Leather artifacts from Tara, Western Siberia, excavated in 2012-2014

The study of the archaeological records pertaining to the period of the Russian colonization of Siberia had become an independent branch of Siberian studies by the beginning of the 2000s, and added considerably to the existing data base, and also promoted historical reconstructions of settlement in the region. Excavations of the towns that served as multipurpose centers of the colonized territories produced the greatest amounts of information (Chernaya, 2008, 2016). One of the oldest cities in western Siberia, which played an important role in the development of new lands, was Tara, founded by Prince Andrey Eletsky in 1594. The joint research works in Tara have been carried out since 2007 by the Omsk Division of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS, Omsk State University, and National Research Tomsk State University. In the course of archaeological and archival studies, new information was obtained concerning the history of the foundation and development of Tara, as well as its role as a military, administrative, economic, and interethnic center of the region.

The high information potential of the urban archaeological sites is indicated by the high density of building, the concentration of various facilities, and the intensity of an urban way of living. The good state of preservation of the cultural remains and the low anthropogenic impact increase the significance of the

culture-bearing layers. The archaeological site of Tara was well preserved, owing to beneficial conditions. Despite continuous development of the town above the old cultural layers, the original layout and building remains were preserved by the absence of major construction works.

It is important to note that abundant and diverse materials have been recovered from a particular archaeological context: mansions consisting of various structures arranged as single complexes. The information obtained in the course of the studies makes it possible to correlate the historical context of Tara center with the chronological and topographic development of the area, and supports the accuracy of our conclusions.

Available archival records provide insight into the development of handicrafts in the town and a general picture of its citizens in the 17th–18th centuries. In that period, the town was almost in a state of siege, and differed considerably from other similar settlements in its arrangement and way of living. The direct subordination of Tara to Moscow made Tara independent from the local authorities in Tobolsk, which fact raised the living standards of the citizens: they benefited from various gainful activities such as salt mining, trading with western Central Asia and China, and controlling the local fur market. The size of Tara’s population was not particularly large at that time, yet Tara trade-fairs competed with those of Tobolsk and other Siberian towns.

The remoteness of Tara, and logistic difficulties in the delivery of military allowances, stimulated the development of handicrafts that met the requirements of the garrison and the adjacent Cossack settlements. However, for the aforementioned reasons, the attempts to dress the officials in the uniforms prescribed by the Peter I’s reforms were unsuccessful. In 1706, a decree was issued permitting Siberian citizens, including the military, to wear clothing according to their taste. But by the middle of the 18th century, the militaries had gradually changed their clothing to the uniforms generally accepted in the Russian Army. In Tara, this led to an increase in the number of tailors (49), shoe-makers (50), and leather-crafters (39). The records also listed 24 smiths, 11 coppersmiths, 9 rawhide artisans, 14 carpenters, and 2 soap-makers (Tara…, 2014: 89, 122).

Shoe-makers represented the largest artisan group. Shoe-making was a widespread occupation. This inference is supported by the artifacts found in the cultural layer of a rich mansion of the pre-Peter I period. Near the building, which was designated as a servant’s house, a concentration of several hundred leather scraps was found: the remains of shoe-cutting. Judging by the shape of the majority of leather scraps, this workshop focused on the repair of boots, which were the typical footwear of the service people in this fortified settlement (Bogomolov, Tataurov, 2010).

Historical-typological classification of the collection

A comprehensive approach was applied to the analysis of the collection of 1083 leather items. The proposed classification was based on the available archaeological finds, which were analyzed by the X-ray fluorescence technique* and spectroscopic analysis; and also on the available written records and ethnological data.

Separate parts of footwear constitute 64.2 % of the total, while scraps of the material make 26 %. The sample also includes various leather goods: mittens, scabbards, belts, and such rare items as saddle holsters and a compass case.

The artifacts were mostly associated with the deposits of the second half of the 17th–first quarter of the 18th century. A more exact date could have barely been established at the initial stage of excavations. Our experience of working at the sites with “wet” (highly moisturized) deposits has shown that “archaeological leather” imbedded in such deposits does not always belong to the same stratigraphic period, because of the durable existence of leather goods (excluding footwear) or their secondary use. This is also true for the artifact concentrations at the mansions’ peripheries: the goods might have been repeatedly redeposited during earthworks (Sorokin, 1995: 28–31).

The discovered items were made of large and small cattle rawhide tanned with vegetative extracts, and also rovduga (oil-tanned deer or elk rawhide).

FOOTWEAR. Footwear represents mass-production, and shows the level of handicraft-development. Manufacturing complexity and wide-scale production of footwear require high technical and technological skills. Using a systematic approach, we have classified the footwear into high and low models. Decoration techniques are described separately (Osipov, Likhter, 2004: 9).

Soft footwear. Simple porshen (carbatina) shoes. The majority of porshens (58 items) represent simple one-piece shoes, cut of a single trapezoid or rectangular piece of leather 3–5 mm thick. The edges were cut into loops through which a lacing pulled the uppers together. The toe was formed via sewing together** the edges of the frontal part of the piece with the seam turned inside. Simple in manufacture and comfortable to wear, this porshen footwear was widespread in Russian towns since the 9th century.

The Tara collection represents two types of back-making: 1) the edge of a leather piece was simply bent up; 2) two short longwise cuts were made at the distal end

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Fig. 1. Multi-piece porshen .

5 cm

Fig. 2. Soft multi-piece shoe.

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Fig. 3. Parts of a shoe with a two-piece upper.

of a leather piece, and then the three obtained parts were sewn together with a through stitch.

Multi-piece porshens (13 items) also had inserts of semi-oval or helmet-like shape, covering the toes (Fig. 1). The ethnic attribution of multi-piece porshens has not yet been clearly established. However, similar footwear has been recorded in the Finnish-speaking peoples (Vizgalov, Parkhimovich, Kurbatov, 2011: 41). Porshens were manufactured from cattle-hide, tanned and raw, and from rovduga. The quality of manufacture (shape of cutout-parts, straight seams, equal distances between the seam-holes) suggests that this footwear was made by professional shoe-makers. For insulation, the upper of a porshen was provided with an edging made from a double folded strap of linen or twill-weave woolen fabric, which was attached to the shoe with a zigzag seam. Judging by the length of the feet, porshen shoes were worn by all groups of the urban population: men, women, and children.

Soft multi-piece shoes. In the classification proposed by the Mangazeya researchers, this construction is referred to as “multi-piece footwear without heels” (Ibid.: 42). The construction consists of the upper; and a slightly profiled, symmetrical sole, which are sewn together with a blind inserted stitch (Fig. 2). To the uppers of shoes, cloth or suede edging was often attached (as in porshens ), inside of which a woolen cord or narrow suede band could have run. The cord was passed through a loop in the counter, which was attached over the shoe’s back. The upper was made of soft leather 1.2–1.8 mm thick, which was oil- or vegetable-tanned. The sole was cut of a more stiff and thick (4.5 mm) leather.

By the upper cutting pattern, soft shoes can be subdivided into one-piece and two-piece variants. A shoe with a two-piece upper included a soft counter, which was cut separately and attached to the vamp’s wings with a plain stitch. The collections of Mangazeya, Staroturukhansk, Tara, and other Siberian towns are dominated by multi-piece footwear without heels (Ibid.). Tara yielded over 300 parts of soft multi-piece shoes. According to ethnographers, this type of footwear, designated as obutki , chirki , and koty , was common for the rural Siberian population till the 19th century (Etnografiya…, 1981: 160; Fursova, 1997: 115).

A.V. Kurbatov (2008: 165–167) called the soft shoes described above uledi . However, we believe that the best term for such footwear would be the neutral word shoes , since in various regions footwear of the same model could have been designated differently and, conversely, one and the same name could have been used for various footwear types.

A two-piece type of shoe, which was represented by a single item, consisted of two symmetrical parts attached to one another with an inserted stitch along axis of the toe and back (Fig. 3). High quarters allow us to refer to this footwear as a boot*. Close parallels to this shoe have been reported from Mangazeya, where researchers regard two-piece type of shoes as a part of the traditional garment of indigenous people (Vizgalov, Parkhimovich,

Kurbatov, 2011: 45). Footwear of similar construction was used by the Khanty, Mansi, and Nenets peoples (Bogordaeva, 2006: 170–171; Vasilevich, 1963; Povod, 1997: 234–245).

Rigid multi-piece shoes. A shoe of this type has a lining*, which is sewn as a pocket with a birch-bark insert, and a heel. A distinction between the high (high-boots) and low (shoes, boots) models is difficult, because of the similar construction of the low parts of high-boots and shoes. That is why this footwear is often distinguished by the absence or presence of heels (Vizgalov, Parkhimovich, Kurbatov, 2011: 41). However, we believe that the Tara footwear can be traditionally classified into high (high-boots) and low (shoes) models.

High-boots. Modern shoe-makers use this term for footwear with a boot-shaft tightly covering the foot and shin and with no front or lateral cuts (Zybin, 1978: 12–13). The Tara collection includes a considerable number (22 items) of fragments of two-piece boot-shafts. Boot-shafts are rare in archaeological materials than other construction elements (vamps, soles, etc.), because these large and durable parts were often reused. The bootshafts found in Tara are lower than knee high. Their upper edges are obliquely cut from the knee towards the calf. The leather’s thickness does not exceed 2 mm. The bootshafts were cut of two parts connected at the sides with a plain stitch.

The lower part of the boot-shaft was sewn to the vamp having a two-piece lining. The vamp’s toe could have been rounded, or slightly pointed. The upper edge was either bent inwards; or had a pointed tongue, which was sewn in a corresponding cut in the front part of a boot-shaft. The closest parallel to the Tara high-boots with tongues at the insteps has been recorded in late 17th century materials from the excavations of the Tomsk kremlin (Osipov, Chernaya, 2016).

The elongated lateral parts (wings) of the vamp were sewn to the rigid counter with a pointed upper part. The back of a high-boot was set on an “interior” or stacked heel, which was resoled from below with iron nails or a metal heelplate. The sole and heel were resoled with iron nails. The X-ray fluorescence analysis of the metal of the heads of nails decorating the vertical strip of the counter has shown its tin content, which was possibly connected with their tin-plating.

High-boots with interior heels had the straight soles, while the models with stacked heels had the soles distinctively curved at the frontal side of the heels**; the heel’s height did not exceed 3 cm. Several fragments of the small-profile soles show a markedly narrow waist area, which suggests their attribution to women’s footwear that was fashionable at that time. Available archaeological materials contain only few high-boots of this model, typical of the European part of Russia, whence they were apparently imported to Tara.

The high-boot vamp with an incurved toe-edge and an impression on the instep was unique. High-boots of this model were quite popular in Muscovy, but they disappeared by the beginning of the 17th century.

Shoes. Modern shoe-technologists define shoes as footwear with a split vamp, covering the foot no higher than the ankle (Zybin, 1978: 12). In terms of construction, rigid shoes are close to high-boots. They share a two-piece upper, a lining, a rigid counter with a birch-bark insert, and a sole with either a stacked or an interior heel resoled with nails or heelplate. The upper edge, in the absence of a boot-shaft, is folded inside and stitched to the lining. This type of footwear was more expensive and fashionable, and thus was affordable only by prosperous urban citizens. Judging by the size of the upper parts*, shoes were worn by people of both sexes. Exactly such shoes were provided with wooden heels typical of the footwear of the early 18th century.

Decoration. In the late medieval period, to which the discussed collection belongs, patterns of footweardecoration changed. Multicolored thread embroidery, which prevailed in the Old Russian time, was replaced by decoration with metal parts: nails and wire.

Decorative metal nails , unlike plain footwear iron nails that protected the back of the sole from attrition, were attached to the exterior part of the counter. Models with soles turned up had nails decorating their up-turned toes. Some parts of counters showed only small holes from the decorative nails, which may have been taken out for reuse.

Wire. The counter could have been decorated with twisted metal wire, 0.6–0.8 mm in diameter, which was attached to the back welt. We have examined the wire made from brass—an alloy of copper and zinc. It can be compared with the brass wire on the footwear from Migalka cemetery in the Tomsk Region (Chindina, 2001). Such wire was made of various alloys; for instance, high-boots recovered from the deposits of the turn of the 16th– 17th century in Ivangorod Fortress were decorated with wire of a lead-tin alloy (Kurbatov, 1995: 199).

Impression . Two Tara rigid shoes from the deposits of the early 18th century show the uppers totally covered with impressed lines, forming an oblique net. Pieces of the impressed leather were reused to cut several heellifts. According to Kurbatov (2010), this technique of leather finishing, well known from archaeological

*Soles of the high- and low-heeled footwear are practically identical.

materials from the late medieval sites of Siberia, originated in the Volga region.

Decorative seams. The upper part of a single fragment of the back portion of a two-piece boot-shaft recovered from the layer of the late 17th century shows the line of a decorative non-through seam forming an acute angle at the rear part of the boot-shaft. The seam runs at some distance from the upper edge of the boot-shaft, and underlines the oblique upper edge from the knee to the calf.

In the late 17th century, stitching of seam-joints with colored threads was a typical decoration technique. The collection studied contains two such parts, possibly belonging to a single pair of high-boots.

Stamps . The Tara collection includes four soles bearing stamps of two types. Type 1 consists of three parallel lines applied under the arch of the foot with a pointed hot tool (Fig. 4). Stamps of this type were widely used all over the Moscow State, and are well known in the archaeological materials from Moscow (Osipov, 2003: 26), Tver (Kurbatov, 2002: Fig. 9, 1 ;

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Fig. 4. Sole of a boot, with a stamp.

Fig. 5. Birch-bark templates used in cutting soles ( 1 ) and heel-lifts ( 2 ).

10, 4 ), Smolensk (Osipov, Sobol, 2012), Mangazeya (Vizgalov, Parkhimovich, Kurbatov, 2011: 51), Tomsk (Osipov, Chernaya, 2016: 136–150), and other towns. Type 2 shows three longitudinal and five transverse lines located close to the heel. Such stamps were recorded on soles uncovered from deposits in the Moscow Kremlin (Osipov, 2014: 47–48).

In Russia, as well as in Western European countries, stamps began to be used in the middle of the 17th century. This was connected with the process of specialization of labor, and the intention of the artisan to label his products with his individual mark (Swann, 2001: 120–121).

Tools. The Tara collection contains shoe-making tools including such interesting artifacts as four birch-bark templates that were used for cutting soles (Fig. 5, 1 ) and heel-lifts (Fig. 5, 2 ).

Birch-bark templates for cutting have long been considered to be footwear-parts. However, they were used not only for shoe-making but also for cutting mittens. Such templates are well known in materials of excavations from Moscow, Pskov, Veliky Novgorod, and Mangazeya (Veksler, Osipov, 1999a; Labutina, 1970; Kolchin, 1985: 270, pl. 110, 11 , 12 ; Vizgalov, Parkhimovich, Kurbatov, 2011: 68, fig. 84, 2 ). They were also mentioned in written sources (Buslaev, 1861: Col. 389).

Birch-bark templates have been found rarely, because of their perishable material and poor state of preservation, which hampers their correct identification; and because they were often reused (for example, as kindling material).

Footwear made from vegetable fi bers. Bast shoes have traditionally been attributed to rural footwear, yet they are often found during excavations of urban mansions (Osipov, 2006: 68–70). The Tara collection comprises eight fragments of bast shoes of diagonal plaiting made of birch-bark stripes 1.7–2.0 cm wide.

Visual inspection suggests that at least some types of plaited shoes originally did not have any sides and counter; they represented either a sole with a front vamp part; or only a sole, which was adjusted to the foot with ropes or leather straps and served as exterior or protective footwear. According to ethnological data, the Old Believers from Baraba used to wear snowshoes as exterior footwear over their felt boots (Fursova, 2009). By plaited footwear without sides could have been meant the stupni mentioned in written records, which were widespread in the Russian North and Siberia (Pamyatniki…, 1851: 379).

OTHER LEATHER GOODS. A small collection of 28 leather items may be classified into several categories: containers for storing and carrying various goods, play items (ball), pieces of handicraft equipment (mittens), and horse-trappings.

Scabbards. This item represents the most widespread type of leather container—an attribute of medieval garments, especially those of the taiga population. The

Tara collection comprises seven knifecovers in various state of preservation. These are made of a two-fold blank stitched at the side of the cutting edge. T.S. Varfolomeyeva (1993: 165) attributes these scabbards to cut type 1 (the most widespread). They are well correlated with scabbards that were classified by Kurbatov also as type 1, but are stitched over the entire back edge (Vizgalov, Parkhimovich, Kurbatov, 2011: 60).

All scabbards were made from oil-or vegetable-tanned leather not more than 1.5 mm thick. Their edges were stitched with simple and shoe seams. The shoe-stitch was executed with two needles: one needle was stuck in the inner side, another needle in the face side, after which the threads were tightened to ensure a firm joint.

Judging by their length, which did not exceed 22 cm, scabbards were intended for all-purpose household knives. Two scabbards each preserved a small domed tongue, with holes in its base for hanging scabbards on the belt. One of the covers, made of oil-tanned leather, was decorated with four narrow transverse straps in its upper third, which were made from leather tanned with vegetable-extracts.

Mittens. Nine mittens, represented by fragments, were found. Two mittens were each made of one two-fold piece of leather, in the center of which a cut-out for adjusting the thumb had been made. Seven mittens were each made of two trapezium-shaped parts with rounded ends, which were stitched together with an inserted stitch.

Play items. These were represented only by a single fragment of a leather ball, an all-purpose toy widespread in Russian towns, including Moscow and Veliky Novgorod (Veksler, Osipov, 2000: 155; Morozova, 1990: 70). Leather balls were used in competitive outdoor games by adults and adolescents; the idea of the games was to drive a ball into a hole (Rybina, 2006: 18).

The part of the ball was segment-shaped (5.0 × × 8.5 cm), and was cut from leather 1.5 mm thick. Such balls were stitched together turned inside out, with a plain stitch. One of the seams on a small area remained unfinished, after which the blank was turned face-up. The balls were filled with wool, horse hair, and moss; then the opening was sewn from outside with a through stitch. The balls, 5–7 cm in diameter, usually consisted of four segments.

Compass case. This item represents the leather cover of a wooden case for a ship’s compass, and belongs to the rarest finds. Only five such items have been recorded in Russia: rectangular boxes decorated on their face sides with vegetable-impressions. They all were found in Mangazeya, and have a Western European origin

Fig. 6. Compass case.

(Belov, Ovsyannikov, Starkov, 1980: 60, 126; Vizgalov, Parkhimovich, Kurbatov, 2011: 71, 72, fig. 88, 89).

The case from Tara, recovered from the 17th century deposits, was made of one piece of leather with a flap and edges turned in (Fig. 6). Its outer face shows a stamped ornament representing a trilinear frame divided by a sidelong cross into four parts; inside each part, a fleur de lys image is imprinted. This symbol was initially regarded as the coat of arms of the Kings of France; but later it became an emblem of many Western European cities (Entsiklopediya simvolov, 1996: 283–284).

Saddle holster. Saddle holsters for carrying pistols and carbines became popular upon the introduction of portable firearms in the troops of the Moscow State. Prior to excavations at Tara, three such items had been

Fig. 7. Saddle holster.

known in archaeological collections: two holsters were found during excavations at Streletskaya Sloboda in the area of the modern Manezhnaya Square in Moscow (Veksler, Osipov, 1999b: 215, fig. 1, 9 ), and one holster at Ivangorod Fortress in the sediments of the turn of the 16th–17th century (Kurbatov, 2014).

At Tara, two saddle holsters for cavalry firearms were found. The better-preserved holster was cut from a single two-fold piece of thick leather stitched with a through seam along the side opposite to the fold. When assembled, this represents a leather cover 56 cm long with a widening at its upper third, where slots for leather straps were made for hanging the holster on the saddle* (Fig. 7). The second holster was preserved only partially: its lower portion had been cut off so as to reuse the leather.

Horse cavalry was an elite branch of arms, and was formed of nobility; therefore, its equipment was often richly decorated. Holsters were often embroidered with colored silk or silver threads, and had velvet lapels. The 1657 inventory of goods belonging to Nicholas Romanov stated the price of a holster: “carbine holster, price—6 altyns, 4 dengas” (Rospis vsyakim veshcham…, 1887: 50).

Conclusions

The representative collection of leather goods from Tara provides information on the character of shoe-making as one of the most popular handicraft occupations in the town, and also on the urban lifestyle, elements of costume and equipment. Available archaeological materials made it possible to reconstruct the main shoe-types used by the Tara population in the 17th–18th century, and the main patterns of their cutting and assembly. The chemical composition of the metal of shoe nails and decorative wire was determined. The overwhelming part of the Tara footwear has parallels to the models from other Russian sites, primarily from Tomsk, which proves the high level of standardization of shoe-making.

Analysis of 2012–2014 excavation materials supports the earlier conclusions on the existence of a shoemanufacturing shop in Tara, which produced footwear of vegetable-tanned rawhide of large and small cattle, as well as oil-tanned deer or elk rawhide. Rovduga was used in the manufacture of primitive and cheap products. It was most likely provided by the local population, and allowed a shortage of higher-quality materials to be supplemented.

The existence of a full-fledged leather-making industry in Tara, which would have enabled processing of leather tanned with vegetable extracts, seems unlikely. This long and water-consuming process hardly fits with the tough life of a military fortress. Apparently, local artisans made shoes of imported materials, which corresponded well with the character of Tara as a trading center. The list of items sold by the St. Trinity Selenginsky monastery in 1720–1730 includes a variety of leathers: yuft (Russian) leather, dyed and tanned skins of calf, elk, horse, and goat; parts of footwear: vamps, soles, boot-shafts, and patches; and ready-made footwear: charyki, high-boots, boots, and high fur-boots; as well as various mittens and horse collars (Mashanova, 1974: 150–165, tab. 8).

The Tara shop also specialized in shoe-repair, as evidenced by heavily worn soles, and a small number of heel-shoe models with heelplates. Shoe-repair workshops have often been traced during excavations in Russian towns (Chernaya, 2015: 157).

Excavations of the 2015 field season established the absence of any direct correlation between the shoemaking shop and the concentrations of poorly degradable and burnable waste, which were accumulated in ravines, on wastelands, or in basements of abandoned houses. In the periphery of the town, where cellars for roots were located, some pits were discovered that were especially excavated for the dumping of old worn footwear, so not to clutter up the residential areas.

Most popular Tara footwear consisted of soft multipiece shoes and stiff high-boots (typical of the military fortress garrison). Fashionable rigid shoes served as festive footwear. In Tomsk, shoes with high heels were quite popular; however, in Tara, where much more footwear-parts were found in the “wet” deposits, no abundance of high heels is observed.

Sole shapes (apart from their size) suggest the onset of division of the construction of footwear into men’s and women’s*; where women’s footwear was characterized by the width of the waist area, which was narrowed in the small soles.

Among the models plaited from vegetable fibers, noteworthy are stupni (mentioned in written sources), which, unlike the common bast shoes, do not have sides and counters. These finds suggest that the so-called exterior (protective) footwear, widespread in Western Europe, was also used in Russia.

The Tara archaeological collection includes birchbark templates intended for cutting leather items. Such templates were described in the written sources as early as the 11th century, and were termed “shoe-making measure” (Sreznevsky, 1912: 1268). The great number of discovered templates contradicts Kurbatov’s idea that they represented some auxiliary items, and were used only as teaching aids (2003: 169).

Saddle holsters and a leather compass case illustrate the daily life of the service people, who were engaged in

*Holsters were usually located on both sides of the saddle’s pommel.

the development of new lands. Such finds as mittens, ball, and scabbards testify to the wide use of leather. The small number of leather covers and scabbards may be explained by the possibility that they were made of birch-bark, which was easier and cheaper. The collection includes a well preserved birch-bark case for the axe*.

The collection of leather goods from Tara provides an illustration of the early history of the town, and a perspective of its role in the process of occupation and economic development of the region by the Russian people.