Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 37 (1) 2009

Annotation:  Environment and Human Behavior in Northern Mongolia during the Upper Pleistocene Bear in Mind: Bear Hunting in the Mesolithic of the Southern Caucasus L.B. Kirtcho. Two Bronze Age Steles in Gorny Altai Electron Probe Microanalysis of the Paste from Ceramics of the Far East Eurasian Coins of the 13th century from the Northern Caucasus Absolute Dendrochronological Scales of Archaeological Sites in European Russia A Dendrochronological Analysis of Wood from Pskov Dendrochronological Studies of Medieval Novgorod (Based on the Findings of Archaeological Excavatio On the Semantics of Animal Style Ornithomorphic Images in Pazyryk Ritual Artifacts Treasures of the Sacred River Everyday Diet of the Buryats in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries The Ethnic Environment of Diasporas in Western Siberia Demography of the Siberian Nenets in the First Third of the 20th Century Modern Altai Crafts Human Crania from the Tes Burial Ground, Kamenka III: The Analysis of Metric and Nonmetric Traits Analysis of Temporal Anthropometric Changes in Various Groups of Israeli Males The International Conference on the Neolithic of the Sea of Japan Basin (Vladivostok, 17–18 March, 2   

Treasures of the Sacred River

A.V. Baulo.

The article describes a “hoard” found in Western Siberia consisting of imported medieval silver and local bronze artifacts dating to the period from the fi rst centuries AD to the 13th–14th cent. The presence of subsequent engravings and additional holes suggests that the objects were used in ritual. The “hoard” was discovered at the site of an ancient fortifi ed settlement at the mouth of the Yalbynya River in the northern Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District. The river basin represents Mansi sacred land. Archaeological sources are discussed with special reference to Northern Mansi mythological beliefs. The Yalbynya basin was inhabited as early as the fi rst centuries AD. Metal artifacts and fragments of ceramics found at the site may have been mythologically reinterpreted by the later Khanty and Mansi population. The “hoard” contains ritual objects which indicates that a sanctuary existed nearby.

Keywords: Ob Ugrians, Mansi, Khanty, bronze, sanctuary, hoard, myths.