Interethnic contacts in the North-West of Yakutia based on materials from “air” burials of the 18th-19th centuries

This article attempts to reconstruct interethnic contacts in the North-West of Yakutia on the basis of an analysis of the elements of the ritual and practical area of the funeral rite, recorded in the materials of “air” (arangas) burials of the 18th-19^th centuries. The types of arrangement of burial structures, the composition of the set of accompanying inventories, the orientation of the buried as well as other aspects are considered and analyzed. The region of the basins of the Lower Lena, Olenyok and Anabar Rivers has long been a border zone, where for several thousand years the paths of ancient tribes crossed, and later - the Yakut, Tungus, Yukagir, Samoyed, Dolgans tribes and Russians. According to the hypothesis of I.S. Gurvich, the basis of the population was the Okhotsk Tungus, who in the XV-XVI centuries wedged between the Samoyeds and the Yukaghirs. Starting from the 17th century groups of central Yakuts, as well as Russians, arrive here, who created stationary strongholds and settlements, as a result of which an ethnic community of northern Yakut reindeer herders has developed. At present, the local population of the Olenyok basin identifies themselves as Evenks. Analysis of the funeral rite recorded in the materials of the Arangas burials of the 18th–19th centuries shows that elements of the culture of the Yakuts, Evenks, Dolgans and Samoyeds are organically intertwined in it, at the same time, Russian influence is not visible at all. The study used a systematic approach, generalization, analysis, as well as comparative historical and historical genetic methods.

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