Страницы: 259-266

The foundation of the first Russian cities in Western Siberia at the end of the 16 ^th century was fraught with many difficulties, a key one being a food security system that had to be created in the shortest possible time. Food supplied from the European part of Russia came with long delays and was not enough to provide for the entire population. In the conditions of the impossibility of rapid development of arable land and the formation of its own bread base, the use of local food resources on the basis of hunting and fishing came to the fore. For the city of Tara, the local water bodies — the IrtyshRiver and its tributaries and oxbow lakes — became a source of food. The materials obtained in the course of many years of archaeological research in the historical center of the city have provided data on the species and age composition of the fish caught. Archaeological collections contain ample evidence of the use of various fishing tackles, from collective nets and dragnets to individual fishing rods and spears. All this allowed to get a general idea of the importance of fish for the population of the city during the three centuries of its history, to show the main methods and labor costs of fishing, and the role of fish in the formation of the Siberian market.

Keywords: Western Siberia, city of Tara, fish, fishing, food, trade

Сведения об авторе:


Sergey Tataurov (Omsk, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute of Archeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Karl Marx Ave., 15, Omsk, 644024, Russian Federation.
E-mail: [email protected]