Pages: 339-363

In 1976—1977, 1980 the author conducted excavations of five fortified cape settlements of 8th—3rd/2nd century BC (Zotinо I—IV, Kolpakovo fortress), located in the lower reaches of the Bagaryak river, at the eastern border of the mountainforest Trans-Urals. One of them is a two-site Zotino II fortified settlement, based on a rocky promontory. The area of the monument is 3750 m2, including the 1st site — 1400 m2. Early Gamayun settlement 6th—5th centuries BC with frame-pillared dwellings and peripheral copper-foundry Itkul objects in the 5th century BC was protected by a closed defensive system. Along the edges of the cape — an easy wooden hedge, on the outdoor side — a complex figured fortification. The latter consisted of a log two-row wall, a bastion tower, reinforced at the base with rubble, and a shallow drainage ditch. The idea of building a tower-bastion was borrowed from neighbors — forest-steppe cattlemen of the Gorokhovo culture. After the destruction of the Gamayun-Itkul fortress, in 50—60 meters from its ruins, a simple and less powerful defense system was built by the population of the Gorokhovo culture. Now it is represented in relief by a low stony shaft and a shallow ditch. The site of the new fortress of the 4th—2nd centuries BC began to be used as a seasonal settlement and a pen for livestock. The basis of the collection of finds are fragments of 62 Gamayun, 20 Itkul, 5 Gorokhovo and 3 Baitovo vessels, products made of stone, clay and iron. Separate fragments represent pottery of the Bronze Age and the Early Middle Ages. Bones of domestic animals (horse, large and small cattle) prevailed over the remains of wild species (hare, roe deer, elk, reindeer). Later objects and finds: a Sarmatian iron dagger hidden under the rocks at the tip of the cape over the pit ditch (treasure or cenotaph), ritual oval masonry, early Middle Ages ceramics with corded ornament.

Keywords: Forest Trans-Urals, Early Iron Age, Gamayun, Itkul, Gorokhovo cultures, fortress, fortifications, dwellings, buildings, ceramics, tools, osteological remains

Information about author:

Victor Borzunov (Yekaterinburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Ural Federal University named after First President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin. Lenin Ave., 51, Yekaterinburg, 620083, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]