The Results of Technical and Technological Analysis of Ceramics of the Kulai Cultural-Historical Community’s Sites from the Tomsk and Narym Ob Region

A large part of the West Siberian Plain was inhabited by the Kulai cultural and historical community’s population from the sixth century B.C. to the fifth century A.D. One of the topical issues of the Kulai culture researching is cultural interaction among its certain local variations. Key importance to this issue is the study of the most widespread material - clay pottery, which is a sensitive indicator of ethnic and cultural processes in ancient times. The article presents the results of technical and technological analysis of ceramics from four sites of the Kulai culture in the Tomsk Ob region (Murashka settlement, the first century B.C. to the second century A.D.; Anikino I settlement, the third to the fourth centuries A.D.; and Timiryazevo III hillfort, the third to the fourth centuries A.D.) as well as in the Narym Ob region (Chondzha hillfort). It also draws on the previously published data on ceramics from the Ryuzakovo complex (the late fourth to the second centuries B.C.). The research is aimed to identify specificities of cultural traditions at two stages of pottery production, that is, raw selection and pottery paste preparation. Our research tasks were to reveal cultural traditions used here to select raw materials and prepare pottery paste and to identify any local and non-local cultural traditions and signs of their intermingling. Our re- search results showed that several raw sources that differ from one another in quality and quantity had been used at each of the sites. At the Tomsk Ob region sites (the fourth or third centuries B.C. to the fourth century A.D.) a few traditions of pottery paste preparation were identified, the major one consisted in the use of clay, grus (dresva), and organic matter. In the Murashka settlement along with this recipe there was another combination that is of using chamotte and two types of clay, and no mineral admixtures. The fact indicates there had been a slight influx of people from the northern territories. The materials l^om the Anikino I settlement and Timiryazevo III hillford revealed an insignificant intermingling of cultural traditions associated with interaction among the people. We found the sustained traditions in mineral admixtures selection for pottery paste and distinguished a number of traditions in the use of raw materials for the Tomsk Ob region. Finally, the research revealed certain differences in the use of raw materials and pottery paste preparation in the Tomsk and Narym Ob regions. In the former, mainly clay, grus, and organic matter had been used, whereas in the latter the mixture had included clay, chamotte, and organic matter. Our research data indicated different cultural traditions of ceramics production in the two regions associated with different groups of population. In the Tomsk Ob region there were several small subgroups in a major group of population having similar skills of raw selection and pottery paste preparation.

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