“Salt turn”-a toponym in the Middle Irtysh basin: historical and archaeological evidence

This study addresses the "archaeology of salt” on the Middle Irtysh, where the Irtysh defense line was situated, as well as the routes whereby lake salt was transported in the 18th and 19th centuries. The main question concerned the historical causes underlying the toponym "Solyanoi Povorot” (Salt Turn) in the Cherlaksky District of the Omsk Region, southwestern Siberia, in the 18th century. This name had been given to one of the redoubts of the Irtysh defense line, linked to a transportation route to the Baraba forest-steppe. Apart from the salt-related toponymy, which spread mostly along the salt transportation routes, artifacts relating to the mining of evaporated lake salt were found in the region. Archaeological data correlate with the historical sources suggesting that this industry existed in southwestern Siberia in the 1600s and 1700s. However, it is rather scantily reflected by Russian toponymy. The singularity of the name Salt Turn is explained by a short-term functioning of that part of the salt route near the respective place. Later, the name changed to Solyanoye-referring to a village and having lost any connection with salt logistics. The analysis of sources suggests that lake salt mining and the routes by which it was transported were key factors in the construction of Russian defense lines (forts, outposts, redoubts) in southwestern Siberia. Moreover, this was one of the key factors in the colonization of that region first by Muscovy and then by the Russian Empire.