Purpose. Having emerged about a hundred years ago, the correspondence form of higher education in our country has not yet lost its relevance. This form of education implies that students must largely learn on their own. However, it should be noted that there are professions, including teachers, where the role of a University teacher in the formation of a future specialist is great. The purpose of this article is to show the prospects of implementing interactive methods in the learning process of part-time students based on the example of teaching archeology. Results. The need to teach archeology as a science for future teachers is determined by the specific character of studying material sources, which implies certain requirements for the methodology of teaching such material in school. Therefore, it is necessary to acquaint future teachers with the features of archeology for further successful teaching at school, conducting educational activities, in the classroom with part-time students using DCTTRW (the development of critical thinking through reading and writing) technology. We should particularly note the work with students of the archaeological department of the Multidisciplinary Museum of NSPU. Conclusion. The experience of using interactive methods in the process of teaching archeology to part-time students at the pedagogical university has shown their high potential. Students receive an opportunity to learn particular technologies and training techniques, gain experience in their use. Interactive technologies contribute to the formation of two groups of competencies for part-time students: research and communication.

Purpose. To analyze the significance of V. Ogorodnikov’s 1929 article on finds from Olsky (Zaviyalova) Island in the historiography of archaeological research in northeastern Russia. Results. An analysis of his published materials, in the context of the history of archaeological research in Northeast Asia in the 18th - first quarter of the 20th century shows that this was, in fact, the first professional publication on archaeological research in this part of northeast Asia. Until that time, sporadic publications about random finds and their fragmentary descriptions did not give a holistic picture of human existence in these territories. It was also the first Russian archaeological publication post-revolution on the antiquities of the north of the Far East. However, Ogorodnikov’s article, from the day of its publication, was forgotten, and in all further archaeological research, both in Northeast Asia as a whole, and on Zaviyalova Island and in Taui Bay in particular, was not mentioned and was not analyzed by the archaeologists who conducted research there, although the conclusions made by him were confirmed by further work. This, apparently, was due to the fact that although he was a well-known Siberian historian and the first Dean of the Department of History of Irkutsk University, Ogorodnikov was unjustly repressed for political reasons in 1933 and died in 1938 in a Gulag camp. Despite the fact that he was politically rehabilitated in 1957, his name has not yet returned to the historiography of archeology of Northeast Asia. This publication aims to fill this gap. The Neolithic age of the archaeological materials declared and published by Ogorodnikov, previously unforeseen and not justified by anyone for Northeast Asia, was fully confirmed by further research. Conclusion. The publication by Ogorodnikov in 1929 featuring results of the first excavations in Taui Bay on Olsky (Zaviyalova) Island is a significant milestone in archaeological research in the North-East of Russia.

Purpose. The publication is dedicated to the famous teacher and scientist-archeologist Tatyana Nikolaevna Troitskaya (1925-2018). The purpose of this work is to supplement her biography with information relating to lesser-known periods of her life and work in the Bashkortostan Republic following on from unpublished archival documents and memoirs of T. N. Troitskaya. Results. Analysis of the available sources and literature made it possible to study the time and circumstances of Tatyana Nikolaevna’s stay in the Republic of Bashkortostan. In 1941, it was the first time she was in Birsk, where she was evacuated to with her family after the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. There T. N. Troitskaya finished school and was accepted into the Birsk Pedagogical Institute, where she studied for a year and a half before re-evacuation in 1943. The second time she came to Ufa was in 1955 when she was sent to the Institute of History, Language and Literature, where she worked until 1956. T. N. Troitskaya’s research activities coincided with the beginning of systematic archaeological research in the region, making her involved in the formation of academic archaeological science in the Bashkortostan Republic. In 1955, Tatyana Nikolaevna took part in the excavations carried out by the Bashkir archaeological expedition on the territory of the Gafuri region of the Bashkortostan Republic. In the course of fieldwork, several monuments of the Kara-Abyz culture were studied there, one of which, the Mikhailovskoye settlement, was studied under the guidance of T. N. Troitskaya. The materials and results of excavations of this monument are still used by scientists studying cultural genesis and ethnic processes in the Southern Urals and in the Urals in the early Iron Age Conclusion. Despite the fact that T. N. Troitskaya lived in Bashkortostan for a short period of her life, this time as a whole was of great importance for her life experience. Tatyana Nikolaevna herself later recalled that it was in Birsk that she realized herself as a future teacher, and in Ufa she came to understand the priority for her teaching activity over research.

Archaeological sites indicate the assimilation of the Lower Ob region by humans during the Upper Paleolithic. Modern paleogeography reconstructions testify to the possibility of settlement in this area from the MIS 3, however all stone assemblages found in situ were dated to the end of the Upper Paleolithic - the end of MIS 2. Purpose. Analyze the relationships of Lower Ob Paleolithic sites with the Upper Paleolithic industries in the adjacent area. Results. Over the past three years, several new sites of Paleolithic age have been discovered in the Lower Ob region. The comparison of their materials with the assemblage from the Lugovskoye site allow to speak about two industries: bladelet complex (Lugovskoye, Komudvany) and another complex, conventionally called ‘pebble’ (Gorki III, Khashgort, Yugan-Gort IV), represented in the Lower Ob region in the Late Paleolithic. Comparison between the Lugovskoye assemblage and Talitsky, Shestakovo assemblages testifies their relationship. Radiocarbon dating of these sites (Shestakovo (cultural layer 6): 24000-20000 years ago, Talitsky: 18700 ± 200 years ago, Lugovskoye: 13500-9400 years ago; all dates are not calibrated) allow the assumption of successful Paleolithic migration from the south-east of the West Siberian Plain to the Urals and then to the Lower Ob region. Conclusion. The Lower Ob region was part of a historical and cultural area of bladelet industries in MIS 2. Lugovskoye and Komudvany sites can be attributed to the Uralic Late Paleolithic culture, which testifies in favor of the assumption of assimilation on this territory from the Ural region in MIS 2. Two kinds of Paleolithic assemblages in the Lower Ob region allow us to speak about two coexisting culture or the functional differences of archeological sites or two waves of assimilation on this territory - early (pebble industry) and late (bladelet industry). Most likely, the ‘pebble’ industries came to this territory from the Ural region too.

Purpose. The subject of the article are splintered pieces and their variability from the Upper Paleolithic assemblies from Central Asia, which have not yet undergone special study. The authors employed an experimental approach to verify data obtained through the analysis of archaeological splintered pieces and to explore modification patterns of these tools. Results. Experiments included splitting various soft organic materials with splintered pieces, including red deer antler, wood, and bone. The experimental use of splintered pieces allowed to draw the following conclusions. The edge characteristic to splintered pieces was shaped by contact with hammers, but not with the soft material to be processed. Doubleedged splintered pieces were produced when the tool was rotated and a new stage of use was performed. The morphology of splintered pieces varies depending on the intensity of their use. Conclusion. In the case of Central Asian splintered pieces (Tien-Shan and Siberia), the authors believe that only tools are being researched, not cores for the following reasons: 1. very small size of most double-edged splintered pieces, not allowing them to be considered as cores; 2. metric parameters of the splintered pieces are stacked in one reduction model, which is not typical for cores; 3. there is one bladelet core in Kulbulak’s assemblage, which was later used as a splintered piece; 4. morphometric characteristics of experimental tools used for processing of soft organic materials (wood, bone, horn) are almost identical to archaeological ones; 5. use-wear analysis demonstrated the use of all archaeological pièces esquillées as tools for processing hard organic materials; 6. there are other types of cores in the assemblages, which allow for the serial production of small blanks corresponding to those used for the manufacture of tools; 7. there is no shortage of raw materials that could explain the need to use such a miniature core.

Purpose. As a result of preparations for the flooding of the Boguchan Hydroelectric Power Station reservoir bed, the Lower Angara region has witnessed increased activity as an archeological source base in recent years. It initiated the development of studies on the taxonomy of pottery traditions, both in the region and in adjacent territories, their chronology and interaction models. A number of informative archaeological sites at the estuary of the Kova River were excavated in large-scale horizontal exposures. Morphological analysis of the most informative part of the collection of surveys of 2008-2011, its comparative studies and the subsequent analysis of the spatial and stratigraphic context of the wares were the object of this paper. Results. A number of pottery groups were identified and their cultural-chronological attribution was proposed. Pottery of the Middle Ages predominate - Ust’-Kova type vessels, wares decorated with thin and smearing cordons, combed decorated pottery. The period of the Early Iron Age is represented by the Tsepan’ culture pottery, vessels with ‘wisp’ cordons and thin cordons decorated with finger pinches. Morphologically heterogeneous ‘pearl-ribbed’ pottery is attributed to the Bronze Age. Among the Neolithic ceramics, ‘net-impressed’ pottery (including the Aplin type), wares of Posol’sk and Ust’-Belaya types, as well as vessels close to Serovo pottery were presented. The complexes of the Early Iron Age - the Middle Ages have little information content due to the fact that the upper culture-bearing sediments are largely disturbed. There is a tendency toward a shift of site zones from the Angara coast in the Neolithic and Bronze Age to the right bank of the Kova River in subsequent periods. Conclusion. The collection includes wares dating from the Neolithic to the ‘Russian’ time. Conclusions about the information content of materials of cultural layers for further research are made. A subsequent collation of observations on settlement location trends will be able to reveal mobility patterns among carriers of various pottery traditions.

Purpose. The materials from the Preobrazhenka-3 children’s burial ground of Andronovo (Fedorovo) culture of the Bronze Age, located in the Baraba forest-steppe, are introduced into scientific circulation. Results. During the research process, results of the planigraphic analysis of the site were obtained. The necropolis is quite clearly localized. Subsequently, already in the Late Bronze Age (Irmen culture), earthen structures (mounds) were constructed on its surface. In turn, the bearers of Andronovo (Fedorovo) culture built their necropolis on the territory of a previously existing and no longer visible settlement of Krotovo culture. The study of the burial complexes revealed groups of burials containing complete and incomplete skeletons of children. There are also graves with only a vessel without either a corpse or other equipment. Analysis of ceramic vessels from burials made it possible to divide them into two groups. The first group consists of elegant vessels made with the classical canon. The ornament is represented by complex compositions containing rows of oblique shaded triangles, meanders, cannelures. The second group of vessels was made extremely carelessly. The ornament is applied unevenly, frequently with traces of smudged parts. It has been suggested that some of the ceramic vessels placed in the graves were made by children. Conclusion. The Preobrazhenka-3 burial ground provides researchers with all types of children’s burial practices and serves as a kind of model for its implementation by the bearers of Andronovo (Fedorovo) culture.

Purpose. The article dwells upon the description and interpretation of a unique anthropomorphic Eastern toreutics item that was discovered by accident on the territory of Novosibirsk. This item comes from the traditional Ob river crossing site where a cult place with references to the Early Iron Age has already been identified. The study is aimed at attributing the imported item in terms of historical and cultural as well as material science aspects and establishing its relative chronology and possible intended purpose. Results. The functional purpose of the artifact is considered in terms of both its initial origin and possible use in the local environment. The structure and origin of the clothes depicted on the toreutics item are analyzed as being one of the most insightful elements of the cultural background of the product. Based on these data, an assumption concerning an image of silk clothes on the figure was made. Special attention was given to characteristics of a dynamic nature evoked by a volumetric depiction of the tiny sculpture that is likely to correspond to a ritual dance. The established direct and indirect analogies for the toreutics item from Novosibirsk allow state its Eastern origin related to the consequences of the impact of the ancient culture on the vast Eurasian territories. The anthropomorphic product has obvious features of a Buddhistic background represented by an image of the point on the figure's forehead. The energy-dispersive analysis of the metal product allowed determine an alloy composition. It comprised of 62.1 % copper, 15.3 % tin, 15.2 % lead, and 7.4 % zinc. Conclusion. The share of tin in the alloy allows it to be identified as a ‘classic’ bronze piece. An extensive share of copper in the metal product brings it closer to the formula of ancient bronze. The item dates back to the turn of the epoch and is likely to be related to the Indian and Greek cultural tradition.

Purpose. Among its collections, the Tobolsk Museum-reserve keep an axe, which was an accidental find. The purpose of this publication is to introduce the presented sample into scientific circulation, as well as to complete the description of the find, establish its functional purpose, chronology and determine its place of production. Upon admission to the museum, it was identified as a combat weapon and tentatively dated to the 17th century. Results. The axe has a wide blade which extends downwards, covered with a notched ornament. An important feature is its asymmetric cross-section, where one of the sides is flat and the other is convex. Similar axes found in Siberia are often defined as battle axes, however this definition is incorrect. Currently, no Tobolsk axe prototypes are known to have been found on the territory of the Moscow state, however asymmetric axes are known to have been used, in particular, in Eastern Europe, since at least the 15th century. According to some authors, asymmetric axes are specialized tools for carpentry and joinery. This definition is most reliably justified in the publication of Polish researcher M. Glosek. This point of view is convincingly confirmed by the catalogues of Eastern European metalworking plants of the first half of the 20th century. The definition of long-bladed asymmetric axes as a combat weapon is based, as a rule, on random finds with unknown dating. More proof can be found by their absence in the materials of archaeological excavations. Conclusion. It can be assumed that asymmetric axes were imported to Russia between the Modern Period up to ethnographic modernity. One of the most likely producers is the Transcarpathian plant in the village of Kobyletskaya Polyana, which specialized in the manufacture of tools for the forest industry and had a fairly wide market. The widest possible period when Transcarpathian axes could be imported into Russia is no earlier than the end of the 18th century, and not later than the middle of the 20th century.

Purpose. Barsova Gora is a unique archaeological and landscape site located in the Tyumen Region of the Russian Federation. The archaeological site Barsov gorodok I/32 is located on the edge of the bank of Utoplaya river. A visual comparison of the ceramics of the early Iron Age from the Barsov gorodok I/31-32 sites and the ceramics of the Barsov gorodok I/4 site from the east showed their great similarity, if not their identical nature. For a correct comparison and identification of similarities and differences in the ceramics of these sites, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive study of the products of each settlement using a unified technique. The study is devoted to the analysis of ceramics of the Barsov gorodok I/32 site. Results. The most common motifs are rows of ‘ducks’. Other common patterns are: short wavy horizontal and vertical prints (‘birds’ and ‘snakes’), rows of stamp prints, notches and ‘pearls’. There are no non-ornamented dividing zones on the vessels. There are no ornaments in the form of a series of hemotheric figures and meanders. The upper edges of the vessels are flat (28 %) or beveled inward (72%). In 33% of cases, a cornice is present. The ceramics are made from low-sand ferruginous clays with a natural admixture of sand, mica, brown iron ore, and scraps of vegetation. Artificial impurities are represented by chamotte, broken stone and organic matter. Four recipes of clay paste have been revealed: clay + broken stone; clay + broken stone + chamotte; clay + chamotte; clay + chamotte + organic matter. The ceramics are made with ribbons. The shape of the vessels is cauldron-like. Conclusion. The absence of non-ornamented dividing zones, the presence of rows of short wavy horizontal and vertical impressions (‘birds’ and ‘snakes’), the presence of inwardly beveled upper edges of the vessels with ornamented cornices testify to the late existence of this pottery. The ceramics of the Barsov gorodok I/32 site can be attributed to the late stage of the Kulai culture (Surgut variant).

Purpose. The basis of the research is the collection of horseshoes accumulated over the course of archaeological research of the historical center of the city of Tara in the Omsk region between 2007-2019. Currently, the collection contains 50 items. It is the largest collection among the studied Russian cities of Siberia. The aim of the study is to determine the level of development of certain technologies, transport and military affairs among the population on the basis of this category of items - from their manufacture to maintenance. The emergence of horseshoes became a step in the development of the economy, as it significantly increased the efficiency of the use of horses - the main driving force before the emergence of mechanical engines. Results. The collection items obtained over the course of archaeological research in Russian Siberian cities allow us to study the process of distribution of these devices in this region and the development of technical maintenance of horseshoe horses - production and replacement of horseshoes. The Tara collection, together with the context of their location, made it possible to study the ‘life’ of these items in detail - from manufacture to wear-breakage and their replacement. The main result of the study was the understanding of the need for constant ‘technical’ maintenance of putting horseshoes on horses, which was very significant in the military and economic aspect of the Russian Siberian city in the 17th - early 20th centuries. Conclusion. Study of appearance and distribution of such a technological method as putting horseshoes on horses in Russian Siberian cities allows to show the development of metalworking technologies and the appearance of innovations in other sectors of the economy - construction, trade, and so on.

Purpose. The aim of the study is to characterize the image of the snake as a chthonic creature in Khakass culture. Based on the goal, the following tasks were set: to analyze folklore and ethnographic information of these people and identify the key components of this mythological creature, to discover the semantic connections of its image with natural objects and elements, as well as with the idea of death. The work is based on the analysis of a wide range of sources. For the first time, it introduces field ethnographic and archival folklore materials, as well as author translations from Khakas into Russian of excerpts from heroic legends - alyptyg nymykhtar, proverbs and sayings related to the topic under consideration. Particular attention is paid to the lexical analysis of the myth-ritual complex related to the image of the snake. Results. As a result of the analysis, the following conclusions can be drawn: 1) the image of a snake was widespread in Khakass culture. This reptile was endowed with sacred attributes. In this connection, its image was widely used in language, folklore, and ritual practice; 2) the formation of characteristic features of the mythological image of this reptile was influenced by its biological nature, first of all, the morphology of its body, behavior, lifestyle, way of hunting, and, of course - the environment; 3) with all the variety of symbolic characteristics of this reptile, the key is its perception, as a chthonic creature. It was closely associated with the cult of natural objects, in particular with respect for the land. Its deep connection with the underworld is revealed; 4) in religious and mythological consciousness of the Khakass, this reptile acts as an inhabitant of the world of the dead, and is also a harbinger of death, and often its personification; 5) in mythological consciousness, the projection of its zoological features was expressed mainly in endowing its image with features such as agility, cunningness and greed, which was reflected in phraseological units.

Purpose. A brief survey of the pottery community in the Mundhwa area was conducted in March 2019 and February 2020 as part of the Russian-Indian anthropological expedition organized by the Paleoethnology Research Center, State Museum of Biology (Moscow, Russia) and Savitribai Phule Pune University (Pune, India). The purpose of the study was to provide an initial insight into how traditional pottery functions in these urbanized environments. Results. Various forms of pottery production have been identified. The most widespread was men’s pottery using a potter’s wheel. Only men are engaged in the manufacture of pottery here - Hinduism forbids women from working on a potter’s wheel. All craftsmen work almost all year round, reducing production during the rainy season. With the rapid urbanization and concentration of the population, the demand for pottery has increased. Potters buy practically all raw materials. The clay is brought by peasants from villages within a radius of 80 km by trucks several times a year. The preparation of raw materials, as well as kneading the clay paste, is carried out by most potters by hand. All potters use an electric potter’s wheel to create the vessels. The surface treatment of products by potters is carried out by smoothing using fingers or scrapers while the wheel is rotating. Firing is carried out in square ovens made of bricks. The firing of products begins in the evening, active combustion lasts two to three hours, after which the oven is left to cool until the morning, when the finished vessels are removed. One firing requires about 150 kg of wood. Potters who migrated here from Uttar Pradesh use open firing for their vessels. Conclusion. The authors found that: the traditional nature of the craft is preserved in the community: knowledge and skills are passed down through the family line, the potters use traditional raw materials, building techniques and firing devices; resettled potters demonstrate mixed skills in different levels of pottery production, for example using a mixture of different natural clays; under the pressure of economic conditions, the electric pottery wheel is spreading, the way firing is organized has slightly changed.