Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 46 (1) 2018   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2018.46.1.108-116

Annotation:  Personal Ornament Production Technology in the Early Holocene Complexes of Western Central Asia: Ins Hadjoh-2: A Middle Paleolithic Workshop-Camp in Northwestern Caucasus The Late Chalcolithic Ceramics of the Volga Forest-Steppe On the Origin of Natural Bitumen at Yasnoye-8 (Sakhalin Island) Inskoy Dol: A New Early Bronze Age Site in Western Altai Decorated Birch-Bark Artifacts from the Ust-Polui Sanctuary (100 BC to 100 AD) An Old Turkic Statue from Borili, Ulytau Hills, Central Kazakhstan: Issues in Interpretation On Ancient Agriculture in Arid Regions of Central Asia: The Case of the Uvs Nuur Basin Geophysical Studies at the Kushmanskoye (Uchkakar) Fortifi ed Settlement, Kama Basin Pit-Grave (Yamnaya) and Pit-Grave-Maikop Burials at Levoyegorlyksky-3, Stavropol A Periodization of the Timber-Grave Culture in the Western Orenburg Region: Archaeological and Natur The Russian Pioneers’ Winter Camp on Karachinsky Island, the Lower Tobol River, Western Siberia An Experimental Assessment of the Cause of Mummification in the Joseon Period Burials, Republic of K Celestial Bodies on the Ob Ugrian Ritual Artifacts (Based on Archaeological and Ethnographic Sources Craniotomy as a Prehistoric Medical Practice: A Case of Antemortem Cranial Trepanation in Southern Secular and Age-Related Dynamics of Biological Characteristics in the Rural Population of Mongolia:   

The Russian Pioneers’ Winter Camp on Karachinsky Island,
the Lower Tobol River, Western Siberia

N.P. Matveeva¹, A.S. Yakimov^{1, 2}, N.S. Larina¹, and L.I. Agafonov³

¹Tyumen State University, Volodarskogo 6, Tyumen, 625003, Russia

²Earth Cryosphere Institute, Tyumen Scientific Center, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Malygina 86, Tyumen, 625026, Russia

³Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 8 Marta 202, Yekaterinburg, 620144, Russia

In 2014, an expedition from Tyumen State University excavated an underground dwelling on Karachinsky Island, in the floodplain of the Tobol, to check the chronicle data saying that Yermak and his Cossacks had spent a winter at that place during their Siberian campaign. The log structure, measuring 10 m by 5 m by 2 m, consisted of two rooms. Three or four bottom tiers of logs have been preserved. Remains of a cellar were found in the central part east of the oven. The building existed for a short time because the area around it was sterile. Lenses of calcination and charcoal, and traces of fire on the logs of the structure suggest that it had burnt down. Then it was repaired, but the amount of garbage and kitchen waste is small. All household effects were carried out before the dwellers left. Finds include pottery, a grindstone, a potter’s scraper, and pieces of slag and metal. An AMS date of the wood, generated at Arizona University, falls within the 17th century. The chemical analysis of background and old soils indicates intense use of the island for pasture and manufacture. In sum, our survey provides no evidence of Yermak’s stay on the island during his campaign. According to R.G. Skrynnikov, the Cossacks marched from the Stroganov forts to the Siberian Khanate capital without wintering, which was tactically correct, since the Tatar forces were weak and fragmented because of Mametkul’s foray into the Ural towns.

Keywords: Russian colonization, Siberia, winter camp, Tobol, log dugout, soil analysis, metalworking, buried soil, chemical elements