Pectoral crosses from the cultural layer of the Ananyino I settlement

A collection of crosses was obtained in archaeological works at the Russian settlement of Ananyino I (Tara District of Omsk Region) of the 16th-18th centuries. During the excavations in 2022, 36 new crosses were added to the collection. Since such concentration of religious objects of copper casting is not typical of residential complex of the site, the authors suggested that early cemetery might have been destroyed when building the log house excavated during the last field season. Crosses of the collection have different preservation degree. The evidence was systematized according to types and, in some cases, to subtypes and variants. The typological model of V.I. Molodin, elaborated for the crosses from the burial complex of Fort Ilim, was taken as a basis. Five types of crosses were identified from the Ananyino evidence: 1st, 4th with four subtypes, 5 th, 8th, and 14th type which I.D. Kromm proposed using the evidence from the Omsk Irtysh region. This type was the earliest in the collection in terms of its time, and was dated to the 16th-17th centuries. Parallels and chronological links were given to all types of crosses. Crosses of the 4th, 5 th, and 1st type, as well as 1st subtype, available in the collection, are considered to have belonged to Old Believers. This confirms the information from the written sources about the presence of Old Believers among the village population of Ananyino. Crosses of 4th type, which were predominant in the assemblage of2022, could have been a part of female festive outfit. Pectoral crosses were an important component of Russian culture serving as a unifying link of ethnic identity, faith, Russian statehood and traditions of the Russian world.