Where broad-leaved forests rustle, passing in the steppes from the east to the banks of the Volga and to the upper Don from the west, there were savromats, boudins, and tissagets …
These tribes, transforming and replenishing, starting from the 7th century BC and up to the first millennium AD, founded the Gorodets culture. From the point of view of archeology, there is another name: the culture of textile-matte ceramics.
It is the surface treatment of clay products with a print of fabric or imitation of a matting pattern on the surface that is the main distinguishing feature of ceramics of Gorodets culture.
Castle Hill
In most opinions, modern Mordovians are considered the heirs of culture. However, the latest finds tell about the existence of settlements of Gorodets culture in the Penza, Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Saratov, Lipetsk, Oryol regions, in Mari El, Chuvashia and others. Excavations are still ongoing, it is quite possible that new artifacts will expand the areas of historical distribution.
The main type of Gorodets archaeological culture are fortifications with defensive structures in the form of ramparts or ditches, as well as open places of residence - villages that did not have protective lines in the form of impregnable fences and barriers.
Most representatives of culture preferred to set up settlements on high capes surrounded by bends of rivers or ravines, that is, having natural protection. They were easily guarded and provided good visibility for the city guards.
Ravines and ramparts were sprinkled; a picket fence was installed there. Along the edge of the enclosures, fortification houses and dwellings were placed simultaneously. The houses were connected among themselves by a picket fence. Usually, cattle pens were built in the center of the settlement, and a sanctuary was set up in the highest part of the city to worship the gods of that time.
Between a rectangle and a circle
The peculiarities of Gorodets culture include the fact that initially all the houses of the settlements had a pillar base, located in a circle with concentric roofs. Especially this type of house was characteristic of the village - not fortified by the security system of the village.
In hillforts, this form took up a lot of space and was inconvenient for a bunch of each other. Therefore, it is replaced by the rectangular construction of the building, which was also originally created on poles, and the logs fit into the grooves cut into them.
But by the first millennium AD, in Gorodets culture of settlements more and more houses were built under log houses “in the paw”. As a result, the walls of buildings were not only the basis of the dwelling, but also formed an impregnable wall for the enemy from the outside.
From the outside of the “soldered” buildings, two or three lines of ramparts and ditches with a bridge to the city were arranged.
Crafts and occupations of people of Gorodets culture
Numerous archaeological finds in the sites of wild animal bones confirm the hypothesis that hunting and fishing were the main industries of the tribes of that time.
The hunt was conducted for the sake of furs, which not only served as warming homes, but were also the subject of lively trade with the southern neighbors. The furs of the fox, beaver, bear, and affection were highly valued, according to the references of ancient authors describing trade with the northern tribes. According to average estimates of archaeological research specialists, the extraction and processing of fur animals amounted to 70 percent of the remaining occupations and trades of the settlers.
The Gorodets culture of the early Iron Age discovers a large number of hunting objects with iron, bone and bronze tips for spears, arrows, darts.
The hunt was conducted collectively, with the arrangement of hunting pits, pens for moose and roe deer, using hunting nets and traps.
Do not be left without a catch
No less developed was fishing. Given the fact that fortifications were built near rivers, fish was an affordable and valuable source of nutrition, not requiring much collective effort.
Harpoons unique in execution, needles for knitting nets, and various fishing hooks were found at excavation sites of ancient settlements.
All fishing tackle was distinguished by a solid strength, this suggests that the fish was found in large numbers and in huge numbers.
House cattle, grass dewdrop
Oh you wide steppe … It is not surprising that cattle breeding and agriculture played a special role in the economy of the Gorodets culture tribes.
According to scientists, researchers, almost all types of existing domestic animals were used by residents on the farm.
In addition to cows and horses, domesticated pigs and sheep, familiar to everyday life by the beginning of the Iron Age, archaeological finds of bones of ducks and chickens belong to the first century BC.
In addition, there is still curious evidence related to the Gorodets culture of this time - these are the remains of clay pans, on which, apparently, food was fried: eggs, meat, pancake pies.
Reliable information on the composition of domestic herds has not yet been obtained, but judging by the findings of a sister Dyakovo culture, the approximate content of the herd was as follows: about half were pigs, then 20 and 18 percent were horses and cows, respectively, and about 12 percent were representatives of small cattle.
Herds were moved from pasture to pasture at night under the protection of large dogs.
Grain, bread and fresh milk
Our ancestors used interesting tools for processing milk, whipping into butter and cottage cheese. The samples of whorls or corollas that have survived to this day suggest that female tools have not changed much since the old days. For sludge cottage cheese used a wooden colander.
Gorodets tribes grew grain, while oxen and horses served as tractors when plowing the land. Used plow and plow, which were in use everywhere.
The grain was harvested with sickles. The iron sickle was an arc in which a blade curved from a petiole.
In the monuments of Gorodets culture - hillforts and villages, many agricultural tools were found: pink salmon spits, sickles, hammers …
Grown and harvested grain: rye, flax, wheat, hemp (hemp) were processed and used in everyday life. Strong and beautiful fabrics were woven from flax and hemp threads, the grain was grinded with special devices - sheaths.
Female labor and a reward for it
According to tradition, the main female labor consisted of spinning and weaving. Used in the work of vertical machines, weights for which are found in large quantities on the ground Gorodets dwellings.
Needles were used for sewing, and the ears of the needles made of bone, bronze or iron are made skillfully and are in no way inferior to modern ones.
Using an awl, thick leathers were pierced for sewing raincoats or shoes for men and women. Crafted leather from wild animals was used to make clothes.
The photo shows the reconstructed clothes of the Sarmatians (Savromats): the raincoat and shoes of the men's suit are made of leather.
Female labor was valued and generously rewarded. In Gorodets culture, both birds and animals were revered, as well as the main luminaries - the sun and moon.
The metaphorical endowment of jewelry with the magical power of nature sometimes coexisted with the allocation of certain protective features of birds or animals.
Women's jewelry was original and diverse: buckles, pendants, jewelry for braids, various overlays, plaques - brooches, pins.
Of particular interest is the beads that adorn clothing, which local craftsmen cast from an alloy of tin and lead. Molds for making beads were found during excavations of a number of ancient settlements.
In the course was the manufacture of children's charms, the endowment of household items with the strength of nature, for example, a children's spoon was found with the head of an elk on the handle. Apparently, this spoon belonged to the boy and was donated with the goal of growing from him a real moose hunter.
And what else does a woman need: a good husband, obedient children and a lot of jewelry on her head, neck, waist, arms and legs.
