On the methodology of studying wooden artifacts in the field and in laboratory processing

This methodology was first proposed a quarter of a century ago during afield research on the Ukok Plateau in the Altai Mountains. Its main points have been described in a number of scholarly publications and handbooks for University students specializing in archaeology. A separate section of this research system focuses on the method for rapid reconstruction of the discovered wooden structures near the excavation site, which consists of a series of mandatory sequential steps and operations. In 2019, the two-year investigation of the grave pit in burial mound 5 of the Pazyryk burial ground in the Altai Mountains, belonging to the Scythian period, was completed. This burial mound was excavated in 1949 by the famous researcher of Scythian burial mounds S. I. Rudenko. New excavations resulted in finding the outer cribwork of the double-chamber burial structure of a person from the elite of the nomadic society. This structure was left in the burial mound by the author of the excavations seventy years ago. All elements of cribwork were carefully studied, disassembled, and additionally examined on a working ground. At the end of the works, the cribwork was assembled near the excavation site and turned out to be the largest from all previously studied wooden structures of the Early Iron Age in the Altai and adjacent territories. The reconstruction of the cribwork resulted in rich and valuable information on woodworking in the Early Iron Age in the Altai and on the traditions of house-building among the carriers of the Pazyryk culture. In the process of research, all elements of the cribwork and other wooden objects were treated with conservation compounds. Currently, all artifacts are kept in a special storage of the National Museum of the Altai Republic in Gorno-Altaisk, where another reconstruction of the cribwork in one of the exhibition halls of the Museum will be soon carried out.