We considered research results on archaeological objects obtained during the examination on the territory of the infrastructure facilities of the Kovykta gas condensate field in the Zhigalovo district of the Irkutsk oblast’. This area was subjected to an archaeological survey and the study of sections of subaerial sediments containing cultural horizons for the first time. In terms of geomorphology, this territory is represented by the Lena River valley with a complex of above-floodplain terraces and estuaries of its tributaries the Ilga River and the Shalino Kreek. Two new archaeological sites were discovered during the fieldwork. One of them is Ust’-Ilga (ford) 1. The covering sediments are represented here by two horizons of different ages, the oldest of which contains a set of stone tools dating back to Paleolithic time. The second cultural horizon according to geological and geomorphological features and the objects of material culture is attributed to the Early Bronze - Late Neolithic time. On another site, called Shalino 1, three horizons were identified, and chronologically linked to the Early Iron Age, Neolithic time and the final stage of the Paleolithic. Given the occurrence of lower horizons in fossil soils, we made granulometric and radiocarbon analyses of soils. The lowest horizon, dated to the Late Pleistocene, showed a spread of radiocarbon age in the range of¹⁴C 9350-11490 BC. Holocene buried soil with archaeological material of Neolithic appearance dates from 4900¹⁴C BC. Chronostratigraphic and geological-geomorphological characteristics of subaerial deposits in the area of the Lena River valley allow us to substantiate their significant thickness and age within the Late Pleistocene - Holocene. Considering the new research, the area is very promising for the study of the natural environment and the development of human society within the specified chronological framework.

The rock art of the Lower Amur Region has been studied since the middle of the 19th century. At the first stage, reports were published about drawings on stones and rocks in different parts of the Amur basin: R. K. Maak, P. I. Vetlitzyn, V. L. Alftan, V. K. Arseniev, B. Laufer, J. Fowke. Later, the first interpretations took shape. N. Kharlamov saw in the drawings traces the Galba's enigmatic civilization; A. Zolotarev connected individual images with rites of sun worship. In the second half of the twentieth century archeological research was carried out by employees of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences: topographic fixation of all known petroglyph sites, description and topography of each drawing on a stone or rock, interpretation of drawings as sources of various historical stages of cultural genesis, publication of the entire database on the rock art of the region A. P. Okladnikov «Faces of Ancient Amur» (1968), «Petroglyphs of the Lower Amur» (1971). The scientific interests of the author are connected with the sites of primitive art, in particular, the rock paintings of the lower reaches of the Amur River. The subject of the study in the article is the face 2 on stone No. 25 among the petroglyphs of Sikachi-Alyan. The goal is to interpret the image as a model of the cosmos, created in the Stone Age by sedentary fishermen of the Amur. The main methods of research are the typological method and the author's approach to the iconographic analysis of the image. The result is the concept of interpreting the mask as a model of the cosmos, in the center of which stands a dragon serpent, which gave birth to heaven and earth in the form of heterosexual snakes. Theoretical and practical studies of V. N. Toporov, V. V. Ivanov, B. A. Frolov, V. V. Evsyukov and others on the topic of cosmology, mythology and the artistic presentation of the image of the world tree are used. The article provides information from the experience of the author's archaeological and ethnographic research. The data of ethnographic studies of the worldview of the Ainu of Amur and Sakhalin collected by L. Ya. Sternberg and A. B. Spevakovsky are used.

The population of the Bronze Age of Transbaikalia left behind archaeological sites and artifacts that testify to the appearance of copper metalworking in the region in the 2nd millennium BC. Archaeological finds made of “pure” copper, for the most part, are associated with the simplest objects of the early stage of human acquaintance with metal, made using the cold forging technique. The period of the Early Bronze Age in the Baikal region is associated with the Glazkovo culture (18th-13th centuries BC). However, our studies of the chemical composition of non-ferrous metal products revealed exhibits cast from copper without ligature in a later period. As an example, the article presents data on the elemental composition of a “Scythian” type cauldron (V-III centuries BC) from the fund of the Museum of the Buryat scientific center. The cauldron is unique for the archeology of Western Transbaikalia and was published by the author earlier, while a wide range of the elemental composition of the metal is published for the first time. The analyses were carried out at different times using Bruker Tracer 5i Portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometer and Hitachi TM 3000 scanning electron microscope with Bruker Quantax70 prefix for elemental analysis based on energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDX). The question of the presence in ancient bronze alloys of such elements as aluminum and silicon is considered. Based on previous studies of the composition of ancient bronze, a small review of the presence of elements such as aluminum, silicon in alloys was carried out and the probability of their occurrence was stated. The facts of casting cauldrons from “pure” copper from the collections of the Bronze Age in Western Transbaikalia and adjacent territories are presented.

The object and purpose of the study in this article are three socketed celt-axes found on the Bolshoy Patom River, the right tributary of the Lena, about 40 km upstream from the village of Bolshoy Patom, in the Irkutsk Region. From the mouth of the Bolshoy Patom River, the nearest landmarks - settlements on the Lena River are the village of Chapaevo (about 15 km up the river) and the village of Macha (21 km down the river). All three celts have the same subrectangular shape and belong to the type of celts found by G. S. Rosenthal in 1910 on Vitim, near the former village of Pronikha, and published at the time by A. P. Okladnikov. The celts are without an ear, with a straight or slightly convex blade, ornamented in the middle part with a characteristic relief geometric pattern - three horizontal lines, two double triangular chevrons (scallops) with three lines descending downward, the so-called dividers. In the upper part there are embossed circles - “eyes”. This ornament is a characteristic feature of the Pronin type celts. The shape and ornamentation of the Patom Celts are close to some forms of the celts-axes of the Krasnoyarsk-Angara type, which date back to the Early Tagar time. X-ray spectral analysis showed that the Patom Celts were made of copper. Previously, there were known finds of two celts of this type on the territory of Yakutia - a celt from the Muryinsky burial on the Middle Lena, near Lensk Town, and an accidental find on the Vilyui River, near Nyurba Town. The new finds of the Patom celts-axes were a treasure of new products that had not yet been used. The study shows that the celts of Pronin type can be traced over a fairly wide area from the Angara region to Vitim River, Middle Lena and Vilyui River.

The expedition team organized within the project “From the Secret in Khatny Bulag” excavated and explored 3 burials belong to Middle Age Mongolian Grave Culture but with different parts of this period near the oasis Khatny Bulag in Khatanbulag Soum, Dornogovi Aimag from 2016 to 2018. The first grave or Grave №4, Khond is the burial with a single finger and a mirror used by the deceased during her alive period as the representation of the deceased and as the mirror design feature shows it belonged to the period before the IX-X centuries AD. The second burial or Grave №1, Baruun Shivee represents the burials that belong to the XIII century AD and it is special on the bronze mirror registered by an official in the Qin period and with funeral rituals feature clearly. The third burial or Grave №3, Zuun Shivee belongs to the comparatively later period, in other words, to the period from the XYII century to the XYIII century AD, the time of Buddhism introduction into Mongolia as the blue and white porcelain cup of the Ming period and “Lion sleeping position” of the deceased like the Buddha during his death show. The third burial is the last unusual example of the earth burial of the Middle Age period and appearance of burial on the ground in connection with the Buddhism introduction into Mongolia. Such burial has not excavated yet and can be considered as a science discovery that widens Mongolian traditional funeral ritual. It is special that the burial of this period was discovered in Mongolia firstly. These burials excavated near the Khatny Bulag will make big contributions in the Mongolian burial study.

The figure of G. I. Spassky, a historian, archaeologist of Siberia, mining engineer, publicist, collector, corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences, is well known in domestic and foreign historical science. In 1818, in one of the first issues of a popular science magazine in St. Petersburg, in the section “Antiquities of Siberia”, information was published about the ruins of ancient buildings and the remains of fortifications located on the territory of Transbaikalia. The article mentions burial grounds, the remains of ore mines, the rampart of Genghis Khan, Khirkhira settlement, a stone stele - an epigraphic monument, which later received the name “Genghis ׳ s Stone”, and Kondui site. Several drawings are attached to the work. Two of them are rather detailed plans of archaeological sites of the 13th-14th centuries - Khirhira and Kondui, as well as the central building of the Kondui site - the palace, executed in a schematic manner. One of the drawings is devoted to archaeological finds collected at Kondui: ceramic tiles and architectural decoration, two types of granite dragons made in the form of heads and a mythical animal from different angles. The figure contains stone bases with different types of artistic processing. A stratigraphic section is also presented here, reflecting the peculiarities of the occurrence of the architectural remains of the palace. The last illustration shows a stone stele with an inscription in the old Mongolian script and a separate close-up of the same, reduced eight times. As a result of the study, it was established that in preparing the text of the article, the author probably used the data collected not personally, but received by him from one or, most likely, several of his numerous “correspondents”. Most of the drawings, namely the plans of the sites, the drawing of the palace, some images of dragons were obviously copied from the drawings of another prominent collector - P. K. Frolov, who had a great influence on Spassky and supplied his publication with many materials. The source of some of the other drawings used by Spassky remains unidentified.

Currently, in all 50 US states, there are about 1 million 300 thousand people who consider Russian the main language of their communication, which is about a third of the entire Russian-speaking population in the United States. However, the situation with the self-identification of “Russian Americans” based on knowledge of the Russian language is gradually changing - the majority of those who came to the United States as children, as well as the youngest representatives of the so-called fifth wave of Russian-speaking immigration, are already bilingual and do not consider Russian the only language of their everyday communication. Thus, it is not difficult to predict the dynamics of the development of the situation, taking into account the actualization of the English language in the modern world. And in this regard, the problem of preserving the Russian language as the basis of the “Russian World” in the United States, its strengthening and further development in the new geopolitical conditions is acute. The article discusses several options for the preservation of the Russian language in an immigrant environment, which have different meanings. One of the most important ways to preserve the Russian language in immigration, obviously, should be considered the practice of communication in the native language in the family. However, a certain part of the families of Russian-speaking immigrants to the United States, seeking to integrate into American society as quickly as possible, deliberately refused to use the Russian language not only among their compatriots in the external environment, but also at home. In this sense, the activity of Russian-language publishing companies, which for several generations have preserved the traditions of Russian literature on the pages of their publications, can be considered a compensating factor. The third channel for the dissemination and strengthening of the Russian language among immigrants turned out to be Russian-language schools, the importance of which in the United States is constantly growing. The technologies for the preservation of the Russian language in America, therefore, are a rather complex interweaving of several multidirectional forces and require multifactorial analysis.

The article presents the studies related to the voivode (governor of province) administration of Siberia at the end of the 16th-17th centuries, published in the period 2010-2021. These materials introduce new information into scientific field, mostly based on the study of unpublished archival sources. In addition, they clarify previously known information and allow researchers to create a complete picture of the administrative leadership development of Siberia at the end of the 16th-17th centuries. The article presents the studies of: E. V. Vershinin, Ya. G. Solodkin, A. A. Brodnikov, O. P. Elantseva, O. Yu. Shakhodanova, M. O. Akishina, V. I. Trukhin, V. N. Dobzhansky, P. N. Barakhovich, A. Yu. Konev, V. A. Slugina, G. P. Vizgalov, V. D. Puzanov, I. P. Kamenetsky, A. A. Lucidarskaya, E. A. Timokhin, A. P. Sannikov, E. A. Bagrin. These materials are devoted to: 1) aspects of work and structure of the administrative department of Siberia; 2) publication and analysis of unknown and insufficiently explored documents related to the voivod department (mandates, copies); 3) information about voivodes personalities, their biography and official activities. Special attention is paid to the monograph of Yekaterinburg historian E. V. Vershinin “Russian colonization of North-Western Siberia at the end of the 16th-17th centuries” which summarizes the data on problem under study accumulated at the moment. Author also notes number of articles by Ya. G. Solodkin, a scientist from Nizhnevartovsk, devoted to the formation of administrative management in Siberia at the initial stage of its joining to Russia. A significant number and high quality of research related to the study of various aspects of the Siberian voivodship administration shows that this topic is one of the most popular in Siberian studies.

The authors consider the organization of the Manchurian Army, directly used during the first siege of the Albazin Fortress in 1685, which was the result of the aggressive policy of Qing China in order to "pacify the Russians" who were exploring the Far East. A more detailed study of the available historical information, as well as the method of ontological processing of initial information chosen by the authors, allowed us to characterize and present in an orderly manner the composition of the forces and means of the troops of the Manchurian Empire. In other words, the authors managed to solve a problem that allows them to take a fresh look at the problem under study. Firstly, the authors managed to justify the total number of the siege army, which can be determined by the total number of 4,000 infantry, 400 artillery and 1,000 horsemen, and as a result of the proposed calculation, to identify the actual presence of 5,400 fighters, which is actually fully confirmed by archival data from Chinese sources. Secondly, the objective analysis of conditional tactical signs carried out by the authors, represented by various flags of the corresponding shapes and colors, allowed us to establish the fundamental identity of the basic structure of the assault detachments of both flanks. Each flank included 4 imperial companies of the yellow banner with a red border, supplemented by two companies of the green banner, as well as separate companies of the white banner with a red border and the red banner with a white border, which indicates its actual historical authenticity. The modern method of ontological processing of information data, used on an ongoing basis by the authors, has once again shown its sufficiently high efficiency. Indeed, within the framework of the proposed solution to the problem under consideration, a number of new details of the historical event being studied within its framework have been identified, knowledge of which may, on the one hand, be useful for the qualitative development of the scientific direction of national history as a whole. On the other hand, the identified features are practically in demand from the point of view of improving the general methodology of historical informatics.

The work is devoted to the study of the service of army generals and senior officers in the conditions of the Civil War in Russia, which is relevant for modern Russian historical science. Domestic historiography today makes a significant emphasis on the fate of the General Staff officers, paying less attention to other representatives of the leading command staff. The purpose of our work is to analyze the example of the adaptation of General-Major of the White Army Alexei Stepanovich Kondrashev to the conditions of the era of social cataclysms indicating the factors that predetermined the tragic ending of the fate of this military figure in Soviet Omsk. The basis of the study is a combination of unpublished judicial and investigative documents that are part of the criminal case initiated by the security officers against the hero of the publication of the criminal case. These sources are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time; the most informative of them are interrogation protocols. The theoretical basis of the work is the principle of consistency, anthropological approach, theories of social adaptation and social identity, problematic and biographical and comparative historical methods. Using the biographical example of the hero of the publication this methodological set made it possible to present the position of the generals who held the positions of senior officers in the anti-Bolshevik armed forces of the East of Russia as well as to study the experience of integrating representatives of this category into Soviet society. Based on the results of the study, the issue of the dilatability of the application of capital punishment to representatives of the White generals at that time as well as their subsequent rehabilitation and refusal to do so in post-Soviet Russia is emphasized. The work is addressed to specialists who study the period of the Revolution and the Civil War in Russia, military and socio-political history, aspects of the social adaptation of representatives of the generals and officers to the conditions of the state administration crisis, mass political repressions in the early Soviet society.

The article tells about the history of the creation and activity of the Baikal Lake Flotilla during the Civil War in Russia. The study is characterized by low coverage of the flotilla's activities in the literature, with the available database of archival documents. The Baikal Flotilla, which, on the one hand, is a secondary area of the confrontation between the parties, on the other hand, was of great importance in establishing control over the region. The actions of the command were connected not only with the organization of the flotilla's combat work, combat duty and campaigns, but also in the restoration of water infrastructure, such as lighthouses, pilotage, repair of piers, and equipment of workshops. The command of the Baikal Lake Flotilla was engaged in cargo transportation, reconnaissance activities, including on the Lena and Vitim rivers. A lot of attention was paid to cultural and political education of both personnel and local residents. The article considers two stages of the creation of the flotilla by the Bolsheviks in 1918 and 1920, the confrontation of the Red and White Baikal flotillas. The composition and origin of the flotilla, its technical equipment, armament, organization of work of groups of gunboats and boats, as well as combat use, both planned and real, in suppressing the Barguzin uprising, in which the flotilla boats and paratroopers-sailors took an active part, are considered. The issues of personnel training for service and technical support of the flotilla are considered. The article also examines the activities of the 5th Army command, the flotilla command and their interaction with the forces of the Far Eastern Republic.

The article highlights the collection of a single agricultural tax in the campaigns of 1924/25 or since the summer of 1925 on the territory of the Yenisei province - Krasnoyarsk, Achinsk, Kansk, Minusinsk and Khakass districts of the Siberian Territory. The purpose of the study is to study the relationship between the Soviet State and the peasantry in the “best years of the NEP”, which were then largely embodied in the collection and payment of tax assignments. The author shows that the essence of the tax policy on the part of the state was the annual and constant transitions from economic measures to administration and repression, and then with the emergence of crisis phenomena - from hard pressure to a new world in the village and back. Following the declared course “face to the village”, local authorities began to exempt poor households from paying taxes. Based on the materials of a particular region, it is shown that local authorities tried to organize harvesting on a commercial basis, but each time they were not ready for this policy and broke down to the usual non-economic methods of alienating bread. Illustrative examples show significant differences in the managerial behavior of members of rural village councils. Soviet services were forbidden to advise rural residents on tax issues. Another task of the article was to highlight peasant behavior. These facts show that the rural population was not only a law-abiding executor of state policy. Along with well-to-do peasants, representatives of other strata of the rural population struggled with the increasing monopolization of the market and directive methods of its regulation by all means available to them, which were most likely not class-based.

The article analyzes the process of creation and functioning of the public organization «Friend of children» on the territory of Eastern Siberia in the 1920s - 1930s. The author considers the process of formation of the organizational and legal foundations of the company's activities at the national and regional levels, the peculiarities of the interaction of a public organization with public administration bodies. It is noted examples of the public organization's activities in other regions of the Soviet state. The author considers the formation of the first local societies on the initiative of the population in certain East Siberian regions, changes in their quantitative composition, areas of activity, sources of funding within the scope of the research topic. The study is based on the data of historical documents. The author examines the reasons for the large-scale rapid increase in the number of members of society are determined: propaganda, active support from the Party, Komsomol and trade union organizations, bringing to the public consciousness the goals and importance of the activities carried out. A detailed review of the sources allowed the author to identify and characterize such important areas of activity as the identification of street children, their placement in state institutions, the formation of financial funds to help children, interaction with education and health authorities in activities to reduce child homelessness, participation in the work of commissions on juvenile affairs, employment of minors. The author examines the transformation of the activity after its creation All-Russian public organization «Friend of children» in 1930. The author concludes that the public organization «Friend of children» has become one of the mechanisms for attracting the public to participate in the implementation of the direction of social policy - the reduction of child homelessness. The author emphasizes that the lack of a clear structure and organization, a poor material base, and remoteness from the center reduced the effectiveness of the activity.

In the history of Orthodox Latvia it is difficult to find a person who more reflects the difficult era of the 1920-1940s in his life than an Archpriest Janis Namnieks. Immediately after the independence of the Republic of Latvia Father Janis had represented those few clergy and laity who opposed the “pro-Russian” line. After the appointment of the ethnic Latvian Archbishop John (Pommers) to Riga, the activity of supporters of autocephaly declined, and in the 1920-1930s Father Janis Namnieks was engaged in the construction and arrangement of churches in the Latvian province. Metropolitan Augustine and his entourage directed the life of the Orthodox Church in Latvia towards Constantinople. After the process of joining Latvia to the Soviet Union began a wave of repressions swept through Latvia, and Father Janis was among those arrested by the new authorities. During interrogations Father Janis Namnieks initially agreed to cooperate with Soviet investigators, but later admitted that he did this in order to protect Metropolitan Augustine himself and to inform him of what the Soviet special authorities were interested in. In 1942 the priest Janis Namnieks died in prison. Defending the interests of Latvian Orthodox Christians in the minds of many contemporaries, including priests, he remained a nationalist and supporter of Metropolitan Augustine (Petersons). However, in the memoirs of their daughters which were involved in writing this material, one can look at this shepherd from a different angle. A supporter of the preservation of the Russian language at home, a bright preacher and politician, this is how his daughters remember him. With the help of these materials, we can learn more about the era and the fates of its main characters.

Pyotr Ilyich Pezhemsky (1809-1861) was an Irkutsk chronicler, artist, local historian, public figure. For many years, P. I. Pezhemsky collected rare, collectible items, manuscripts, scrolls of the outgoing era. The panorama covers the period from 1652 to 1845 and contains 317 sheets provided with author's drawings. Excerpts from it were published in Sovremennik, Irkutsk Gubernskie Vedomosti, and the works of the East Siberian Branch of Russian Geographic Society (VSORGO). The full “Panorama of the Irkutsk province” by P. I. Pezhemsky was published only 171 years after the manuscript was written, thanks to the ascetic of Irkutsk book culture, historian N. V. Kulikakuskene (1940-2012).

The review evaluates the monograph of the St. Petersburg historian Alexander Sergeevich Puchenkov, who examined the development of the organization and combat activities of the anti-Bolshevik forces in the South of Russia during the first year of their existence. It is indicated that the author is a recognized specialist, the author of numerous books and articles, he presented the result of two decades of intense and painstaking research. The structure seems to be quite justified, the events are considered chronologically. The multilayered views of the participants in the events of the Civil War and the author's thoughts on the base of historical sources are respected. The four chapters of the main text present a panorama of historical factors taken into account and interrelated. The initial unwillingness of the overwhelming part of the Russian officer corps and the Cossacks to participate in the Civil War is emphasized. A. S. Puchenkov overcomes historiographical inertia. The author especially highlights the strong connection between the events of 1917-1918 and the defeat of the Whites that followed at the end of 1920.

The article gives a high assessment of the monograph of the famous St. Petersburg researcher A. M. Zakharov, dedicated to the participation of Slavic volunteer formations during the First World War and the Civil War in Russia. The author considers this phenomenon as a special case, which had a number of distinctive features. It is noted that the Slavic formations, which had many years of combat experience, subsequently played a decisive role in the formation of the independence of a number of European states. It is indicated that, contrary to the established opinion, not only the Czechoslovak Corps, but also parts of Poles, Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes operated on the territory of Russia. Abstracts of the monograph by A. M. Zakharov are compared with data from little-known documents from archival collections in Moscow and Novosibirsk.