LOCALIZATION OF THE ABAKHANSKOE ZIMOVIE AND THE UENSKOE FORTRESS ACCORDING TO THE DATA OF J. G. GMELIN’S ITINERARY

Abstract

Purpose . The archeological study of Siberia started in the 18^th century by the employees of the scientific expeditions initiated by the senior state bodies. I. G. Gmelin belonged to the Second Kamchatka Expedition and drew up a description of the Uenskoe Fortress in the Novosibirsk Ob River region. Until now, A. P. Umansky, T. N. Troitskaya and A. P. Borodovskiy were engaged in determining the location of this archaeological site. They made several hypotheses that turned out to be incorrect. The article determines the reasons for the failures of these researchers: a fragmentary translation of the source text, inaccuracies in the translation and ignoring data on the Abakhanskoe Zimovie (small russian settlement) ground. This paper is devoted to the results of the research within the framework of which the location of the Uenskoe Fortress was determined and the fortress itself was identified with one of the archeological sites discovered earlier. Within the framework of fulfillment of this task, one localized the Abakhanskoe Zimovie as this item of the 18^th century is very important for localizing the Uenskoe Fortress. Results . J. G. Gmelin’s itineraries were published in Germany in 1751 and 1752 (in Göttingen) and have not been republished and translated into Russia since then, so the article contains an abstract of the book translated into Russia that is related to the performed study. At the first stage one managed to localize the Abakhanskoe Zimovie that was located in the western part of the modern suburban settlement of Starodubrovino, Moshkovo district, Novosibirsk region. Then according to the reference points provided by J. G. Gmelin and associated with the Abakhanskoe Zimovie, one determined the location of the Uenskoe Fortress in the western part of Cherny Mys to the north from the Zimovie. Afterwards, one compared the description of the fortress compiled by J. G. Gmelin and those fortresses discovered in this area earlier. It was determined that the author of the itinerary described the archeological object of Dubrovinsky Borok-6 dating back to 500- 400 BC. Conclusion . The experience in analyzing J. G. Gmelin’sitinerary in terms of localization of the Abakhanskoe Zimovie and the Uenskoe Fortress showed that the quantitative data as well as information related to the cardinal directions are rather approximate. Based on such data, it would be impossible to achieve the research objectives. Here one also discovered a mount on which the already studied archeological sites were located.