Krokhalevka-18 as a settlement of verhneobskaya culture

Purpose. The article defines the cultural identity of the settlement Krohalevka-18 on the basis of its design features. Verhneobskaya culture is one of vibrant cultures in the history of the Middle Ages in Siberia. Extensive research of its sites started in the late 40s of the XX century. Since the early 60s of the XX century, excavations have been conducted in the Novosibirsk Ob region. As a result, we discovered more than 70 monuments of Verhneobskaya culture in the region. About 40 of them are hill forts and settlements. All the monuments studied, half of them were large-scale excavations. Up to date, despite the abundance of archaeological material and publications, we have only superficial knowledge of the objects discovered. All the hill forts and settlements were located on the edge of the Ob terraces. While raising them, builders took into account the features of the terrain. The settlements were located on hills, with the shape of dwellings depending on the shape of the hill. On the hills with oval projection they were settled in the shape of the oval; in the case with rectangular settlements, they were arranged in two rows. The settlements had an outer shaft and an inner moat. The shaft was strengthened with wooden fencing. The defensive armament found on the sites varied from simple to large and complex. One of the settlements belonging to Verhneobskaya culture is Krohalevka-18, which is located in Kochenevskaya area on the terrace above the floodplain lake Kalinovoye. The site was investigated by E. A. Sidorov in 1985, who compiled an eye plan, and V. B. Malinovski in 2000-2001. The object has an oval shape with two projections (bastions) located on a hill surrounded by a moat and two shafts. The western bastion served as the entrance. On the territory of the monument there are 14 dwelling locations of a round shape with the diameter of 4-12m near the mound on the east side and 5 more locations of 5-8m in diameter next to the settlement. The settlement stretches 60m from west to east and 42m from north to south. Results. The settlement had two platforms in the structure, a smaller fortified «citadel» and a bigger unfortified one. The defensive system was represented by a moat and two shafts. The ramparts were located at two corners and were built of wood with the side walls additionally protected with wooden palisade. The design of the houses depended on their size. The small dwellings had a framework of logs while the large ones of timber grave-pillar. The remains of overlap found suggest that the tent roof had poles radiating from the central column to the walls of the dwelling, or the roof had a small vent attached to several posts located in the center or near the center of the building. In some cases the roof had a self-supporting structure. The ceramic industry is represented by materials referring to the Odintsovsky stage Verhneobskaya culture, which allows us to date the monument the V-VI centuries AD. We also discovered some disintegrated fragments of flat-bottomed vessels ornamented with rows of shaded triangles, horizontal incised lines, horizontal rows of round holes and a net of dashed diamond-shaped figures. Such ceramic material was found in small quantities in the adjoining «citadel» of the monument. The ceramics belongs to Irmenskaya culture dating from the IX-VIII centuries B.C., which can be explained by vicinity of several settlements of Irmenskaya culture. Thus, people living there could have left traces of their presence in the surrounding area. Conclusion. Our analysis of the inventory of the monument, based on the design features of the buildings and of the settlement as a whole, and its comparison to similar monuments make it possible to identify this settlement as belonging to Verhneobskaya culture and date it the V-VI centuries AD.