Second stage archaeological work at the site “Spassky church cultural layer” in Kuibyshev in 2020: preliminary results

In 2020, the Kainsk archaeological team of the IAET SB RAS continued excavations at the site “Spassky Church Cultural Layer”. The work was performed in connection with the restoration of the Spassky Church built in 1828. The church was located along the Moscow-Siberian tract, at the main streets intersection. Opposite to it, on the other side of the road, the Market Square was located. In the 19th century, the Spassky Church was the main compositional dominant of the city. It was destroyed in 1939. The first stage of rescue archaeological work was carried out in October-November 2019. In 2020, the work was performed in 4 areas, the total excavated area was 533.4 m2. During the research, the tar preparation area was discovered, dating back to the period of the Kainsk outpost existence. The Spassky Church foundation and the part of the adjacent cemetery have been fully explored. In total, 268 buried and 340 units of archaeological material were recorded during the 2020 field season. Along with single burials, two objects represented by collective burials with partially disturbed skeletal anatomy were recorded. In addition to ground burials, two brick crypts with an arched vault were found. In one of them, there probably was the burial of an Orthodox nun. This can be seen in the accompanying goods, i.e. remains of clothing, presumably a habit, with a cross embroidered on the chest, and fragments of the wimpel. Moreover, during the work, the samples for anthropological, petrographic, and dendrochronological analysis were taken.