Reconaissance Researches of Kemerova Village: on the Issue of the Russian Settlement Archaeology of the XVII–XIX Centuries

Abstract

The subject of this research is the history, chronology and archaeological artifacts from the Kemerova village (Kemirova, Komarova, Temirova). The research is a part of a scientific topic of exploring Russian settlements in the Tom’ River region of the XVII–XIX centuries. The aim of this work is to identify the archaeological layer structure, determine the stages of Kemerovo village site development using stratigraphic data and archaeological objects, to compare the archaeological data with the results of written and cartographic sources. The archaeological research results showed two archaeological layers well stratigraphically recognizable. The lower archaeological layer contains artifacts of the middle of the XVIII century – the cusp of the XIX–XX centuries. So, it is about pre-industrial rural society’ life. The upper layer separated from the lower one by a layer containing some coal dates from the XX century. The artifacts bear witness of how the village was transforming into a industrial township. Comparison of the archaeological data and other historical sources materials highlights the need to find cultural remains of Kemerova village emerging period and a clearer differentiation of the middle of the XVIII–XIX centuries which requires further researches on the site. The area of use of the received results includes not only the history of Kemerovo but also issues of emergence and development of Russian and other ethnic groups’ settlements in the XVII–XIX centuries in the Tom’ River basin. Main conclusions: the received results allow us to determine two periods (pre-industrial and early industrial) in the history of Kemerova village before its inclusion into the territory of Shcheglovsk town (Kemerovo since 27 March 1932). It can be suggested that Kemerova village with the other Kemerovo rural settlements (Krasnaia, Shcheglova-Ust’- Iskitim, Kuchukovy Yurty / Ulus-Mozzhukha, Evseeva, Borovaia and others) formed the urban territory. In this context, the role of Kemerova village is not only in using its name for the mine, the train station and, finally, for the city but the early idea of connection of this rural settlement with the «burnt hill», coal deposits (1721) which defined the further industrial potential of Kemerovo