T. N. Sobolnikova Museum of Nature and Human, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russian Federation, [email protected]
 A. V. Kuzina Museum of Nature and Human, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russian Federation, [email protected]
ABSTRACT
Introduction: the fortified settlements were called «towns» («Ostyak towns») in historiography of XVIII – early XX centuries. They were the military-political centers of separate territories (volost) of North-Western Siberia in the period of XIII–XV centuries (prior to the development by the Russians). Information about them was preserved in the heroic epos of the Ob Ugrians. In 2018, the authors conducted archaeological research in the downstream of the Konda River (left tributary of Irtysh) in 2018. Directions of the research were the search and identification of remains of the «towns» mentioned in written sources. The article discusses one of the plots of these expeditions related to the search of the town Karypospat-UrdatVosh, sung in the legends of the Irtysh (Southern) Khanty.
Objective: to identify the localization of one of the legendary Ugrian “towns” of the Lower Konda River on the basis of comprehensive analysis of the sources – folklore, written, cartographic and field archaeological research of 2018.
Research materials: the legends of the Irtysh (Southern) Khanty recorded by S. K. Patkanov and S. Shulgin in the late XIX – early XX centuries in the yurts of Menshe-Kondinsky volost of Tobolsk Guberniya contain information about several «towns» located in the lower reaches of the Konda River. They contain spatial and topographical indications, mentions of the modern toponyms. Identification of these data, their comparison with written sources of the XVIII – early XX centuries (works of historians, expedition materials) as well as a cartographic analysis allows us to determine the areas of search of the Ugric towns.
Results and novelty of the research: the article introduces new materials on medieval archeology of the Lower Irtysh region into the scientific circulation, obtained by the authors during the expedition of 2018. The area of localization of the town Karypospat-Urdat-Vosh was determined in the process of the analysis of all information available in the legends and other sources and comparison of them with modern topographic maps and satellite images. In the archaeological survey of 2018, the cape town was discovered, which we can correlate with the town Karypospat-Urdat-Vosh. Its topography, external appearance and parameters of fortifications (double line of ditches and ramparts), collected material (ceramics) are typical for the sites of North-Western Siberia of the beginning of II millennium AD. An additional argument in favor of our version was the data of micro-toponymy obtained during the expedition.
Key words: archeology of Western Siberia, Konda, heroic epos, towns, the Middle Ages.
Acknowledgements: field researches are executed with financial support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and the Government of KhMAO – Yugra within the scientific project No.18-49-860008. The authors express their gratitude to Yulia V. Islamova, Candidate of Philological Sciences (Yugra State University, Khanty-Mansiysk) for consultation on toponymy issues. The authors express their deep gratitude to the Bolchary settlement administration of Kondinsky District of KhMAO – Yugra, and personally to its head Sergey Yu. Mokrousov as well as Alexander A. Ganin, who provided organizational assistance in the expedition.
For citation: Sobolnikova T. N., Kuzina A.V. Legendary “towns” of the Lower Konda: sources on their localization and archaeological search (based on the materials of the expedition of  2018) // Vestnik ugrovedenia = Bulletin of Ugric Studies. 2018; 8(4): 755–766.