Leather Artifacts from Tara, Western Siberia, Excavated in 2012–2014

Abstract

We describe 1083 leather items found during the excavation of Tara, one of the oldest Russian fortifi ed towns in western Siberia. Their preservation is excellent owing to high humidity of habitation deposits and the presence of natural preservatives in the soil. Most items are details of footwear (64 %) and scraps of material (26 %), other leather items are mittens, scabbards, and belts. Unique finds include a saddle holster and a compass case. Most artifacts date to late 1600s–early 1700s. The most popular footwear categories were soft composite shoes and stiff high boots worn by garrison members. Fashion shoes were rigid. On the basis of the collection we reconstruct certain aspects of the early Russian settlement of the Irtysh region at the time when it became part of the Russian Empire.