Purpose. The paper describes the experience of implementing a brand new interactive education platform at Novosibirsk State University (NSU). The purpose of the platform is to effectively use all potential communication channels between the object and the subject of knowledge in the system of higher professional education. The modular exposition and education project “Archaeology of Eurasia” developed by the education and research centre “New Archaeology” includes material sources and several digital stands designed following modern trends in education, latest information technologies and many years of experience in teaching archaeology at NSU. Results. The platform is based on primary principles of contemporary teaching approaches, such as brevity, imagery, diversity of sources, interactivity. Its active use in the educational process at the NSU Institute for the Humanities (IH) has shown to improve the quality of teaching and the level of learning skills. The project applies interdisciplinary methodology, which includes the best achievements in the field of educational and information technologies and archaeological science. Conclusion. For the NSU IH this project is a new experience to transfer from the usual classroom to a fundamentally different learning environment which provides an endless variety of opportunities for teaching and learning. Combination of the virtual exposition and real exhibits provides the opportunity to find the optimal algorithm of the interaction between the visitor and the expositional and educational space.

Purpose. The article presents a brief overview of the 30-year period of the development of Russian gender studies and reviews the state of gender studies in Siberia in the last decade. Results. The authors came to the conclusion that the gender approach in Russia was very successful in the field of historical disciplines, especially in historical feminology and women’s studies. The authors analyze the emergence of various areas within this issue, the key topics and approaches that have been developed in the Russian humanities. The main directions were reflected in the anniversary collection digest on gender history and anthropology “Gender in the focus of anthropology, family ethnography and the social history of everyday life” (2019). Conclusion. The authors describe the current position of Siberian gender studies and conclude that gender issues in Siberia are less active in comparison with the European part of Russia. In recent years, Siberian researchers have increasingly replaced the category of “gender” with neutral categories of “family research”, “female”, “male”, and so on. More often researchers choose “classical” historical problems raised in historical science before the “humanitarian renaissance”, which began in the 1990s in Russia. In modern gender studies in the Siberian region, the capabilities of critical feminist optics and gender methodology are rarely used, and queerissues are not developed.

Purpose. This work is a continuation of the series of articles by the author devoted to the localization, architecture and layout plan of the defensive structures, the purpose of which was to ensure safe and uninterrupted traffic along the segment of the Moscow-Siberian Route from Tara to Tomsk: Ust-Tartassky, Ubinsky passes (outposts), Bergamak, Chausky and Umrevinsky ostrogs, Abakhan winter hut. Without a holistic view of the origin of these objects it is impossible to get a sufficiently complete picture of the functioning of the most important land transport communication in the Ob-Irtysh interfluve during the period of its formation in the first half of the 18^th Century. The purpose of this study is to localize the Kainsky Pass and reconstruct its layout plan based on written sources. Results. The etymology of the word “pass” is established. Based on the original meaning of the word, the purpose of the construction of the Baraba outposts was identified. A text fragment from travel diary of J. G. Gmelin, dedicated to the Kainsky Pass (1741) was translated into Russian. Based on this source, the exact location of the Kainsky Pass (outpost) on the territory of the modern town of Kuybyshev (Novosibirsk Region) was determined (Str. Agafonov on the segment between Str. Kopiev and St. Saraynaya). A graphic and descriptive reconstruction of the layout plan of the Kainsky Pass was completed. It was established that the outpost had a sub-rectangular shape, “zaplot” constructed walls, two entrance towers, the yard contained the commander’s house, a barn, armoury room and 12 barracks. Outside the walls was a bathhouse. The Pass was surrounded by a ditch, Dragon’s teeth fortifications and cheval de frise. Conclusion. The analysis of J. G. Gmelin’s travel diary showed that this source is the main one on the early history of the Kainsky Pass. Without its careful study the first decades of this defensive structure can only be reconstructed hypothetically.

Purpose. Magnetometry is currently the most popular geophysical technique used for archaeology. The current task for optimization and development of archaeological and geophysical research is to assess the prospects of magnetic exploration within the territory of archaeological sites. In order to develop this subject, the article analyses the experience of archaeological and geophysical works carried out in the Ob-Irtysh interfluves. The research was conducted within the framework of cooperation between the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography and the Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics, of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Results. Conclusions are made on the basis of comparison of magnetic mapping data, excavation test and measurements of magnetic properties of different soils. The source base includes 30 archaeological sites. There are proposed recommendations for magnetic survey in the presence of interference of various types. The conclusion confirms that the main cause of anomalies over archaeological objects is the ingress of a more magnetic soil in the depths surrounding it. Magnetic survey was found to be effective for archaeological sites, where the contrast of soils and underlying blanket deposits by magnetic susceptibility is no less than 20-30 · 10-5 SI units. It is observed that zones of magnetic properties with high contrast are linked to areas with hills. Conclusion. The achieved results will allow determine the prospects of magnetic survey of archaeological sites of the Ob-Irtysh interfluves. The technique used to estimate magnetic properties is universal, however it will differ between regions due to magnetic properties of the soils. In order to increase the efficiency of archaeological and geophysical works, the geography of such research needs to be expanded.

Purpose. The Ordynskoe-12 Settlement is an important site for the study of the Late Bronze Age in the south of Western Siberia. The ceramic complex allowed the author to characterize the Ordynsky type archaeological sites. There is a syncretism of the material, including components of other archaeological cultures. According to researchers, the ceramic complex of the site reflects the transition from Fedorovskaya culture to Irmenian culture, while the author identifies items close to ceramics of the Yelovskaya, Karasuk and Irmenian cultures, or a transformed version of Yelovskaya culture at a later stage of its existence. Results. A study of the composition of the clay paste revealed seven recipes. The dominant recipes feature an admixture of crushed stone and organic matter, and chamotte and organic matter, which together account for more than half of the studied samples. A separate group consists of samples mixed with crushed stone. Mixed recipes testify to the coexistence of different populations. Conclusion. The data obtained indicate that this settlement is a multicultural archaeological site. Three archaeological cultures coexisted and interacted in its place - Irmenian, Yelovskaya, and an eastern variant of Pakhomovo culture. Imported vessels indicate contacts with southern cultures, however, importing did not become a mass phenomenon until the transition period from the Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age.

Archaeological sites with unclear conditions of sediment accumulation and stratigraphic disturbances are always complicated to research. Usually other sites in the region with better preservation of cultural layers helps to understand and divide them into cultural chronological stages. However lack of such sites results in the need to find other approaches and research methods to study stratigraphic positions of cultural horizons. Purpose. This article considers approaches and methods and their application to estimate the preservation of cultural layers at the Upper Paleolithic site of Moiltyn Am in Central Mongolia. Results. The authors analyzed positions of artifacts from layers 1.2, 2, 3 and 4. Indexes of layer 1.2 fall within the value range, characteristic to rockfall. Layers 2 and 3 are also close to rockfall, but the level of isotropy falls outside the limits of its range. Layer 4 is closer to the range of solifluction. Conclusions. The authors correlated lithological divisions, revealed in 2018-2019, and stratigraphic units, that previous researchers divided and described. Sediments of Layer 4 were accumulated under the solifluction process and went through post-sedimentological disturbances, that also impacted the underlying layers. Layers 2 and 3 were formed under drier conditions.

Purpose. The study of archaeological sites of the Middle Neolithic of Kamchatka should offer a chronology and a set of criteria for identifying the period. Results. The research data is based on the materials of the studied cultural layer, buried dwellings and individual artifacts of 46 archaeological sites. It has been established that the average Neolithic of Kamchatka can be dated back to 4000-1500 cal BP. The sites were found on high water-glacial terraces with a height of 4 to 30 meters on the banks of large rivers and lakes, the sea coast of the eastern part of the peninsula. Their number had increased compared to the previous period. Dwellings had become more complex. Perhaps this is due to the need to have more reliable shelters in the conditions of the marine climate and frequent precipitation of volcanic ash. The ground buildings, semi-underground dwellings and workshops for the manufacture of stone tools were found at the sites. Near the dwellings, special fortifications in the form of artificial ditches and ramparts made of stones and soil were also found. These may have been defensive structures. The increased population size, its settlement mainly along the coast in order to develop marine resources, may have caused conflicts between certain groups of the population in the struggle for the best fishing sites. The stone industry is represented by cores (amorphous and prismatic knife-shaped blades) and primary cleavage products (knife-shaped blades of different sizes without retouching, with edge retouching and on both sides). Among the tools there were retouched triangular stone arrowheads without stem and with stem, leaf-shaped, including miniature, arrowheads; knives - narrow and wide-bladed with a dedicated handle, leaf-shaped oval; roughly beaten and polished sharp-edged adzes of different sizes with a sub-triangular and oval cross-section; end scrapers of various geometric shapes; calibrators of arrow shafts. The strategy of life support of society was aimed at hunting for marine mammals, fishing and gathering, including shellfish. In the sphere of spiritual culture, signs of ceremonial activity (labrets) and art (small figurines and ornaments) have also been identified. Conclusion. It is assumed that with an increased population size and changes in the environmental situation, a new way of life of the population developed, associated with a highly specialized and complex appropriating economy which essentially formed its own archaeological culture (Taryinskaya culture).

Purpose. This article examines the collection of recently discovered items from lower Pyshma River (Tyumen region, Tyumen district), belonging to the Seima-Turbino time, which to be found on the territory of Eurasia is rather a rare archaeological phenomenon. Results. The researchers identified a set of items encompassing bronze objects - spears, knives, celts, an ice pick and mask. This composition of items entirely reflects a standard set of artifacts belonging to the Seima-Turbino time. Furthermore, this set of items is obviously close to religious collections (Galichsky Klad), which contained anthropomorphic metal objects. Of special interest in the collection is a metal mask with a protruding nose made of bronze plates. The sharp angled upper and lower parts of the face are considered to be its culturally determining signs. The shape and appearance of the top of the head may well be classified as headgear characteristic of the Samus’sko-Seima time. Such tight-fitting hats are typical of various samples of anthropomorphic plastic art in the south of Western Siberia. The iconographic features of this toreutics item belonging to the Bronze Age largely encapsulates peculiarities of similar-purpose images that existed in the forest territories of Western Siberia up until the Middle Ages. Conclusion. It is important to emphasize that this collection presents great significance in terms of studying nonferrous processing technologies. Overall, the discovered items can be considered as both a set of tools, and as part of cult paraphernalia and the transcultural phenomenon of Middle bronze Age, especially in connection with the discovered bronze mask.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the iron battle hatchet from mound 2 of the Jal-Aryk II burial site in Ketmen-Tyube valley in the western part of Tien Shan. Purpose. Battle hatchets are a rare category of weapons of Saka culture in the Tien Shan region. Therefore, the publication of one of the first finds of this type of weapon, which was made in the 1960s, is considered important. Results. The combat hatchet has a straight pin, massive hammered butt and closed shaft-hole for the wooden handle. The combat hatchet also has iron capping, protecting the end of the handle. The features of the funeral inventory from the burial where the hatchet was found and based on analogies from Central Asia and Altai, and dates back to the late 5^th - early 4^th centuries BC. The closest parallels to it can be found in Saka burials in Semirechie and in related materials of the Kamen (Kamenskaya) culture in the Forest-Steppe of Altai. Conclusion. The investigated combat hatchet is one of the earliest examples of iron arms of the Saka culture in the Tien Shan region. In addition, we can conclude that this type of weapon appeared in their culture as a result of very close cultural contacts with the ancient population of the Forest-Steppe of Altai. However it was ultimately concluded that the combat hatchet from the Ketmen-Tyube valley had local origin and reflects the independent line of development of this type of weapon in the local Saka culture, based on samples from the Forest-Steppe of Altai.

Purpose. The article explores and analyzes several defining design characteristics of horn plates of compound bows, detected in the course of archaeological excavations of several male burial places at the Ulug-Choltukh burial ground. Located in the valley of the Edigan River in the middle course of the Katun River in the Altai Mountains; these were explored for several field seasons in the 2000s. Results. This article outlines the primary events related to the history of archaeological studies of findings of the compound bows of ancient peoples (Xiongnu-Xianbei time) in the Altai Mountains. The findings of the horn plates of compound bows detected in previous years in the course of excavations of Aidyraş type archaeological objects explored on the territory of the middle course of the Katun River are researched and analyzed. As a result of typological analysis, several types of compound bows are singled out among studied findings of horn plates, detected in the course of excavations of male interments at the archaeological funerary burial grounds Aidyraş I and Ulug-Choltukh. The conclusion sums up the several results of carried out explorations. Identification of horn plate findings of compound bows found during excavations of the Aidyraş burial ground, and studied in the Chemalsky District in the Altai Republic, has made it possible to relate them to long-range combat armament objects that were available to the natives who inhabited the valleys of the Katun and Edigan Rivers during the historical period of the 2nd quarter of the 1st millennium AD. The carried out typological research significantly supplements the previously known history of development of long-range combat weapons of the Altai Mountains in the course of the studied Xiongnu-Xianbei chronological period, right before the Early Middle Ages. Conclusion. The resulting typological classification of compound bows as part of a collection of horn plates findings detected in the course of excavations of the Ulug-Choltukh burial ground, clarifies the specificities and quantity of types of this long-range combat weapon kind among the Aidyraş weapons complex.

Purpose. Among the handwritten maps of Siberia, the Far East and part of Alaska of the 17^th - beginning of the 20^th centuries, maps containing ethnographic information were found. Two types of such maps were detected. Results. Maps, containing the names of ethnic groups, depicted on them, in their titles, were referred to the first group. Scenes from these ethnic groups’ lives could also be found on such maps. For example, the Map of the northern part of Siberia as far as Yakutsk, Kamchatka and the Asian part of the Bering Strait with images of the Yakuts, Tungus, Koryaks and Kamchadals both on foot and on dogsleds, the Kurils and Chuckchis both on foot and in a boat (created between 1730 and 1753). Maps and atlases on various themes referred to the second group and contain the names of ethnic groups (both Siberian and neighbouring), images of some representatives of the ethnic groups, the items they use and other valuable ethnographic information. General maps of Siberia as well as the maps of its separate administrative and geographical parts were examined. Conclusion. The names and images of ethnic groups such as the Yakuts, Tungus, Samoyeds, Ostyaks, Kirghiz, Tatars and others are most frequently shown on the maps that were studied by the authors. The analysis of the contents of these documents demonstrates that not only maps on the corresponding subjects but maps of various other categories as well can be used for ethnographic research. Information presented on such maps can become a valuable source when studying the territories settled by single ethnic groups, the appearance of the representatives of various ethnic groups and the items they used.

The article is devoted to the problem of the ethnogenesis of the Tuvinian people. The ancestors of the Tuvans are considered to be the ancient ethnos who called themselves the Dubo-Tumat and Uryanhai-Uranhai. Therefore, first of all, a search was carried out for ethnic connections with the carriers of these ethnonyms. Indeed, the basis for the formation of the Tuvinian people was the medieval tribe of Samoyed origin Dubo. The presence of the ancient Türkic, Uygur and Kyrgyz components in the processes of ethnogenesis is also traced. Traces of ethnocultural contacts with the ancestors of the Sakha people are noted. They are the carriers of the ethnonym Uranhai. If the Tuvinians use this name through descendants of the Dubo - mountain-taiga (inhabitants of the forest), Oin-Uryankhats, then the name Sakha as Uranghayans is a reminder of the Türkic-speaking Tumats as the main ancestors of the Yakut-Sakha. The article emphasizes ethnic differences between the Mongolian steppe Uryanghai and the forest - the ancestors of the Tuvans. However in the Mongol-Oirat period there was a rapprochement between these two groups of Uryankhai people, as a result of which the Altai Uryankhai people, the probable descendants of the steppe, can be attributed to the ethnic group of the Tuvan people, as well as the Darchats. In general, the Tuvinians can be called direct descendants of the ancient Turks, Uigurs, Yenisei Kyrgyz and Kereits, as well as forest Oin-Uryankhats. In the history of their ethnogenesis, the Scythian-Siberian, Old Samodian, Ancient Turkic, Uygur, Kypchak, Kereit and Mongolian periods stand out.

Purpose. The article explores the characteristics of the fox in the oral folk art of the Khakass. The study is based on folklore, ethnographic and linguistic sources. The paper analyzes folklore materials published in Russian and Khakass languages. Results. The author explores various genres of narrative Khakass tradition, which feature the fox: myths, epics, tales and sayings. During the process of analysis, it was concluded that the representation of this animal can be commonly found in folk art of the Khakass. Moreover, it has a complex and ambiguous characterization. The perception of this beast in the traditional consciousness was, to a large extent, determined by a long study of its biological nature, external data and habits. Russian culture also had a certain influence on the formation of the folklore image of the fox among the Khakass. Five main plot groups in which the designated beast appears are identified. The works assigned to Groups 1-4 were formed based on their own mythological views and within the framework of their ethnic tradition. They arose as a result of direct observations of the life and habits of the fox and reflected the life experience of the people, their observations, ideas of the surrounding nature and the desire for knowledge of the world. In many ways, they have an etiological character and are associated with a belief in magic and sorcery. What is also important is that in these works, the direct life of the animals themselves is depicted, as it was presented in the traditional consciousness of the people. The narratives assigned to Group 5 were mostly developed in the context of intercultural contacts between the Khakass and Russians. Conclusion. As a result of this process, there was a borrowing and processing of images and plots within the framework of their own ethnic tradition. There is a tendency under the guise of animals to depict people and their psychological properties, as well as display the social and everyday life of society. The interpretation of the form of the trickster-fox is subject to a certain moral and ethical norm. At the heart of all the stories studied is the motive for obtaining food, which is carried out in various ways and as a result forms the corresponding stereotype of perception of this beast.

Purpose. As a result of joining the Russian Empire, the Buryats formed certain beliefs and cults associated with the administrative service and organically associated with the worldview of Buryat shamanism, which became the basis for the emergence of specific ritual activities. In this case, of particular interest is the cult of mythological scribe-servants of the Lord of the underworld Erlen Khan. This cult had a wide practical application among the Pre-Baikal Buryats until the 20^th Century. Results. It is determined that the new types of social organization among the Buryats, formed in the process of Siberia’s accession to the Russian state in the 17^th-18^th centuries, are reflected in religious and mythological ideas, in particular in the sacred concept of the other world, ideas about the afterlife and beliefs about the terrible punishers in the face of the Eastern gods. It is revealed that many aspects of archaic shamanistic ideas about the soul and its afterlife were harmoniously incorporated into the views of the complex bureaucratic structure of the underworld. Conclusion. The formation and development of the administrative service in connection with the entry of the Buryats into the Russian state led to the sacralization of the rank, and rank served as the basis for the formation of new religious and mythological aspects in the spiritual culture of the Buryats. Such ideological aspects related to the historical realities of ethnic and cultural development of the Buryats are specific motives in the mythology of the population of the Pre-Baikal region which allows examine the development and formation of traditional beliefs.