Some issues of ethnic and cultural history of the indigenous population living in the middle and lower Tara region in the 15th-16th centuries (based on archaeological evidence)

The article discusses the emergence of the indigenous population inhabiting the basin of the Tara River in the context of ethnic and cultural history. Ethnographic evidence and written records of the 15th-18th centuries AD provide information about the historical ancestors of the contemporary Turkic-speaking population of the region (the Tara Tatars). The authors correlate the famous burial grounds of the 17th-18th centuries, where the deceased were oriented along NW, with this chronological period. Supposedly, the emergence of the indigenous population in this region had begun earlier, approximately in the 14th-15th centuries AD when major sites of the Ust-Ishim culture of the Advanced Middle Ages disappeared in that region. Unfortunately, the evidence about that historical period is scarce: burial sites have not yet been found and attributed; historical sources are also unknown. The authors suggest that some answers can be obtained from studying the burial grounds with the orientation of the deceased to the NE, which is the case at some sites of the region. The excavations at the burial ground of Chertaly III in the middle reaches of the Tara River have revealed the evidence making it possible to date such burials to the 15th-16th centuries. However, even now the ethnic and cultural identity of the population which left these burials remains unknown, although some features of the funeral rite suggest their connection with the Samoyedic peoples. Further research of the evidence obtained will make it possible not only to clarify some problems associated with early stages of ethnic and cultural history of the Tara Tatars, but will also provide new insights into the period between the emergence of the ethnic group of the Siberian Tatars and representatives of the Ust-Ishim culture.