TOMSK, Nov 5 – RIA Tomsk. Archeologists of Tomsk State University (TSU) established the exact location of the Ketsky Ostrog, which existed on the territory of the region in the 16-18 centuries, but for various reasons changed deployment several times, the press service of the university reported on Tuesday.
According to the release with reference to the employee of the Museum of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of Siberia Eugeniy Barsukov, the Ketsky Ostrog existed on the territory of the modern Tomsk region from the end of the 16th to the middle of the 18th century and was the base for further development of Siberia. It was built by Russians who appeared in Siberia, faced with resistance of the local population – Selkupas.
Initially, the Ostrog was on the border of the Tomsk region and Krasnoyarsk region on the Ket River, but due to difficult terrain, problems with farming and washing of the riverbank it was transferred several times, Barsukov says. Until recently, scientists only roughly imagined where the Ostrog was "moving". Its second and third locations were found by TSU scientists with the help of maps and testimonies of travelers and researchers.
"The artifacts found in 2019: knife, axe, chair, Russian and foreign ceramics allowed to establish the location of the Ostrog (at the third point – in the area of the village Ketskoe, which ceased to exist in the second half of the 20th century)", – the message says.
It is added, the employees of TSU also managed to find part of the earth shaft in this territory, which, apparently, used to surround the walls of the Ketsky Ostrog. The archeologists hope that these findings will allow to reconstruct the events of the first decades of Russian presence in Siberia.Barsukov also told about some interesting artifacts found in the locations of the Ostrog. Thus, scientists found both Selkupan and Russian ceramics in one cultural layer, which may indicate either mixed marriages or joint residence of Russians and Selkupas. Since there is little written evidence from the 17th century of the population of the north of the Tomsk region, such findings can tell how people developed these territories.
The study, which scientists plan to continue, is supported by the Dmitri Mendeleev Scientific Foundation of TSU.