Siberian Federal University scientists studied jewelry for indigenous Siberians, made to order by Russian craftsmen

Archaeologists of the Siberian Federal University together with colleagues from the Yenisei Museum-Reserve named after. A.I. Kytmanova examined two bronze pendant plaques. These Russian copper cast items were made specifically for the indigenous population of Siberia in the 18th – second third of the 19th centuries.

The jewelry was found in the Lower Angara region, at the mouth of the Chadobets River. According to SFU senior researcher Ksenia Biryuleva, they probably belong to the collection of the exiled Narodnaya Volya member Avgustovsky. Similar jewelry was bought from Russian and Zyryan craftsmen. The described items most likely came to the Angara from Russian merchants and industrialists and were carried by the local Evenki population.

Both pendants are large, round, openwork, made using the flat casting technique. In the center of the image is a full-face human figure. There are four lions with curved tails in a circle. In the upper part there is a loop with two animal heads (“skates”) facing oppositely.

Senior researcher at Siberian Federal University Polina Senotrusova added that the tradition of making such images existed in the Russian North and Siberia for 200 years, but is still poorly researched. Scientists note that the Evenki reinterpreted symbols familiar to Russian culture, such as the lion or “horses,” and wove them into their system of religious ideas.

Russian copper castings began to penetrate into Siberia simultaneously with the development of these lands by Cossacks and industrialists. There is a known episode during the preparation of the “silver expedition” of 1627–1630, when the governor Khripunov, going to the Angara, asked for goods to attract the Tungus to the side of the Cossacks. The list included “200 mirrors,” pins and beads. Already by the middle of the 17th century, local copper production appeared in Siberia, and many Old Believers from the Olonets province, where they knew copper foundry well, moved here.

Metal pendants were used by many indigenous peoples of Siberia: Evenks, Evens, Dolgans, Nganasans, Nenets, Khanty. It was believed that the shine of metal and the ringing of pendants warded off evil forces, and round jewelry made of copper and brass symbolically resembled the sun. In modern times, the Siberian peoples lost the skills of making such jewelry and bought them from Russian craftsmen.

Newslab now in MAX. News is also published in OK | VK | Zen | Telegram