Knife mould form from the cemetery Satyga XVI

The paper presents an analyse of two-sided ceramic moulding form of a knife, which has been found on the cemetery Satyga XVI. The site is located in the Cis-Uralian part of the Western Siberia in taiga of the middle basin of Konda river - tributary of the Irtysh (Kondinsky district of the Khanty-Mansiisk autonomous region - Ugra). The necropolis yielded pottery of the Varpaulsky type, and according to the author reflects material culture and traditions of the taiga population during Seima period of the Bronze Age. The studied mould has been found on the cemetery inside the sole interment of a foundry man. The author focuses on a construction of the artefact as well as on a possible shape of a tool, which was made in this mould. The artifact has broaden lipped rim, which has been formed on the rear side of the item. Its negative duplicates on the one side of the folding, the other side has been formed as a flat cover. The studied artifact is not unique as S. V. Kuzminykh suggests. There are known few similar items found eastward of Konda - on the territory of the Ob' river basin near Surgut. According to its basic characteristic (a broaden lipped rim and a mould on one side) the artifact is analogous to the materials of the cultic complex at Saigatino VI and Savkinskaya Rechka settlement). The mould founded at Saigatino VI is made of ceramic, two-sided and has funnel-shaped lipped rim. It has been used for producing fine items as a ring with placed inside anthropomorphic image. Such artifacts have been attributed as "a man in a circle" and are well-known from the Chernoozersky type sites in Irtysh river basin, which have been dated to Andronovo period of the Bronze Age (cemeteries Borovly-anka XVII and Chernoozerie I). Varpaulsky type ceramics, which has been found on Saigatino VI, coincides with Andronovsky (Seima) chronology of the site. The artifact founded at Savkinskaya Rechka settlement has been also made of ceramic, and has funnel-shaped lipped rim at the superposition. Due to negative one may presume that the mould has been used for producing long flat work piece bars, which later has been undergone smithing. The mould has been found inside the complex, which yielded pottery f Kuljegansky type. The latter - according to some scholars hypothesis - is might be regarded as the most archaic beside Varpaulsky pottery. Based on this as well as the similarity of the Kuljegansky type with late Polymyatsky pottery one may date the site to pre-Seima period. The knife produced in the mould founded at Satyga XVI has not only broaden lipped rim as it was pointed by S. V. Kuzminykh. The analyzed artifact has unusual shape of a rim. This feature makes it analogous to the tools of the type HK-18, 20, 28 dated to the Seima-Turbino period, which are known from the Kaninskaya cave, cemetery Seima and cultic complex Shaitanskoje Ozero II. The similarities for the mould form from Satyga XVI viewed on the sites of pre-Seima and Seima periods of the Bronze Age point to metallurgical traditions of the hunters and fishermen of the northern part of Western Siberia. The formation and functioning process of the metallurgical centers over the region have occurred without Seima-Turbino migrants. The interment of a foundry man discovered at Satyga XVI cemetery evidence professional specialization of the dead, which was reflected in funeral rituals of the taiga population.

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