Excavations at the fortified settlement of Ust-Logatka-60 in 2022: preliminary results

This article presents preliminary results of studying a fortified settlement near the village of Ust-Logatka in Krutinka District of Omsk Region. The archaeological site has been known to local historians since the 1920s, but until now it has not been studied by excavations. In 2022, the authors of this article examined one dwelling, adjacent space, and utility structures at the settlement. The article describes the complexes and collection, which were used for establishing the date and cultural attribution ofthe settlement. The fortified settlement is located on a high lake terrace protected by a closed fortification system with a ditch and rampart. The excavated dwelling was represented by oval-shaped pit up to 0.5 m deep, remaining from a semi-dugout of the frame-and-post type. The collection offi nds included pottery, bone artifacts, and animal bones in fragmented state. Pottery collection comprised two cultural and chronological groups: Suzgun pottery of the Late Bronze Age and Potchevash pottery of the Early Middle Ages. The presence of the Suzgun layer can be explained by the later settlement built on the place ofthe earlier Bronze Age settlement. The study of the collection offinds and comparative analysis of structural features of buildings has shown that the settlement can be dated to the 7th-8th centuries AD and attributed to the Potchevash culture. The fortified settlement of Ust-Logatka 60 is a valuable source of information on sophisticated ethnic, cultural, and political processes which happened in the forest-steppe belt in the Early Middle Ages. The data obtained can be used in further research of ethnographic and archaeological complexes, revealing ethnic history and culture of the indigenous population of Western Siberia.