Reconstruction problems of dwellings of the Tagar culture of the Khakass-Minusinsk Basin

The study of the dwellings of the Tagar Culture of the Khakass-Minusinsk Basin (KhMB) is important for solving problems related to the ethnic and cultural development of the Tagar society in the region. In the work the author aims to reconstruct the Tagars' dwellings on the basis of petroglyphs of Boyar carvings, some archaeological and ethnographic data about the culture and lifestyle of the indigenous population of the KhMB as a result of the comparative analysis. The article analyzes their possible typological and constructive appearance. The reconstruction of design features of dwellings makes it possible to consider them as a reflection of the level of development of the physical and socio-economic culture of the Tagar society of the first millennium BC. The performed reconstruction suggests that dwellings of a log construction, which were probably long-term, existed. The clear evidence of this is dwellings of a log type in Boyar carvings which are most reliably reconstructed according to the numerous funerary structures of the Tagar time. In this case, it is possible to speak about general methods applicable for building both domestic constructions and funerary structures. Dwellings of yurt-shaped typological constructions must be considered as another type of dwellings that existed in the Tagar Culture, as evidenced by a number of archaeological excavations and their images in petroglyphs. Apparently, the third type of dwellings was structurally built from stone and clay. Images of such dwellings stand figuratively in Small Boyar carvings, and the archaeological proof is their recent discoveries at the sites Podkunya-I Uzunkhyr and Sagyt. The author analyzes a part of rock art patterns of Boyar carvings, which suggests a new approach to the solving of the problem of interpretation of such design features of the Boyars' dwellings as the "chicken", which, in the author's opinion, are elements of the expressive value and the semantic meaning of home in the overall plotline of petroglyph composition. The author comes to a conclusion that problems of reconstruction of dwellings reflect the current knowledge of the Tagar Culture and its undiscovered distinctness. New archaeological discoveries of dwellings and settlements of the Tagar Culture and their further scientific study, presumably, will bring us closer to the understanding of dwelling constructions, their kinds and typologies, settings, planigraphy of living spaces, and, in general for the Tagar epoch, it will help solve the problems of the extension of settlements, their socio-economic conditions, and many other aspects associated with them.

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