The Yakutian burials of the Late Middle Ages in Oimyakon district (the 17th–18th centuries) (Indigirka, North-Eastern Yakutia)

For the first time, this paper reports on and describes the data on three Yakutian burials of the Late Middle Ages (the 17^th–18th centuries): Ebyuge I-II and Sobolokh (Neleger), discovered  during research work of the International Sakha-French archaeological expedition in 2014 in Oimyakon district of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) (basin of the upper reaches of the Indigirka river). Before the beginning of the expedition, the Medieval (preliterate) history of the entire North-East of Yakutia was mainly based on the data on folklore, toponymy, and certain archival documents, according to which the settlement of those territories by the Yakuts, probably, dates back to the period of internecine wars of the 16^th–17th centuries.  However, certain archaeological monuments of that period were not known. The analysis of the discovered objects and items shows their chronological and typological affinity with the data on the monuments of the 17^th–18th centuries, belonging not only to Central Yakutia, but also to its other districts — Vilyuysky and Verkhoyansky. The only noticeable difference of the Oimyakon monuments from the others is its lack of funerary dishes, a usual attribute of almost all known Yakutian burials. This fact could be a result of the predominance of horse breeding (its products) over cattle breeding during that period in Oimyakon.

Key words: Oimyakon, Indigirka, North-Eastern Yakutia, the Sakha-French archaeological expedition, Ebyuge, Sobolokh (Neleger), burials, the Yakuts.

DOI: 10.20874/2071-0437-2017-36-1-033-043

20.03.2017

N.S. Kiryanov

M.K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University, Belinsky st., 58, Yakutsk, 677027, Russian Federation

E-mail: [email protected]