Pages: 28-30

The authors offer a classification and analysis of the fortifications of the Middle Amur area, which were built in the Mongol Yuan dynasty period. It is established that the period was characterized by a single type of fortifications – the valley ones, subdivided into two varieties as to the rampart plane geometry: square and irregular (broken) ones. It seems that the smaller square hillforts belonged to the Mongol-speaking Daurs relocated in this region. Larger irregular-shaped fortifications, most likely, remained in the possession of the Jurchens, who controlled their tribal lands. The large square hillforts with complex fortifications apparently served as military and administrative centers of the Mongols, who controlled the territory and collected tribute. No clear distinctions between them have been tracked, but it is important that the valley hillforts belonging to two varieties simultaneously functioned on the same territory and each type of fortification fulfilled its own function.

Keywords: Amur area, Jurchens, Daurs, Mongols, hillforts, classification, Yuan dynasty

Information about authors:

Olga V. Diakova. Doctor of Historical Sciences. Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of the Peoples of the Far East of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Address: Pushkinskaya St., 89, Vladivostok, 690600, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Vladislav V. Shevchenko. Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of the Peoples of the Far East of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Address: Pushkinskaya St., 89, Vladivostok, 690600, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]