Preservation problems and prospects of research of the Ryolka burial ground and Ryolka culture

The article's purpose is to summarize the data on the discovery and research of the Ryolka burial ground, which is one of the most well-known monuments in Western Siberia, having the status of a monument of federal importance, on the materials of which the eponymous Ryolka culture of the Middle Ages was singled out. The stages of studying the site and the discussion about its ethnic and cultural affiliation and the area of spreading of the Ryolka culture are considered. The work relevance is due to the current state of the object of cultural heritage, the prospects for its further research and museumification. The Ryolka burial ground is located in the geographic center of the Middle Ob Region - in the territory of the village of Molchanovo in Tomsk region, on the borderland of two historical cultural districts; those are the Tomsk and Narym Ob Regions. The main methods used in the article's writing are historical-genetic, historical-typological and historiographical, that were implemented in the context of a systems approach. The burial ground materials indicate deep connections of the Ryolka culture (VI-IX centuries AD) with the preceding, beginning with the Bronze Age. The striking evidences of continuity are preservation of archaic Kulay features in ceramics, artistic casting and material remains of ritual actions with distinct specificity. In subsequent epochs, a number of Ryolka traditions in funeral rites and ceramics continue to persist in the late archaeological sites of the XVI-XVII centuries belonged to Selkups. The main conclusions of the study are as follows. First, a retrospective historiographical digression focuses on the role of the Ryolka mound burial ground in the actualization of the study of the South Samoyed component in the ethno-cultural space of Western Siberia and adjacent territories, in the reconstruction of cultural and chronological outlines for the Middle Ages, shows the key role of the site to the solution of the problem of the areas of cultures and communities, features of the funeral rites and social structure of the Ryolka culture bearers. Secondly, the discussion about the southern border of the Ryolka culture's spread within the Ryolka cultural and historical community and cultural identity of sites in the interfluve of the Ob and Tom is not actually finished. Third, the scientific potential of the monument is not exhausted up to this day. Although the burial ground is located on the built-up areas of the village of Molchanovo the probability of preservation of the cultural layer is high. Analysis of the current state of the site allows the authors to assert the necessity for its further study. Possibly the upper dating of the burial ground can thus move up to the IX-X centuries. Fourth, the emergency condition of the Ryolka burial ground requires a decision on its fastest museumification. In 2016 a working group with the participation of representatives of the administration of the Department of Culture of Molchanovo District, employees of the Tomsk Regional Museum of Local Lore, and the National Research Tomsk State University discussed the need to establish a historical and archaeological museum in the immediate vicinity of the archaeological site. It is planned to equip the pavilions illustrating the material and spiritual culture of Ryolkians based on excavation materials. Such a museum, no doubt, in the context of development of a tourist component of the Tomsk region, will be interesting and in demand by a wide range of visitors meeting modern requirements of society and state cultural policy.

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