Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 50 (2) 2022   doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2022.50.2.111-118

Annotation:  The Incipient Neolithic of the Kurile Islands: The Culture of Long Barrows An Early Neolithic Sanctuary in the Eastern Irtysh Basin The Cultural Continuum of the Eurasian Boreal Zone and the Eastern Siberian Wedge (Based on Comparat A Bronze Age Shaft-Hole Axe from the Northwestern Baraba Forest-Steppe Bioarchaeology of Childhood in the Yamnaya Culture, Based on Kurgan 1 at Boldyrevo-4, the Southern U A Functional Analysis of Lithics of the Early Iron Age Yankovsky Culture: New Findings Burial of the Pazyryk Elite Members at Khankarinsky Dol, Northwestern Altai Analysis and Museumization of a Wooden Burial Structure from Pazyryk Kurgan 5, the Altai Mountains: Decorative Belts of Xianbei Period Nomads from Karban I, Northern Altai Occupation Layer at the Kushman Cluster of Sites (9th–13th Centuries) According to Multispectral Ima Philip Johan Tabbert von Strahlenberg: An 18th Century Swedish Prisoner’s Research in Siberia Rocks in the Religious Beliefs and Rites of the Ob Ugrians The Kyrgyz Republic: Concept, Strategies, and Practices for the Preservation of the National Cultura Paleogenetic Studies of Migration Processes in Eurasia Porotic Hyperostosis Observed in the 16th to 19th Century Crania of Native Siberians, Russian Settle   

Philip Johan Tabbert von Strahlenberg:
An 18th Century Swedish Prisoner’s Research in Siberia

A.Y. Borisenko

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

This article analyzes the work done by the Swedish prisoner of the Great Northern War Philip Johan Tabbert von Strahlenberg during his stay in Siberia and aimed at exploring ancient and traditional cultures of Western Siberia and the Minusinsk Basin. A brief overview of earlier studies is presented. The conditions of Strahlenberg’s work are outlined. His main interests, from his arrival in Siberia’s capital until his return to Sweden, concerned the cartography, ethnology, and archaeology of the environs of Tobolsk and of the entire Western Siberia, Minusinsk Basin, and Southern Siberian highlands in particular. Some episodes in Strahlenberg’s activities as a researcher and collector are described with a focus on the difficulties he experienced, specifically when collecting ancient artifacts and written documents. Certain results of his research are highlighted. From the modern standpoint, the article examines the significance of Strahlenberg’s work for Russian archaeology at the stage when its basis of sources was being formed. His place among the first experts in Western and Southern Siberian ancient and traditional cultures is assessed. The key role in the organization and consolidation of research in the remote fringes of the Russian State in the early 1700s belonged to the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Keywords: 18th century expeditions, early archaeology of Siberia, P.J. Strahlenberg, ancient and traditional cultures, Siberian peoples, history of archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences