Features of settling of the Middle and Lower Pechora in antiquity and the middle ages (using the example of archaeological microregions)

Using the example of several archaeological microregions located in various natural and climatic zones of the Pechora River basin, the pat-terns of settling of ancient collectives in various land-scapes of the Pechora and Izhma river valleys for several thousand years are considered. The analysis of archaeological sources, data of paleogeographic reconstructions and the spatial distribution of ancient sites is given. It is concluded that the concentration of archaeological sites in the river valley areas within which the life support systems of the ancient population was most effective was an important part of the settlement system in different epochs. A relatively high population density in the archaeological microregions of the Middle Pechora basin was revealed in the Mesolithic, Eneolithic-Bronze and Early Iron Age epochs, which corresponds to the Boreal and Subboreal periods of the Holocene. The archaeological microregions of the Lower Pechora of the Middle Ages were inhabited during the climatic optimum of the sub-Atlantic period. Hunting and shing formed the basis of the life support systems of the population of the microregions of the Middle Pechora basin. For the Mesolithic sites of the Izhma-Tom microregion, the seasonality of habitats was revealed for the rst time. On the Lower Pechora, the formation of medieval archaeological microregions occurred in places with an advantageous military-strategic position. Medieval settlements of archaeological microregions of the Pechora Polar region are characterized by the presence of forti cations, a variety of economic activities of their population, including metallurgy and metalworking; trade and exchange relations with the ancient Russian population have been traced.