Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 45 (1) 2017   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2017.45.1.112-120

Annotation:  New Findings on the Middle Paleolithic of the Eastern Adriatic: The Earliest Settlement at Bioče, M Geomorphology and Quaternary Sediments at Archaeological Sites Near Anzhevka, Krasnoyarsk Territory Archaeological Sites as Markers of Hydrosystem Transformation in the Kurai and Chuya Basins, Southea Agricultural Practice on the Korean Peninsula Taking into Account the Origin of Rice Agriculture in Avtodrom 2—a Late Neolithic (Artyn Culture) Site in the Baraba Forest-Steppe, Western Siberia A Generalized Assessment of Cultural Changes at Stratified Sites: The Case of Chalcolithic Fortresse A Dugout from the Don River Exhibited at the State Historical Museum, Moscow: Discovery and Dating A House Model from Popudnya, Cucuteni-Tripolye Culture, Ukraine: A New Interpretation Old Turkic Statues from Apshiyakta, Central Altai: On Female Representations in Turkic Monumental Ar Early Medieval Armor from Southern Siberia Leather Artifacts from Tara, Western Siberia, Excavated in 2012–2014 The Morphology of Permanent Molars from the Paleolithic Layers of Denisova Cave An Anthropological Study of Mummified Remains from the Zeleny Yar Cemetery on the Lower Ob, Western Patterns of Growth and Development in Urban and Rural Children of the Northern Part of European Russ   

Leather Artifacts from Tara, Western Siberia,
Excavated in 2012–2014

D.O. Osipov¹, S.F. Tataurov^{2, 3}, S.S. Tikhonov², and M.P. Chernaya³

¹State Historical Museum, Krasnaya pl. 1, Moscow, 109012, Russia

²Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

³National Research Tomsk State University, Pr. Lenina 34, Tomsk, 634050, Russia

We describe 1083 leather items found during the excavation of Tara, one of the oldest Russian fortified towns in western Siberia. Their preservation is excellent, owing to the high humidity of the habitation deposits and the presence of natural preservatives in the soil. Most items are parts of footwear (64 %) and scraps of material (26 %); other leather items are mittens, scabbards, and belts. Unique finds include saddle holsters and a compass case. Most artifacts date to late 1600s–early 1700s. The most popular categories of footwear were soft multi-piece shoes and stiff hi gh-boots worn by garrison members. Fashiona ble shoes were rigid. On the basis of this collection, we reconstruct certain aspects of the early Russian settlement of the Irtysh region at the time when it became part of the Russian Empire.

Keywords: Western Siberia, early Russian colonization, Tara, leather footwear.