Arctic and subarctic zones of the European North-East of Russia in the Iron Age and the Middle Ages

• Published in: IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science
• Main Authors: Vaskul, I O, Zherebtsov, I L, Murygin, A M, Klenov, M V
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: IOP Publishing 2019
• Subjects: Arctic; More-Yu; Pechora; samoyed*; Subarctic; taiga; Tundra; Siberia
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/302/1/012005; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/302/1/012005/pdf; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/302/1/012005

Abstract The processes associated with the development of the Pre-Polar and Polar regions of the European North-East in the Iron Age and in the Middle Ages are studied. The interrelation of these processes with climatic changes is traced. In the context of the ongoing cold snap in the I Millennium B.C. the outflow of the population to the zone of Northern taiga takes place. On the territory of the Bolshezemelskaya and Malozemelskaya tundra a very small number of sites was revealed, which probably indicates the occasional use of commercial resources of these areas. The next stage of development and settling of the Arctic and sub Arctic zone begins in the I Millennium A.D. due to the improvement of climatic conditions in the middle Subatlantic. By the middle of the I Millennium A.D a subarctic culture associated in its origin with the Ob-Yamal North of Western Siberia is formed on the territory of this region. The culture is characterized by ceramic complexes of the More-Yu, Khutiyunkos and Komatyvis type. Economic and cultural type of its bearers included coastal and land hunting with seasonal change of occupations. In the valley of the Polar Pechora a special ethno-territorial group of the second half of the I – first half of the II Millennium A.D. documented by pottery of Novoborsk type is revealed. According to its characteristics, it is close to the Ugric or Samoyedic range of related archaeological cultures of the West Siberian or pre-Ural-Pechora cultural areas. In the first half of the II Millennium A.D. a new stage in the history of the Arctic and subArctic zone begins. Its main content is the process of development of these areas by the ancient Russian population. Early archaeological evidence of penetration of the Russians refers to the XII century. In the XIII-XVI centuries famous Russian settlements are known. This process ended with the entry of this region into the Russian state.