Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 46 (4) 2018   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2018.46.4.100-108

Annotation:  Ivory Figurines and the Symbolic Context of a Paleolithic Dwelling at Kovrizhka IV on the Lower Viti On the Interpretation of Stelae in the Cult Complexes of Northern Mesopotamia During the Pre-Pottery A Study of Finds from Excavation I at Suchu Island, the Lower Amur (the 1974 Field Season) Jade Artifacts from Bronze Age Cemeteries in the Cis-Olkhon Area, the Western Coast of Lake Baikal Sherubai-1: An Andronovo (Fedorovka) Cemetery in Central Kazakhstan Technologies Involved in Manufacturing Wooden Horns for the Ceremonial Masks of Horses from the Pazy On the Time and Context of the Earliest Bronze Mirrors in the Northern Pontic Region Procession of Horsemen on a Gold Plaque from the Siberian Collection of Peter I A Mongolian Era Female Headdress from the Upper Ob Basin Ancient Irrigated Soils of the Bozok Archaeological District, Northern Kazakhstan (11th to 12th Cent Chthonic Animals in the Traditional Buryat Culture Reconstruction of Wooden and Earthen Buildings in 17th to 18th-Century Russian Forts in Siberia: The Application of the Blue-Intensity Method for Dating Wooden Buildings in Siberia The Eastern Slavic Population of Central Asia After the Collapse of the USSR: Ethno-Demographic Proc An Unusual Burial of a Xiongnu-Sarmatian Era Warrior in the Western Siberian Forest-Steppe: Results Armed Violence Among the Altai Mountains Pastoralists of the Xiongnu-Sarmatian Age “Abandoned, Tied, Flexed”: An Anthropological Study of an Unusual Late Sarmatian Burial in the South   

Reconstruction of Wooden and Earthen Buildings
in 17th to 18th-Century Russian Forts in Siberia:
The Case of the Sayansky Ostrog

A.Y. Mainicheva^{1, 2}, S.G. Skobelev^{1, 3}, and D.Y. Berezhenko⁴

¹Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

²Novosibirsk State University of Architecture, Design and Arts, Krasny pr. 38, Novosibirsk, 630099, Russia

³Novosibirsk State University, Pirogova 1, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

⁴Center of Informatization and New Technologies of the Republic of Khakassia, Shchetinkina 18, Abakan, 655017, Russia

On the basis of the materials of the Sayansky Ostrog (fort), built in the Northern Sayan in 1718, a reconstruction is made of the type of buildings that were common during the initial stage of the Russian colonization (1600s and 1700s). This is one of the few well-preserved Russian forts. While its buildings, their function, and location are known from written sources and from the findings of a complete archaeological excavation, their construction has been hitherto unknown. To reconstruct their size and appearance, the current authors have compared archaeological and ethnographic findings, museum materials, and written evidence about the layout of buildings and construction techniques. On the basis of this complex of sources, reconstructions of several buildings are offered, including a gunpowder cellar, food storehouse, barn with cellar, forge, and commandant’s house. The authors describe traditions and innovations in construction techniques, choice of building materials, details and structures, layout of floors, ceilings, and roofs. The commandant’s house corresponds with the architectural standards of that time, set by Domenico Trezzini, who designed buildings in the capital and in provincial Russian towns.

Keywords: Siberia, 17th-18th centuries, Sayansky Ostrog, archaeological excavations, building reconstruction, cultural symbols