On the reconstruction of the Slavonic-Russian cult structures of the Vyatka river basin

Cult structures are rare to be found when researching Slavonic-Russian monuments. The basin of the Middle Vyatka started to be populated in the second half of the XII - beginning of the XIII centuries by newcomers from Ancient Rus. Artifacts prove that among them there were both pagans and the Orthodox. Two cases have traces of the cult structures connected with cemeteries on the Pizhma River. An oval 14x7m ground of the Emanaevo cemetery had no burials but have traces of a structure correlated with a pagan temple of the XII-XIII centuries. The supposed structure was surrounded by graves with a varied orientation and a fan-shape location. The graves feature bi-ceremonial rites, i.e. full or partial cremation and inhumation. A similar layout is known for the Novgorod cemeteries of the X-XIII centuries, eg. the Fyodovo cemetery. In the centre of such necropolises there was an early mound or any other, usually sacral object, eg. an Orthodox chapel or a church built on the place of a pagan temple. The middle of the ground had a 105x77cm pit of a rectangular shape and 59cm deep. The pit probably left from an embedded wooden idol that stood in the temple (traces of the wood did not preserve). Sacral structures similar by the layout and idols inside are researched in the Slavonic ancient fortified sanctuaries. We do not know whether this pagan structure was replaced with an Orthodox temple. However, a clear change in the ceremonial rites (final transition to the underground burial) and a partial use of the ground eastern part to locate later graves (XIII-XIV centuries) though fan-like oriented seem to prove it. More solid signs of an Orthodox structure were found during the excavations of Poksta, an ancient Russian complex of the XIII-XV centuries (the II ancient settlement and a cemetery). A 7x4m ground clear of graves contained a cellar pit and a clay stove fallen into the pit; to the north and south of the ground there were three small trenches left from fences and not destroyed by graves. To all appearances these are remains of a heated cemetery church. It was built on the place of an ancient Russian settlement of the XIII - first half of the XIV centuries and functioned together with the cemetery in the second half of the XIV-XV centuries. It seems that one and the same population first established the Eman-aevo cemetery and then went on burying their people in the Poksta cemetery. Therefore, the reconstruction of both structures reflects one tradition. Specialists point out that absolute majority of types and modifications of Russian Orthodox wooden churches till the end of the XVII century were built on a local pagan basis; temples with tented or lantern-shape roofs were widespread especially. The lantern-shape roofs are more common in the eastern regions of Rus, and it let us use them as a basis for the reconstruction of the structures under study.

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