Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 53 (2) 2025   doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2025.53.2.080-088

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Early Iron Age Ceramics from the Ust-Polui Ritual and Production Center: Aspects of Technology

D.V. Selin¹, A.A. Maksimova², and A.V. Gusev³

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

²Novosibirsk State University, Pirogova 1, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

³Shemanovsky Yamal-Nenets District Museum and Exhibition Complex, Chubynina 38, Salekhard, 629008, Russia

This article outlines the findings of a multidisciplinary analysis of pottery from the Early Iron Age ritual and production complex at Ust-Polui, in northwestern Siberia. The raw material used in pottery manufacture was aleurite-type silty ferruginous clay with a small amount of sand. Six recipes for paste preparation are described, the most common of which was adding grus to clay. Both materials were mined nearby. Two types of modeling are identified: base and base-and-body. Both the hollow form and the base were modeled by the coil method. Surface treatment was variable. Eighteen combinations of tools are identified. Two peculiar techniques were employed: shaping the rim by an additional coil, and smoothing with a denticulate tool on the inner surface of the shoulder-body junction. Three pots were painted with ocher. Ceramics were used in foundry as crucibles and possibly ladles for molten metal. Comparison of Ust-Polui ceramic technology with that of Kulaika culture revealed both similarities and differences. Basically, the Ust-Polui ceramics belong to the Kulaika tradition. Their specificity, however, supports the idea of the Ust-Polui variant, which is not synonymous with the Ust-Polui culture sensu V.N. Chernetsov. People associated with this variant were not isolated; they maintained ties with people living upstream on the Ob as far south as Barsova Gora, resulting in a blend of technological traditions differing from those of the Lower and Surgut stretches of the Ob.

Keywords: Early Iron Age, Lower Ob, Kulaika culture, ceramics, technology, multidisciplinary approach