeology of the History Department of Lomonosov Moscow State University in 1958, worked from being a research assistant to becoming a full-tenured professor, became a Candidate of Historical Studies in 1967 and a Doctor of Historical Studies in 1994. N. V. Ryndina advanced the topics of metallurgy and the jewellery-making craft in Medieval Great Novgorod. N. V. Ryndina is currently studying the cultures and societies of the Bronze Age Balkans, Danube Delta, Near East, Caucasus and other regions. She is also the head of the metallographic laboratory at the Section of Archaeology and is examining the general questions regarding the history of Ancient metallurgy. N. V. Ryndina has created a unique databank of nonferrous metal microstructure probes. She is also the author of about 150 scientific and educational works, she directed the Trypillian expedition from 1977 to 1986, and was the research advisor for 35 students, 11 graduate students and 2 Doctors of Historical Sciences. N. V. Ryndina was bestowed with the honorary title of “Distinguished Professor of Moscow University” in 2015.

Keywords: Nataliya Vadimovna Ryndina, professor, section of archaeology, ancient metallurgy, jewellery-making craft, Medieval Great Novgorod, Bronze Age, laboratory of metallography, nonferrous metal microstructure, Trypillian expedition

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.68402

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.19176

Abstract: During the course of the last decades, metal and wooden rims of glass mirrors (more than 340 artefacts) have been found on the sites of different Ancient Rus towns. The depictions on these objects have been published in a separate volume in 2013. In 2015 during the ploughing of a field in the Kirov oblast, 20 km from the town of Slobodskoy, a metal rim with the image of an equestrian figure on the external side and with a floral border around it had been discovered. This design is identical to the design on one of the published decorated rims. This rim was handed to the author of this article by the local ethnographer O. L. Titov. The fabrication particularities and the nature of the image were studied visually, while the composition of the metal was identified on the ArtTAX unit (Röntgenanalysen-Technik). It was revealed that the Kirov rim, despite the similarity in images, is in structure and composition not identical to the rest of the metal rims. Contrary to them, this rim is made from lead and has flaws in its fabrication. This rim, found far away from the area of other similar rims, poses many questions regarding the place and methods of its making, as well as its introduction into the territory of Vyatka.

Keywords: rim, glass, ornament, equestrian figure, dating, X-ray fluorescence analysis, tin, lead, alloy, mirror

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.68403

Keywords: rim, glass, ornament, equestrian figure, dating, X-ray fluorescence analysis, tin, lead, alloy, mirror

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.19194

Abstract: The ceramics from Smolensk dating to the end of the 10th – first half of the 12th century have features that approximate them to the early wheel-made ceramics of Gnyozdovo, as well as to the later Ancient Rus ceramics. For the study of ceramic production techniques, a small collection of vessels from the named period found during excavations on the territory of Smolensk in 2013 was presented. A general description of this type of ceramics can be found in pertinent literature, however, the present focused study has helped to identify several more particuliarities of these ceramics’ production techniques. The technical study of ceramics was conducted according to the method of A. A. Bobrinsky within the framework of a historical-cultural approach. The authors examined the preparatory stage of pottery making, including the selection and preparation of raw materials and preparing of the body. The study has revealed that the predominant tradition was to use white clay that contained little amount of sand as accessory and to make the body according to the recipe: clay + broken stone + organic solution. The rare tradition of preparation of body has also been attested following the recipe: clay + sand + organic solution. The comparison of the discovered findings with the material from Gnyozdovo of the 10th – beginning of the 11th century has shown that in Gnyozdovo and Smolensk during certain stages of their history there had inhabited population groups that had similar pottery traditions. The analysis of the ceramics from Gnyozdovo of the 12th – beginning of the 13th century has revealed the diffusion of new traditions, above all of new traditions in making body following the recipe: clay + sand + organic solution.

Keywords: Smolensk, Gnyozdovo, Early Medieval ceramics, Ancient Rus ceramics, Ancient pottery, pottery making, historical-cultural approach, pottery making traditions, raw materials, body compositions

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.68404

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.19202

Abstract: An anthropomorphic figurine has been found in a mound from the Bronze Age located in the necropolis by the village of Zaozernoe on the periphery of the town of Yevpatoria in North-Western Crimea. The mound had been robbed in Antiquity which is why the figurine was found not in the burial itself, but in the strata between two Bronze Age burials. The figurine is a rather schematic representation of a female figure. Anthropomorphic sculptures are typical of many Bronze Age cultures, including the Trypillian culture. A collection of similar figurines was found in mound 6 of the burial site 26 in the village of Zelenyi Hai on the river Inhulets. The Zelenohai complex is dated to the period of late Trypillia and the figurines’ type has a lot in common with Trypillian anthropomorphic sculpture. The Zaozernoe figurine is almost completely identical to the figurines in the Zelenohai complex and consequently can be ascribed to the Trypillian culture – to its final phase. The discovery of the figurine in the mound of the necropolis by the village of Zaozernoe attests, it seems, to the links between the Crimean steppe and the cultures from the circle of Trypillia.

Keywords: Bronze Age, anthropomorphic sculpture, Trypillian culture, female figurine, Crimean steppe, Zaozernoe necropolis, Zelenohai complex, burial rite, “serezlievskiy” type, Inhul group

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.68405

Keywords: Bronze Age, anthropomorphic sculpture, Trypillian culture, female figurine, Crimean steppe, Zaozernoe necropolis, Zelenohai complex, burial rite, “serezlievskiy” type, Inhul group

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.20986

Abstract: One of the most important questions in the history of the Ancient Rus town is craftsmanship. Craft formed the base of the economic life of a village, and it was the most important defining feature differentiating the Medieval town from other forms of settlement. Through the long period of studying Great Novgorod and due to the large-scale archaeological excavations conducted there, a unique collection of Ancient antiquities has been assembled. In this collection a particular place is taken by a set of metal tools used for production, including metalwork. These tools are a unique source for the study of Medieval blacksmithing. The tools’ classification and dating has been carried out on the basis of the existing typologies, developed by B. A. Kolchin and N. V. Ryndina, as well as with the input of the data from the stratification of Medieval cultural strata and the method of dendrochronology. Additionally, Medieval book miniatures were also used for the identification of many tools, as well as ethnographic material, contemporaneous blacksmith manuals and tool compendiums. As a result of the conducted analysis, 221 objects have been revealed that pertain to metalworking tools. These objects were then divided into ten application groups: supporting, impacting, chopping, cutting, underlying, gripping, clamping, for applying decoration, shaping and auxiliary. The chronological periods of use for one or another group of instruments have also been identified. Due to these discoveries it has become possible to compose a detailed picture of the set-up and equipping of production workshops during various stages of the town’s development.

Keywords: Medieval Novgorod, production, metalworking, blacksmithing, jewelry craft, metal tools, technical operations, classification, typology, chronology

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.68406

Keywords: Medieval Novgorod, production, metalworking, blacksmithing, jewelry craft, metal tools, technical operations, classification, typology, chronology

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.68248

Abstract: Studies of the article concern the main ways to encourage increasing of labor productivity, implement the innovation proposals and new forms and methods of management, allowing to cut off downtime and raise industrial efficiency, taking place while both construction and operation of the North Crimean canal in 60-70th of the XX century. Particular examples would review as flexible and tempered policy of work incentives, related to builders and reclamation specialists of irrigating systems in the Crimean area, forced the next "great building of communism", initially based on enthusiasm, be turned into the effective and well-coordinated economic machinery, not merely conformed to new economic requirements, but also facilitated achieving substantial results. Conducted research was applied to comparative-historical and typological methods, based on principles of objectivity and historicism. Studying subject in use appeared published memoirs of the North Crimean canal participants, related media issues as well as archival sources out of records SA RF and RSAE. Main conclusions resolve to the fact, that despite apparent abundance of honorary titles, diplomas, distinctions, medals and prizes, awarded to ameliorators, the main emphasis nevertheless was assigned to financial benefits of their activity, resulted in holding up and engaging new qualified staff.

Keywords: Crimean area, North Crimean canal, land-reclamation, irrigated farming, economic incentives, self-supporting basis, rural economy, team contract, honors, Ukrainian SSR

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.19186

Abstract: The presented collection of jewellery, household items, raw material objects and waste from jewellery making was found during the excavation of the Gnezdovo cemetery and settlement, located in the Upper Dnieper region. This collection testifies to the developed state of the jewellery-making craft in one of the largest towns in Ancient Rus during the 10th century. The analysis of the findings’ metal chemical composition has allowed to identify the recipes for the alloys used by the Gnezdovo jewellers and the particularities of their raw material sources, but also permitted to form a basis for the discussion of the possible origins of nonferrous metals in Gnezdovo. The elementary compositions of the artefacts in copper and their alloys were tested in different laboratories with the help of the optic emission spectroscopy analysis and the energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence method. In the selection of the sample the objects were categorised by origins linked to particular ethnic groups and regions. The statistical analysis of the derived results illustrates that the Gnezdovo jewellers had at their disposal “pure” copper, tin and lead bronze, double and triple brass and multicomponent alloys resulting from the multiple remelting of objects and raw materials. The quantitative prevalence of copper-zinc alloys in the sample indicates that the majority of the metals came into the jewellers’ workshops from the Baltic and Scandinavia – the main distribution zone of brass during the 9th–11th centuries.

Keywords: Old Rus state, Middle Dnieper region, Gnezdovo jewellery making, metal chemical composition, analysis method, “pure” copper, brass, bronze, alloys, sources of raw material

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.68407

Keywords: Old Rus state, Middle Dnieper region, Gnezdovo jewellery making, metal chemical composition, analysis method, “pure” copper, brass, bronze, alloys, sources of raw material

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.19226

Abstract: The article describes the new method of quantitative and qualitative processing of data from Medieval metals, derived through the method of X-ray fluorescence analysis, in order to identify theproduction location through the comparison of raw metal compositions and finished objects. The idea of the necessity of such a comparison is based on the earlier made conclusion that Pskovian workshops prioritised the use of finished raw metal without attempting to influence its technological properties through alloying. The application of this method makes sense only in the presence within the studied sample of a significant quantity of objects with a vast chronological span and represented by a full range of categories: from raw metal, blanks and semi-finished products, to finished objects. An important pre-condition is the origin of the metals from complexes, including production complexes. The presented method includes several stages, part of which has already been completed on the Pskov material. Its first testing has shown a sufficient effectiveness for the posed tasks. The use of the presented method on all types of tasks has allowed to obtain for the first time such precise information and an objective picture regarding the development of the local jewellery-making production.

Keywords: Medieval metal, Pskov, jewellery-making complexes, methods of data processing, raw metal, finished objects, metal composition correlation, result interpretation, jewellery-making, X-ray fluorescence analysis

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.68408

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.20791

Abstract: Today there is need for a comparison of materials on morphology, the chemical composition, manufacturing techniques of an inventory complex of non-ferrous metals of cultures in connection with domination of the point of view about successive development between tribes of Sintashta and Petrovka Cultures has ripened. The obtained analytical data on metalproduction of cultures conflict to the statement about the Sintashta sources of Petrovka metalproduction. Collected data disprove this assumption and give the chance to connect development of metalproduction at a boundary of average-late bronze with several lines of development of processing of non-ferrous metal in a Yamna-poltavka and catacomb communities. The article’s conclusions are based on the mass results derived from the atomic emission spectroscopy (at the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry at the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences), X-ray fluorescence (at the Institute of Archaeology at the Russian Academy of Sciences) (405 products) and metallographic (at the Institute for the Study of the Northern Expansion at the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 320 products) analyses.The morphological review of metal collections of the beginning of a late bronze age in the territory from Don to Ishim shows use of identical instruments of labor not only at the Sintashta and Petrovka tribes, and in much wider area of a steppe and forest-steppe strip of Eastern Europe, the Urals, Kazakhstan that is explainable from the point of view of emergence of epoch-making standard stereotypes of metalproduction of the West Asian province going the sources to the previous Yamna-poltavka and catacomb periods of early and average bronze. Features of technological traditions of Sintashta and Petrovka production are quite explainable the previous trends of development of metalproduction during of early and average bronze. In Sintashta Culture orientation to production traditions of steppe Yamna-poltavka and catacomb tribes of Northern Black Sea and Ciscaucasia in the use of predominantly low-alloy arsenic bronzes under the domination of the forging technique that uses low-temperature metal working.Petrovka blacksmiths, similar to Don-Volga Abashevo masters, continued the stable tradition of the Ural Yamna-Poltavka blacksmiths of handling pure copper, including oxidised copper with the use of casting and forging techniques.

Keywords: South Ural, Bronze Age, Petrovka culture, Sintashta culture, nonferrous metal production, metallography, Ancient technologies, nonferrous metal typology, morphology, technological traditions

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.68409

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.20792

Abstract: While conducting archaeological excavations in 2001–2006 on the territory of the Zatmatskiy posad in the city of Tver, researchers investigated the goldsmith quarter dating to the end of the 15th – beginning of the 16th centuries. The excavations included four estates with goldsmith workshops. Archaeological horizons were rich in individual finds, among which prevailed objects of nonferrous metallurgy. The most numerous objects were fragments of clay crucibles – 3524 specimens. Five unbroken vessels and 11 with fully or almost fully preserved profile have allowed to typify the form and size of the moulders’ instruments. These are open conical or cylindrical crucibles with a height of 7,5–10 cm. and a volume of 80–155 ml. On the walls of many specimens remain vitreous slags and drops of metal. Using the non-destructive x-ray fluorescence analysis, the chemical compound of 78 finds have been identified at the x-ray fluorescence laboratory of the Section of Geochemistry of the Geology Department of Lomonosov Moscow State University. On the basis of element ranging the groups of metal melted in the crucibles have been identified: pure copper, bronze and brass, lead-tin alloy. Zinc-containing alloys are the most common. In the remains of each estate a clear connection can be drawn between the metal filling the crucible, production waste and finished objects. The comparison of melting vessels with earlier finds on the territory of the posad has shown that their volume has increased by several times. This testifies to the important scale of production that the bronze casting trade has acquired in the Zatmatskiy posad during the late Medieval period.

Keywords: Tver Zatmarskiy posad, late Middle Ages, jewellery making, production workshops, crucibles, slag, nonferrous metals, x-ray fluorescence, chemical compound, alloy classification

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.68410

Keywords: Tver Zatmarskiy posad, late Middle Ages, jewellery making, production workshops, crucibles, slag, nonferrous metals, x-ray fluorescence, chemical compound, alloy classification

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.20847

Abstract: The article presents a study on the morphological, chemical and technological features of the metal from the North Caucasian, Novotitorovskaya and Yamnaya cultures during the transitional period from the Early to the Middle Bronze Age in the regions of Ciscaucasia and the South-Eastern Russian plain. A series of instruments, decorative objects and fastening devices from 62 burials, 51 kurgans, 43 burial grounds are reviewed. Using close and distant analogies, the author undertakes a detailed typological analysis of the findings, noting consequent remnant forms, modifications and innovations. The author also gives a description of the chemical composition of their metal, which is mostly arsenic bronze. Attention is drawn to the uninterrupted dominance of forming forging in metalworking technologies. The research’s results on the whole allow to make conclusions about the particularities of the given series of objects, which illustrate the general evolutionary tendencies of the steppe zone. The essence of the occurring changes consisted in the eradication of metal production standards of the Early Bronze Age and the formation of new traditions, developed and widely diffused contemporaneously with the spreading of the catacomb burial rite at the beginning of the Middle Bronze epoch in the south of Eastern Europe.

Keywords: Middle Bronze Age, burials, North Caucasian culture, Novotitorovskaya culture, Yamnaya culture, instruments, decorative objects, arsenic bronze, forging, metal

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.68411

Keywords: Middle Bronze Age, burials, North Caucasian culture, Novotitorovskaya culture, Yamnaya culture, instruments, decorative objects, arsenic bronze, forging, metal

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.19219

Abstract: The study of historical topography is one of the most important fields in the study of Ancient Rus’ town history. This article is based on a complex study of diverse types of sources (chronicles, geological boring material, maps of Novgorod, the icon “the Vision of sexton Tarasiy”, and Old Testament theme) from which three topics are investigated regarding the historical topography of Ancient Novgorod – the largest town centre in Ancient Rus. The first outline examines the long-standing debates concerning the dimensions and locations of land tracts “Kholm” and “Slawno” described in chronicles. Their study has a direct relation to the question of Novgorod’s foundation. The second outline subjects to criticism the existing erroneous assumption of the church of the Archangel Michael being located on the homonymous street in the centre of the oldest Novgorod Torg. It also reconsiders the accepted in historiography translation into the modern chronological format of the chronicle dating of the fire in 6660, the description of which for the first time mentions the abovementioned church. The third outline concerns the identification of the church of Archangel Michael, which, according to the testament of chroniclers, was set on fire by lightning in 1187 (6695).

Keywords: Ancient Novgorod, historical topograhy, chronicle information, ancient landscape, Slawno, Kholm, Torg, Friday auctions, church of Archangel Michael, Biblical theme

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.68412

Keywords: Ancient Novgorod, historical topograhy, chronicle information, ancient landscape, Slawno, Kholm, Torg, Friday auctions, church of Archangel Michael, Biblical theme

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.20583

Abstract: This article examines the principal means of promoting increased labor productivity, the introduction of optimization proposals and new forms and methods of enterprise management, which permitted to reduce the loss of time and increase production efficiency, that occurred during the construction and exploitation of the North-Crimean canal in the 1960s-1970s. In different instances this was considered a flexible and restrained policy for promoting the labor of construction workers and land developers of the irrigation system in the Crimean region. This policy paved the way for another “great Communist construction”, originally founded on enthusiasm, and created an effective and harmonious economic mechanism, which responded not only to the new economic demands, but which also allowed to reach significant results. The article’s research was conducted by applying to the topic the comparative-historical and typological methods and is based on the principles of objectivity and historicism. In examining this topic the author used published memoirs of constructors of the Northern-Crimean canal and press material, as well as archive sources from the funds of the State Archive of the Russian Federation and the Russian State Economic Archive. The article’s author comes to the conclusion that despite the external abundance of honorary degrees, certificates, distinctions, medals and orders awarded to land developers, the main emphasis was nonetheless placed on the material promotion of labor that allowed to retain and attract new qualified personnel.

Keywords: irrigated agriculture, economic stimulus, economic accounting, agriculture, brigade contract, awards, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, land development, North-Crimean canal, Crimean region

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.20812

Abstract: The note dedicated to the anniversary of N.V. Ryndina - outstanding Russian scientist, professor of archaeology of the History department of the Moscow State Lomonosov University - briefly describes main scientific and educational achievements of the scholar. The full list of scientific papers of N.V. Ryndina is attached.

Keywords: Natalia Vadimovna Ryndina, professor, Department of Archaeology of the MSU, ancient metallurgy, archaeology of the Bronze Age, metallography laboratory, the Tripolye expedition, bank of microstructures standards, Lomonosov Prize, Honorary Professor of the Moscow State University

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.19187

Abstract: The author dedicates this memorial article to her mother – Nataliya Vadimovna Ryndina. The article describes three memories from the time when N. V. Ryndina was not yet a professor and worked as an ordinary lecturer at the MSU History Department. The author shares her first impressions of her mother’s unusual profession and of that profession’s attributes. She also recounts how N. V. Ryndina prepared for her lectures and of the family’s life in Moscow during winter and at their dacha during summer vacations. The author describes her childhood impressions of the university and her first visit to the Section of Archaeology. The author recalls trips to Moldavia and Ukraine, where N. V. Ryndina directed the summer student practice in the Trypillian archaeological expedition. N. V. Ryndina’s Moldavian colleague Vsevolod Ivanovich Markevich is also remembered, as well as his culinary experiments and thoughts on the difficulties the archaeological profession faces. The article describes the work during excavations, the facts concerning the cleaning of the Trypillian monuments and the particularities of conducting breaks during excavations. The author allocates particular attention to the fundamental features of the crucial factor in the Trypillian expedition – Moldavia’s wilderness.

Keywords: N. V. Ryndina, memoirs, lecture preparation, Section of Archaeology, Moscow University, microscope, Trypillian expedition, Moldavia, V. I. Markevich, excavation

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.68413

Keywords: N. V. Ryndina, memoirs, lecture preparation, Section of Archaeology, Moscow University, microscope, Trypillian expedition, Moldavia, V. I. Markevich, excavation

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.20752

Abstract: The article’s designated research subject is the aid provided to the population under the extreme circumstances of war and revolution. The research object is the activity of city and uyezd fiduciaries for providing aid to the families of those called to war. Under the term aid (social support) we intend the temporary measures directed at helping soldiers’ families in overcoming the daily difficulties caused by the First World War. This aid could be material or in socio-lifestyle assistance, employment, judicial help, etc., and in forms of realization – monetary or in natural form. This examination is limited to the territory of the Yeniseysk and Irkutsk governorates in Eastern Siberia, on the example of which one can have an idea of what was going on not only in the life of the region, but also in the country in general. The picture of the aid provided to soldiers’ families is recreated on the basis of sources of a legislative nature, published and unpublished (archival) clerical documents, reference-statistical material and periodic press. The author used particular historical methods, namely, the comparative and synchronic. On the example of separate institutions the author reveals the aid work’s overall direction, the numbers and social composition of the organizers, the sources of financing, and the types and forms of aid. The author comes to the conclusion that the activity of the fiduciaries formed under the influence of local particularities and local understandings, which created a differentiated level of help and conditions of accessibility. The article’s material specifies and expands the established scientific knowledge regarding the nature of social aid, its defining factors, scope of forms and measures; this further creates additional possibilities for comparative-historical analyses of Siberia.

Keywords: charity donations, uyezd fiduciary, town fiduciary, soldier’s family, state dietary ration kit, forms of aid, types of aid, social aid, Eastern Siberia, First World War

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.68307

Keywords: Pervaya mirovaya voina, vidy pomoshchi, formy pomoshchi, kazennyi paek

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.21170

Abstract: The Nikitinsky excavation located on the territory of the Plotnitskiy district of late-Medieval Novgorod, like other Novgorod excavations, has unearthed among many different archaeological finds amulets made from nonferrous metals, stone and bones. In studying the spiritual culture of the inhabitants of Novgorod during the Middle ages through archaeological data, it is important not only to identify the groups of religious objects, but also to relatively precisely date and topographically analyse the collected material. This analysis should be conducted on the example of individual estates and estate complexes that have a developed planography, stratigraphy and chronology of tiers. The systematisation, dating clarification and linking to estates and edifices have allowed to reveal the chronological patterns and specific particularities of these objects’ distribution during different periods of time. The comprehensive study of amulets found in the Nikitinsky excavation has confirmed the general tendencies of their dissemination in Novgorod. Various amulets, personal talismans and household talismans were persistently used by the Medieval inhabitants of Novgorod during the course of centuries. The continuity of this tradition attests to the awareness of objects’ use and deep ideological background.

Keywords: Novgorod archaeological studies, Plotnitskiy district, Nikitinsky excavation, estates, cult objects, amulets, talismans, systematisation, chronology, topography

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.68414

Keywords: Novgorod archaeological studies, Plotnitskiy district, Nikitinsky excavation, estates, cult objects, amulets, talismans, systematisation, chronology, topography

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.19199

Abstract: The systematic study of Ancient and Medieval bronzes from archaeological monuments of the Russian Far East through a series of methods (emission spectrum analysis, metallography, examination of the isotopic composition of lead) has allowed to identify a series of traditions in the working of metal. The traditions developed during the course of the ethnocultural exchanges between the Far Eastern population and the foreign ethnic groups that appeared in the Far East beginning with the end of the second millennium B. C. E., and which reflected the cultural processes that occurred in the depth of the Asian steppe. Successively several traditions replace each other. The “Siberian” tradition is linked to the changes of a global nature and with the formation of the cultural similarities of the epoch of the late Bronze Age. The Manchu-Korean tradition is characterised by impulses from North-Eastern China and Korea during the first millennium B. C. E. The appearance of the “Turkish” tradition was caused by the Turkish expansion on the continent. This tradition manifested itself in unique forms of waist and harness linings. The “Amuric” tradition existed during the early Medieval period and is tied to the local tribes. The last tradition, the “Jurchen” tradition, existed during the Middle Ages and revealed itself through a simplification of technological schemes, a widening of the range of articles and a partial substitution of bronze with iron even for costume decorative elements.

Keywords: lead-isotope composition, Far East, North-Eastern China, ethnocultural contacts, metallography, Turkish expansion, Middle Ages, spectral analysis, alloys, bronze

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.68415

Keywords: lead-isotope composition, Far East, North-Eastern China, ethnocultural contacts, metallography, Turkish expansion, Middle Ages, spectral analysis, alloys, bronze

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.19409

Abstract: The article is focused on the discussion concerning the relative age of the wall paintings found in the Ignatievskaya Cave in view of the archaeological context of the colour mineral pigments found in the strata of Southern Ural cave monuments dating to the Upper Palaeolithic. The features of the paintings’ style, created with red colour, gave rise to the consideration of their creation during the Holocene period. The results of direct radiocarbon dating from drawings in black colour, made with charcoal, presented new arguments in favour of a post-Pleistocene dating for the monument’s whole pictorial cycle. At the same time, the results of a comprehensive archaeological study of the Ignatievskaya Cave, including the results of radiocarbon dating, revealed direct evidence of the existence of artistic activity in the monument at the end of the Upper Palaeolithic. However, up to today scholars have not undertook a comparison of the archaeological context of the nature and conditions of occurrence of colour mineral pigments in the cultural layer of Upper Palaeolithic sites in this region. The comparison of the archaeological context of the distribution of red ochre in the cultural layer of the Ignatievskaya Cave with the distribution of coloured mineral pigments in other sites of the Southern Ural allows to consider the possible Late Palaeolithic of the red drawings. The similarities in the archaeological context of the colour pigments in Late Pleistocene cultural layer near the wall paintings in the Kapova and Ignatievskaya Caves, as well as the absence of evidence for the use of ochre in the Holocene layer, including locus with paleoanthropological remains, on the site of both sites significantly strengthens the conclusion that at least part of the Ignatievskaya Cave red-colour paintings date to the Upper Palaeolithic.

Keywords: Ignatievskaya cave, Kapova cave, Southern Urals, Upper Palaeolithic, ochre, colour mineral pigments, archaeological context, radiocarbon dating, Palaeolithic art, pisanitsa

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.68416

Keywords: Ignatievskaya cave, Kapova cave, Southern Urals, Upper Palaeolithic, ochre, colour mineral pigments, archaeological context, radiocarbon dating, Palaeolithic art, pisanitsa

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.20989

Abstract: The Upper Palaeolithic site Kamennaya Balka in the Rostov oblast has been studied for more than 50 years by the archaeologists of the Scientific-Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology of Lomonosov Moscow State University and the Section of Archaeology of the History Department of Lomonosov Moscow State University. During the past few years scholars have surveyed the northern part of the site Kamennaya Balka II, where the main territory of the oldest inhabitation of the site was located – that is, the lowest cultural layer, which was identified by M. D. Gvozdonover already in 1960. Upon excavation, various redeposited objects from the lowest layer had been discovered which allowed not only to reveal the manufacturing and household structure of the site, but also to find original sources for the precise dating of the oldest cultural stratum of the site. The examination of the lowest cultural layer was conducted on the basis of a complex approach that includes a morphological analysis of the flint artefacts found on the site, microstatigraphical and intrasite spatial analyses, and evidence obtained from natural science methods. The lowest cultural layer in the northern part of the site Kamennaya Balka II is represented by numerous finds of flint artefacts and of various objects from within the cultural layer. The flint artefacts of the lowest cultural layer, a collection that consists of 3000 objects, have features common with the Caucasian Upper Palaeolithic. The intrasite spatial analyses of the distribution of the finds and objects has allowed to identify on the northern part of the site two large manufacturing centres accompanied by smaller clusters of finds (in individual working places) that attest to a complicated layout of the site and of a diversity in domestic activities taking place on the territory of the ancient site of Kamennaya Balka.

Keywords: Upper Paleolithic, Lower Don, Kamennaya Balka, cultural layer, microstratigraphy, intrasite spatial data, iradiocarbon dating, site, flint inventory, Marianna Gvozdover

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.68417

Keywords: Upper Paleolithic, Lower Don, Kamennaya Balka, cultural layer, microstratigraphy, intrasite spatial data, iradiocarbon dating, site, flint inventory, Marianna Gvozdover

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.19233

Abstract: The aim of this study is to reconstruct the relative chronology of the little-studied period in the history of two city-states in Northern Syria. This is the period between the conquest of Babylon and Aleppo by the Hittite king Mursili I (an event that marks the transition from the Old Babylonian to the Middle Babylonian period and from the Middle Bronze Age to the Late Bronze Age) and the time of the military campaigns of the Hittite king Suppiluliuma I in Syria (which is well-documented in written sources). The history of Aleppo and Alalakh is examined in the larger context of the military and political history of Western Asia during the named period. The research is based on a sequential comparison of the information from written sources (first of all, the historical preamble to the vassal agreement between the Hittite king Muwatalli II and the king of Aleppo Talmi-Sharru (CTH 75) and the inscription on the statue of the king Idri-mi of Alalakh) and archaeological sources (data resulting from the archaeological studies of Alalakh – Tell Atchana on the territory of modern Turkey). The article includes the historiography of the topic and its critical assessment, providing a new translation and interpretation of certain fragments of the written sources under discussion. The author makes conclusions about the general tendencies in the history of Aleppo and Alalakh and strategies of the great powers of the period (Mitanni and Hatti) towards their new vassals.

Keywords: Alalakh, Northern Syria, Halap, Hittite kingdom, Mitanni, written sources, archaeological sources, vassal treaties, relative chronology, Late Bronze Age

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2016.6.68418