Purpose. The experiments aimed at reconstruction of ancient sewing/needlework processes date back to the end of the 20th century. The purpose of the research is obtaining and analysing the traces of utilisation, along with the dynamics and specifics of their formation on a bone needle (with a vegetable-fibre thread) in the conditions of a small number of perforation holes on a fragment of fine mechanical-workmanship hide.
Results. The study presents the results of the manufacture and the use of a sewing toolkit in the conditions close to the historical reality of ancient times. The needle is made of a mammoth tusk splinter; the hare hide is carefully processed to a soft state without resorting to any reagents – mechanically; the fastening material – a thread of vegetable origin – is made as based on already known archaeological samples. The result of using a bone needle was represented by the formation of a slight glossing over the entire surface of the needle, micro damage of the instrument tip with a characteristic “tongue-type” fracture, flattened relief of the needlework technological traces and the formation of linear, radial utilisation traces in the working perimeter of the thread.
Conclusion. Several conclusions are made. Firstly, craftsmen of the Paleolithic period worked with fine-workmanship hides; the treatment could be made in a simple mechanical manner. Secondly, perforation with very thin needles without significant losses and modification of their shape, without the use of auxiliary technical devices as well as application of man’s physical effort is possible. Thirdly, vegetable fibre could act as a binding material – its use leaves characteristic signs of wear.

Purpose. The study consists of results of a technical-typologic analysis of microcores and ski-spalls from 3B cultural horizon of the Kovrizhka IV site (Lower Vitim and Baikal-Pathom Uplands) with morphometric characteristics obtained by means of 3D modelling. This assemblage is dated to about 18.8 cal ka BP and refers to the early phase of the LUP. Production of microblades is represented by 5 microcores, 2 preforms, 3 ski-spalls, 174 whole and fragmented microblades. The aim of the study is to characterize the microblade splitting technology by new data of the variability of the microcore preparation.
Results. The preforms for microcores were both bifaces and spalls. Ski-spalls indicate the presence of the technique of Yubetsu. For the first time in the region’s archeology the most diverse ways of manufacturing microcore, including the variants of transverse, parallel, and diagonal design of the striking platform relative to the longitudinal axis of the spall-preform have been revealed in one episode of habitat. It was established that the volume of microcores from biface in the initial stage is higher than the volume of micronucleus from the spall by 2-3 times.
Conclusion. The variety of forms and ways of obtaining microcore is valued as a sure mastery of ancient masters of the technology of the microblade production. The Kovrizhka microcore technique is widely represented in subsequent assemblages of the Lower Vitim up to the early Holocene, similar final forms are also typical in the general context.

Purpose. The practice of applying images (tattoos) to the human body has a long history, encompassing both traditional cultures and modern forms. The earliest instruments utilized for the introduction of coloring pigments beneath the human skin were pointed bone tools. The use of points made from tubular bones of birds and small animals was documented in Eurasia and America as early as the Mesolithic-Eneolithic period.
Results. A typological and trace analysis of bone points from the early Neolithic layer of Mergen 6 settlement in the Lower Ishim River Region revealed that they were employed as punctures and needles for stitching leather, skins, and other materials. It seems reasonable to posit that points made from tubular bones of birds and small animals could also be used for applying tattoos. This is indicated by a number of signs found on the tools, which are considered to be traces of wear due to their use for tattooing. However, it is our contention that the products under consideration, along with the aforementioned signs, can also bear traces of manufacture and of their possible use for other purposes. The interpretation of these traces is challenging, as they are difficult to separate and unambiguously discern. In light of these considerations, the potential for trace studies to assess the use of points made from tubular bird bones appears constrained. We believe it is appropriate to conduct an experiment to test our hypothesis. In our case, we attempted to apply an image to human skin using points made in the likeness of the original Mergen products.
Conclusion. The results of the trace analysis and the experiment, along with morphological and typological parameters, allow us to suggest with a high degree of probability that some of the bone points were utilized as tools for applying tattoos.

Purpose. A unique place in the archeology of the Paleolithic of Southeast Asia is occupied by the Nguomian culture which specificity lies in the predominance of tools made on flakes in the technical and typological complex. Despite the fact that the main sites of this culture, the Nguom rockshelter, was discovered in 1981, the discovery of special archaeological material different from the Hoa Binh and Son Vi cultures occurred much earlier and is associated primarily with the materials of the Miệng Hổ rockshelter. Information about the stone inventory of this site is very fragmentary in Russian publications. The purpose of this study is to determine the technical and typological characteristics of one of the key sites of the Nguom industry – the Miệng Hổ rockshelter.
Results. The collection of the Miệng Hổ rockshelter, obtained as a result of three years of excavations (1972–1973, 1980), contains 998 specimens, of which 631 items are industrial waste. Also, in the collection there is a group of artifacts in the amount of 131 objects, after studying which it was concluded that these tools were multifunctional, combining the functions of chippers, graters, and possibly hammers. 34 objects were represented by large-sized pebble tools. There is a small group of side scrapers made on large flakes, with retouching on the ventral and proximal sides. The large group of scrapers (137 specimens) is very diverse. The following types are presented: side scrapers with a backing, side scrapers without a backing, scrapers with a ¾ perimeter blade, double and oval scrapers. The largest group is end scrapers (62 specimens). The next most representative group is the group of punctures and checks (65 specimens). All of them are distinguished by the presence of “shoulders” at the base of a sharp sting created by intensive retouching.
Conclusion. A technical and typological analysis of the entire studied complex shows that the system of production of small flakes and flake tools played a more significant role in the overall technological strategy, while large pebble tools were also preserved throughout most of the studied period. In general, the tool component of Miệng Hổ is similar to the tool set of the Nguom rockshelter, with which Vietnamese researchers quite rightly drew analogies.

Purpose. The article is devoted to the study of the regularities of the formation of macro and micro use-wear traces on experimental tools made of high-quality stone raw materials from the Altai region.
Results. The work is based on a comparative collection of samples (n = 109) obtained within the experimental modelling of different economic operations: scraping of fresh hides, planing, sawing and scraping of moistened bone and fresh wood with end-scrapers, burins, retouched and unretouched flakes and blades. The results of the study revealed the peculiarities of the formation of the main types of use-wear traces on samples from fine-grained volcanic tuffs and jasperoids, including micropolishing, edge damage, grinding and striations. The determinants of trace formation on jasperoid and tuff tools were found to be the duration and type of work, the physical properties of the raw material, including grain size, hardness, toughness and isotropy, and the characteristics of the working material – moisture, hardness and structure.
Conclusion. Sequential comparative analysis of similar samples of flint and obsidian allowed the specificity of the Altai material to be revealed in the context of use-wear trace formation against the background of rocks much better studied from the point of view of archaeological traceology.

Purpose. The article examines a complex of items attributed to the transitional period from the Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age discovered at the multi-layer settlement of Mergen 6 in the Ishim River Region (Western Siberia). The study aims to describe pottery and inventory items associated with the complex, substantiate its chronological position, and characterize the cultural relations of the population.
Results. Conventional archaeological methods were used such as planigraphic, stratigraphic, comparative typological analysis, and dated analogies. The inventory includes ceramic, bone, and bronze items. The ceramic complex is highly fragmented and contains about 6.4 thousand pieces. The sample for analysis included fragments of 482 vessels. The analysis singled out pottery groups from Krasnoozerka, Gamayun, and Itkul (Iset) archaeological cultures and a group of syncretic pottery.
Conclusion. As evidenced by the ceramic materials, the population of the Ishim River Region (Krasnoozerka culture) interacted with that of the Trans-Urals (Gamayun and Itkul cultures) which is demonstrated by a large group of syncretic vessels. The inventory includes bone items such as arrowheads, ornamented tubes, amulets from bear’s fangs, and astragals; ceramic items such as molded biconical spindle whorls, one cylindrical spindle whorl, fragments of crucibles for melting metal, and scraper-shaped tools made of fragments of vessels. A series of bronze items, including three arrowheads and seven single blade knives, can be used to relatively date the complex of Mergen 6 settlement within the 8^th–7^th centuries BC. Later, complexes of the Early Iron Age Zhuravlevo culture sprang in the Ishim River Region, dating back to the 7^th–5^th centuries BC.

Purpose. Kireevskoe III fortified settlement is located in Kozhevnikovsky district of Tomsk region (Russia, Western Siberia) Ceramics of the vasyugan stage of the kulaika culture were studied using technical-technological, petrographic and thermal analyses. The aim is to reconstruct the content of the production stages of kulaika culture ware from the Kireevskoe III fortified settlement.
Results. It was established that the ceramics were made of iron-iron silty clays composed of illite, quartz and feldspars. The crushed stone was sieved from cataclazed granites. One vessel differs in clay composition and is presumably imported. Five single- and multi-component recipes of paste, the main of which is clay + crushed stone. The beginnings of the vessels were made according to the bottom program, the hollow body was built up by flaps. The surfaces were processed by troweling. Thermal analysis showed that the ware has different degree of mass loss.
Conclusion. The ceramics from the Kireevskoe III settlement are most similar to other sites of kulaika culture of the Tomsk and Novosibirsk Priobie in terms of technology. However, the analyzed ceramics differs from sites of kulaika culture of the Vasyugan river basin, Sarovskoe fortified settlement and Malget settlement. This indicates the existence of regional differences in the traditions of pottery production in the territory of the kulaika cultural-historical community.

Purpose. Tools are an important element of the life support system of ancient and medieval societies, the analysis of which allows us to comprehensively characterize the features of economic activities of the society under study, the established level of processing various materials, the specifics of the production of specific products. The article concerns the systematization and analysis of a representative collection of tools from the burials of the Gorny-10 necropolis in the northern foothills of Altai.
Results. The collection of tools includes 40 knives, five awls, five needles, three adzes, a flint, a file, a hammer-file, a part of a whip, an item with an unspecified functional purpose. A morphological and classification analysis of these finds was carried out, as well as their comparison with similar materials from synchronous complexes of Northern and Central Asia. General and specific characteristics of the products are highlighted, and the uniqueness of the Г -shaped hammer-file for the Altai monuments is noted.
Conclusion. It has been established that the existence of most types of the considered products from the objects of the Gorny-10 necropolis dates back to the initial period of the early Middle Ages, mainly coinciding with the period of the existence of the Turkic Khaganates (the second half of the 6th – first half of the 8th centuries AD). The state of available material sources, despite the presence of a certain number of analogies, does not yet allow us to unambiguously consider the genesis of most categories of the considered tool complex in the context of the processes of intercultural interaction of the population of the northern foothills of Altai with the Turks, as well as with the peoples of the Upper Ob region and the Kuznetsk Basin.

Purpose. The results of the analysis of personal inventory from a medieval burial of a woman and a newborn child in mound 4 of the Sayany-Pogranichnoye-4 burial ground accompanied by a horse skin are introduced into scientific circulation.
Results. The burial ground is located at the source of the Idzhim River flowing in the Usinskaya Basin, which was captured by the Yenisei Kyrgyz as a result of the war of 820–840. Bronze gilded earrings with a long pendant have close analogies from the set of jewelry from elite female burials with one or two horses from the territory of the Altai Mountains and Mongolia. A fragment of a mirror cast from copper with a high tin content has preserved part of the ornament known as “grape”. “Grape” mirrors were popular with the Tang aristocrats in the 7^th–8^th centuries. To date, 63 copies of similar mirrors have been discovered in different parts of the steppe belt under random circumstances. Only 7 items were found in rich female burials, and all of them were made of an alloy with a high tin content. According to radiocarbon data, the burial is dated to the second half of the 9^th– early 13^th centuries (862–1224). Comparative typological analysis allows us to attribute the earrings and a fragment of the mirror to the 8^th–10^th centuries.
Items of riding horse equipment, information about which is not included in this publication, also date back to this period.
Conclusion. In ancient Turkic times, a combination of gold or gilded earrings, a Chinese “grape” mirror, a spindle whorl and a knife constituted a typical burial set of a noble woman among the peoples of Southern Siberia and Mongolia.

This article analyzes a complex of iron items, which discovered in 1961 in the vicinity of the Yeniseisk city. These are five arrowheads and a Y-shaped object of unknown purpose. These items were discovered by excavator workers on the left bank of the river Yenisei, in the Baikal village. They lay together at a depth of 40–50 cm. The article makes the assumption that the iron objects were part of a destroyed cremation burial. There are traces of exposure to fire in the items. The things were transferred to the Yenisei Museum, where they are currently stored. There are two types of arrowheads. Three arrowheads are wide-blade, flat things. Such objects are specific of the Mongol period and are found in many regions of Eurasia. Two arrowheads are long, armor-piercing, with spikes. Such products were used by the folks of the region and are practically unknown outside. A similar arrowhead was discovered in Yamal. An Y-shaped object of unknown purpose has a number of analogies in the complexes of the Lower Angara region and in the Yenisei taiga zone. These items are also practically not found in neighboring regions. The object of a similar shape was discovered in the Surgut Ob region. In the article the conclusion is making, that complex belongs to the late stage of the Lesosibirsk culture and can be dated back to the 13^th – 14^th centuries AD.

Purpose. The purpose of the study is to characterize the image of a swan in the traditional worldview of the Buryats.
Results. The first part of the study examines the Buryat lexical data on the swan. It has been established that the Buryat language reflects such biological features of the bird in question as its size, the color of its feathers, and its voice. The second part of the article highlights the relics of the totemic cult of the swan among the Buryats. It turned out that this cult, inherent in part of the Buryats, was associated with the effect of taboos on killing this bird and eating its meat, with the performance of a rite of worship in spring and autumn during its migration. At the same time, her murder was allowed only for the purpose of gift exchange. In the third part of the work, the symbolism of the swan is highlighted on the basis of the mythological views of the Buryats. It was revealed that in the representations of the Buryats, the white color of the operculum indicated its connection with the bright celestial forces. It is determined that this bird was endowed with celestial, solar, and aquatic symbols. It is shown that she had a feminine nature. This representative of the avifauna was associated with the ideas of heavenly grace and prosperity, and the motif of werewolfism. A sign of trouble and illness for people was perceived as a violation of its flight over the living space. It was believed that the swan is the messenger of higher powers, summer and winter. In the shamanic poetics of the Buryats, he was considered as a shaman’s mount and an assistant spirit.
Conclusion. The study shows that in the traditional worldview of the Buryats, the image of a swan has a positive connotation and is ambiguous