Excavations of the Tomsk kremlin of the 17th-18th centuries: research results of the 2023 field season

The Tomsk Kremlin was built on the southern promontory of Mount Voskresenskaya in 1647-1678 and existed until the late 18th century. Excavations at the Kremlin were resumed in 2023. Previous research in 1983-2008 explored the Voivode house of the mid 17th-18th centuries, stone storage chambers of1705-1886, burial ground of the Tomsk Tatars of the 16th-early 17th centuries, and a part of fortifications of the Kremlin - the eastern part of defensive wall of horizontally laid logs. Defensive walls marked historical boundaries of the Tomsk Kremlin. However, by the early 20th century, the southern and western slopes of the promontory, along with remains of the Kremlin walls, were mostly demolished during active building at the foot of the mountain and laying out Efremovskaya Street (now Bakunin Street). Currently, the historical boundary of the Kremlin is marked only by its eastern wall which was excavated in the previous years. For establishing precise boundaries of the Tomsk Kremlin, it was crucial to find the northern wall and northeastern tower. Their search was one of objectives of excavations in 2023. Another objective was tofind the continuation of the eastern wall of the Kremlin. This search was based on the data from the map of Tomsk in 1768, which was superimposed on the current topographic situation, modern cartographic materials, and data of geographic information systems. Research resulted in discovering a fragment of a section of the wall made of horizontally laid logs, which was a part of the eastern fortification wall (excavation pit 15). This discovery indicated continuation of the route of the Kremlin wall which in this segment deviated to the east as it was shown on the map of1768. The collection of finds confirms the previously established date of Kremlin fortifications. The supposed location of the northeastern tower of the Tomsk Kremlin (excavation pit 16) has not been confirmed, since the early cultural layers in that area were destroyed in the 19th-20th centuries by major anthropogenic impact. The search for the historical boundaries of the Tomsk Kremlin will continue in the next field season.