Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 54 (3) 2026   doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2026.54.3.105-112

Annotation:  The Origin of Anatomically Modern Humans (Homo sapiens) in Africa The Structure of Bioresources Exploited by Paleolithic Humans in the Anui River Basin, Altai An Early Neolithic Burial with a Miniature Fish-Shaped Bait on the Shore of Lake Baikal A Glass Intaglio Depicting Harpocrates (Zeus Kasios) from Markula, Abkhazia Artifacts from the Necropolises of Chersonesos as a Historical and Cultural Source: An Interpretati A Road Station in the Upper Capital of the Eastern Xia State A Mongolian Age Iron Shield from the Khakass-Minusinsk Region From the History of the Late 19th–Early 20th Century Ural Cossacks in the Aral Sea region: Confessio Large Baptismal Crosses (“Cossack Crosses”) as a Source for Reconstructing Migration Routes to Weste Tombstones of the 19th and Early 20th Century at Rural Cemeteries on the Northern Upper Ob Ob Ugrian Sanctuaries on Lake Balbanty Eurasian-American Ethnoastronomic Parallels in the Context of New Data from India The Cúng Yêu Tinh Funerary Rite Among the Bố Y People in Vietnam: Finishing the Unfi nished Cranial Affinities of the Altai Mountains Population During the Xiongnu-Sarmatian Age The Origin of the Modern Populations of Western Siberia, Based on Craniometric Data. Part I: Classif   

Ob Ugrian Sanctuaries on Lake Balbanty

A.V. Kenig and A.V. Baulo

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

Sanctuaries of various ranks are one of the means whereby traditional worldview and ritual practices of Ob Ugrians are translated. Especially informative are those situated in contact zones between Mansi and Khanty residence areas such as the one around Lake Balbanty in the Berezovsky District of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra, an area sacred to both the Lyapin Mansi and the Synya Khanty. On the basis of our 2023 survey, we describe two sanctuaries and their history. The first one relates to Mansi mythological characters—the Chokhryn-Oyka deity and the menkvforest spirits. Other northwestern Siberian places devoted to them are briefly described, too. The second sanctuary is related to the patron of the reindeer-breeders of northern Urals—Kevvur-khu-akem-iki. Its central feature is a large fir tree with the deity's mask carved on its trunk. Information about two other places where Kevvur-khu-akem-iki is venerated by the Synya Khanty is provided. The structure of ritual platforms and the way figures of patron-spirits are rendered are more suggestive of the Mansi tradition, whose typical features are structures made of wooden statues supported by a horizontal bar, and masks carved on trunks. The revival of the tradition venerating Ugric deities at Lake Balbanty was triggered by a private initiative and supported by governors of the two federal okrugs. Hopefully, those sanctuaries will be preserved, marking the joint ritual practices of two local groups of Ob Ugrians.

Keywords: Lake Balbanty, Khanty, Mansi, deities, rites, sanctuaries.