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The Experience of
Making Ready the Materials on the History and Culture of Ancient
and Mediaeval Nomads of South Siberia and Central Asia
for the Cultural Atlases*
Alice Ju. Borisenko and
Julius S. Khudyakov, Novosibirsk
State University, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the
Siberian Branch of the RAS
The task of translating the historical knowledge of nomad people
of the Eurasian steppe zone is of current importance for Russia,
Kazakhstan and Middle Asian nations. There is a change of prevalent
views in historical science at the moment according to which any
phenomena and processes were explained by the social-economic reasons.
Under the influence of this change, the main achievements of historical
science in the field of nomad studies have been prejudiced in some
of the CIS and Russian Federation republics. Among those who reject,
on various pretexts, the results of historical research made by
several generations of European and Russian scholars, the dilettanti
prevail, having no professional training, and direct their attention
to works of some authors of the recent past. In this condition,
the dissemination of knowledge on the history of nomads is of great
importance now. That is why the popular scientific editions on
political, ethnical and military history, and also on the culture
of Eurasian nomads written by professional historians and archaeologists
take on special significance.
Preparing and editing cultural atlases became
an important trend in the dissemination of knowledge on the history
and culture of Eurasian nomads during last years. The editing
center “Design
Information Cartography” has prepared and edited a series
of such atlases on the history and culture of Kyrgyzia, Buryatia,
and Tartarstan. The atlas on the history of Siberia is to be edited
shortly. Similar editions are being prepared on other CIS nations,
for instance in Kazakhstan. A certain experience has now been gained
in the work with such editions. This permits access to their informational
and educational potential, and to outline further ways of development
in this line of dissemination of knowledge.
Basic problems characteristic
for cultural atlases have emerged in past times. Such atlases
contain general data on a country or region under research, its
geography, nature, climate, flora and fauna. The historical and
cultural section of the atlases contain data on the ancient history,
including periods of settling and developing in this region by
man or his ancestors, on developing productive forms of economy,
on agriculture and cattle breeding, on metal mining and processing,
and on emerging settlements and cities. The popular narration
of ancient and mediaeval history of nomads of the Eurasian steppe
zone, with excursus in the history and culture
of title people of the region, forms the general content of the
atlases. The events of modern and new history are covered in
different atlases in different ways depending on the change in
their treatment in the country and in the region itself. The
other parts of the atlases differ essentially. There is only
one centerfold describing the modern period of an independent
Kyrgyz state in the section on new history in the Cultural Atlas
of Kyrgyzstan. There is also a map of the Turkic people settlement
in Eurasia and short data on Turkic states and autonomies inside
some states in the same section. At the same time the Kyrgyz
heroic epic “Manas” forms
the original large section. There are large sections on ancient
and mediaeval history, ethnography, religion, and modern and new
history, alongside with that on the nature in Atlas on History
and Culture of Buryatia. Atlas “Таrtarica” greatly
exceeds previous editions on this subject in its volume. Besides
descriptions of the natural environment, relief, climate, flora,
fauna and minerals, it has data on scheduled natural territories,
as well as minute data on the history of the middle Volga region
beginning from the earliest times until the late mediaeval period,
on tartar states which emerged after the Golden Horde decay, on
the history of tartars inside Russia, on the people settled in
modern Tatarstan, and on tartar diasporas in different countries.
There is data in this atlas on religious life, economics, politics,
the development of science, and culture in the autonomy. Political
districts of Tatarstan are also described in detail.
The results of the scientific activity by many scholars representing
the leading science centers of Russia, CIS and Mongolia are collected
in these atlases. The historical data in the aforementioned atlases
was given as a summary, while in the next books the leading experts
of many science centers became the authors of historical parts,
which raised their quality. At the same time it is impossible not
to notice that the same maps and artworks are repeatedly placed
in this and that atlas. Of course it is difficult to refrain from
such repetitions, because similar problems are present in both
of these atlases. The nomadic culture of the steppe zones of Eurasia
is studied unevenly. Some of them are described in narrative sources,
though no archaeological specimen can be ascribed to them. That
is why it is very difficult to illustrate, visually, the parts
describing such nomads with archaeological findings. In working
out the content it is necessary to take into account the results
of the newest research of the scholars who identified the unknown
findings of the Sianbi time and the late mediaeval time in the
nomadic culture of Central Asia. It will demand the cooperation
of efforts of scholars from different countries and scientific
centers.
* The work is developed in the frame of the Program of Education
Ministry. Project 2.2.1.1. 218
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Atlas of Islamic
Cult Places
Alikber K. Alikberov
The idea to build up the Project of the Atlas of Islamic Cult
Places was born in the middle of 1990s in the process of
developing another project named “Islam on the Territory
of the Former Russian Empire”. At the moment there are
four issues of encyclopaedia and one summary volume edited by
Stanislav M. Prozorov. Nevertheless the work over the Atlas was
advanced insignificantly: only three maps were produced by A.
Alikberov who published them in two different projects. These
maps are: “Bab al-Abvab”, “Transcaucasia and
North Caucasus in the Classic Islam Epoch” and “Seljukid
Empire on the Border of 11 – 12 ca.”
The idea of Atlas is very simple. The contour map of the Russian
Federation or any other state (in vector graphics) makes its base.
On this map historical cultural areas of Islam dissemination are
marked out with different colours (colour points at the chronology
of Islam dissemination). Then cult object themselves like sanctuaries,
mosques, mausoleums, graves, etc., are to be drawn on this base.
The hierarchy of these objects is worked out. It depends on dating,
importance of object as a place of worship by clan, village, district,
ethnic cultural unit, province, country, and also on some other
properties. Atlas will consist of one general and dozen of detailed
maps with icons of Islamic cult places.
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History, Historical
Cultural and Natural Heritage in the Atlas of the Khanty Mansiysk
Autonomous Region - Hungary
Grigory
Z. Vajsman (Yekaterinburg)
Tatiana V. Kotova (Moscow)
Vladimir S. Tikunov (Moscow)
The geographic faculty and Scientific-production center “Monitoring” have
finished their works on two-volume complex scientific-research
Atlas of Khanti-Mansi Autonomous District (Volume I – History.
Population. Economy and Volume II – Nature. Ecology (published
in 2004). In this Atlas much attention is paid to historic and
cultural peculiarities of the territory. “History. Historical
and Cultural Heritage of Yugra” is one of main parts of the
atlas. It concerns 35 maps grouped into 6 sections covering the
history of exploration and settlements on the territory, historic
changes of administrative borders of the District, confessions
from the end of XVI century till the 20ies XX century, soviet period
and historic and cultural heritage. Authors’ works were made
consulting historians and archaeologists from Yekaterinburg.
Maps were made in following scales: 1:3 000 000, 1 : 5 000 000
and 1: 6 000 000. Maps are completed by text descriptions.
History of development of the district is presented on those maps:
first Russian and native settlements by the end of XVI century,
Russian Campaigns for joining the territory of Western Siberia
in XVII century, armed conflicts and revolts of the population
in XVII. The history of exploration of the territory by Russian,
and foreign (Hungarian and Finnish) scientists is also fully showed
on the maps.
Of great interest are the maps covering the religious situation
on the territory of district during three centuries. Its key events
are described on the following maps: the Religious situation in
XVI century, Distribution of Christianity in the end XVI-XVII centuries,
involving into Christianity the native population in the beginning
of XVIII century, etc. Several maps reflect accommodation of orthodox
temples and cult places native population. Other of them shows
in a complex the Soviet period of history, from its establishment
in 1917-1919 to a complex map of the development of the region
(for 30-60ies). Among the map covering unknown pages of history
of district there are such subjects, as Collectivization, Gulag "Islands",
etc.
At the end of this part of the atlas there are historical and cultural
heritage maps (Cult places of people of Western Siberia on territories
of district, archaeological objects of an epoch of a stone, bronze,
the early Iron Age and an epoch of the Middle Ages).
Within the natural heritage maps (Specially protected natural areas
and Attractiveness of landscapes - 8 maps) it presents the laws
of formation of heritage as complete material-ideal system in a
context of culture-historical development of territory. The final
map belonging to the last part of the atlas Toponymy shows areas
of distribution of the core place-names on the territory and their
interpretation from the point of national ethymology.
Te subjects of other parts of the KhMAO Atlas (Small nations of
the region, Land usage and land Resources) cover the peculiarities
of those local nations (khanti, mansi etc), of their culture and
living in modern conditions of living, during the active exploitation
oil and gas resources of the region.
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