Items of armament of the XVII-XIX centuries from the territory of the upper posad of Tobolsk

Zagvazdin Evgeniy Petrovich Researcher, Tobolsk Complex Research Station, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences 626152, Russia, Tyumen region, Tobolsk, Academician Yuri Osipov str., 15 kulay_arx@mail.ru Other publications by this author

In Siberian studies, the military theme was and remains one of the key ones in the history of Siberia and the Far East of the XVII-XVIII centuries. One of the important topics on the history of this vast region, which has recently become increasingly widespread, is related to the arming of military personnel. During this period, Tobolsk was one of the key centers for recruiting and recruiting military units for extensive military campaigns in Siberia. Here, since the very development of the city in 1587, there was the largest military garrison in Siberia, which included the entire complex of weapons and almost all land forces known at that time.

Archaeological research of Tobolsk allowed not only to raise the issues of studying military affairs in Siberia to a new level, significantly expanding the understanding of the design features of the city's fortifications, but also to obtain valuable information about weapons used by military personnel. Tobolsk archaeologists A.A. Adamov, P.G. Danilov, and I.V. Balyunov were actively engaged in the introduction into scientific circulation and the study of weapons items ^{[3, 2, 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]}, as well as Tyumen scientists A.V. Matveev, O.M. Anoshko and others ^[16], Kemerovo researcher N.M. Zinyakov ^{[12, 13]}.

Studies have shown that the armament of the serving people was quite diverse and corresponded to the standard military set formed in Western Siberia. Despite the rather extensive research of archaeological materials on weapons, not all of them are promptly introduced into scientific circulation. In addition, weapons items are still not so frequent, which makes it more attentive to this category of finds.

The purpose of this article is to introduce into scientific circulation and analyze the collection of weapons from the 2019 excavations in Tobolsk on the street. Oktyabrskaya, 9. The place where the research was carried out is located in a block 280 m northeast of Red Square, in the area of the former Assumption Convent, along the longitudinal streets, which were called Petropavlovsk and Nikolskaya before the name change in the Soviet period.

The Assumption Monastery, in the area where the excavations took place, was one of the oldest in Tobolsk and until 1609/10 was located on the left bank of the Irtysh. Until 1664, the monastery was located behind the northern wall of the prison, which was periodically expanded ^{[14, p. 38, fig. 15]}. After the abolition of the monastery in 1764, this territory belonged to the parish of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin (Ilyinskaya) [Danilov, Turova, 2017]. One of the buildings of the TCNS of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences is currently located on the territory of the land ownership where the research was conducted, and in the pre-revolutionary period there was a manor belonging to the Spassky ^{[15, p. 201]}.

The excavations were a continuation of the 2017 research ^[17]. The new works were designed to study the lower, best preserved layers as fully as possible, and determine the full dimensions and configuration of the early pit No. 1 from the excavation in 2017. The lower horizon and pit No. 1 were dated according to numismatic material from the 1st half of the XVII – 1st quarter of the XVIII century. During the study of the cultural layer in the 2019 excavation with an area of 6 square meters, objects related to remote combat weapons, handguns and heavy cannon weapons were discovered.

The arrowhead

The bone tip was found at level 6 of the horizon, in the southwestern corner of the excavation, in the upper part of the filling of pit No. 1 (Fig. 1-1). The find is dated by its location in layer 1 of the XVII – 1st quarter of the XVIII centuries. Product size: 14.8 x0.9-1 cm. The tip is a tubular bone split lengthwise. For this reason, the product has a V-shaped profile. The stalk of the arrow is narrowed. Closer to the tip, the arrow expands smoothly. The back of the arrow, closer to the tip, is horizontally cut to a length of 4.2 cm. For this reason, it has a trapezoidal profile closer to the tip. The tip is slightly broken off. According to I.V. Balyunov, bone arrowheads belong to hunting equipment, and the petiolate type of arrows, like the sample we considered, was used for the extraction of meat animals and poultry, unlike blunt-edged tomars used for fur-bearing animals ^[5]. The finds of arrows and fragments of bows in Tobolsk show that during the XVII-XVIII centuries, the bow and arrows continued to play a significant role both in military defense and fishing activities.

For example, unique finds of arrows were made in 2007 in Tobolsk during excavations at the site of reconstruction of the roadway on the street. October archaeologists of Tyumen State University. They discovered an underground passage, which had an entrance on the site of the prison, and an exit behind the prison wall. The length of the manhole was about 7 m and a depth of 2.1 m from the mainland level. Four birch bark quivers were found at the bottom of the vertical entrance tunnel. Researchers have discovered sets of arrows with preserved shafts and iron tips. The tips are made of high-quality iron and raw steel, and up to a third of the products are forged from batch blanks, which indicates their forging ^{[12, p. 98]}. The authors of the finds describe the length of the arrow shafts reaching up to 80 cm ^{[16, pp. 137, 139, fig. 31]}. Judging by the scale image, the longest arrow had this length along with the arrowhead, so the length of the shafts was slightly less – 65-75 cm. Two more birch bark quivers were found in a horizontal tunnel, near the entrance ^{[16, p. 137]} (Matveev et al., 2008, p. 137).

In general, numerous archaeological evidence of remote combat weapons finds suggests that the Russian population in Western Siberia in the XVII century used this type of remote combat weapon almost everywhere ^{[3, pp. 66, 109, fig. 33; 10, pp. 75-79, 133-136]}.

Rifle flints

Finds related to hand-held firearms are represented by two copies of rifle flints from a shock-flintlock (Fig. 1-2, 3).

Flint from the third horizon (fig. 1-2). The layer is partially disturbed by the late perekop and dates back to the XIX-XX centuries. Flint size: 3.3x1.8x0.4-0.8 m. The product is trapezoidal in shape. It is made on a plate of grayish stone. On the long side, traces of harmony are recorded in the form of an uneven jagged edge with dents, there are no such traces on the opposite side. Judging by the state of harmony of the working edge and the absence of traces of impact on the opposite side of the flint, it was used for a short time

Flint from filling pit No. 1 (Fig. 1-3). It dates from the 1st half of the XVII – 1st quarter of the XVIII centuries. Flint size: 3x2.3x1-1.1 cm. The product is trapezoidal in shape. On the one hand, the flint is ellipsoid in profile, on the other – elongated-oval. It is made of grayish-brown stone. There are traces of black plaque on its surface. Judging by the harmony of both the working edge and the heel, the flint was used repeatedly.

Experimental data show that after multiple shots, the impact edge of the flint has an uneven character with small chips. After 25-30 shots, the impact edge is blunted, rounded and for this reason soon loses its properties to strike a spark to ignite gunpowder. Such a flint was turned with another impact edge or turned over to the other side ^[11].

In Tobolsk, finds of bullets, elements of guns, such as rifle locks, ramrods, screws, combined with written evidence, indicate that in the XVII century. squeakers with a barrel caliber of 10-15 mm and a shock-flintlock had the most widespread in military affairs ^[2]. I.V. Balyunov based on a comprehensive study He clarified that in Tobolsk flintlocks began to spread from the late 1630s, but not immediately and only from the 1660s, with the creation of regiments of a foreign system in Siberia, their number increased dramatically ^{[9, p. 172]}.

Grenades

The first specimen was found on the second horizon, in the layer of the XIX-XX centuries. It is a large cast-iron fragment of a hollow spherical product measuring 9.2x7 cm (Fig. 1-4). The wall thickness is 1.1–1.8 cm. The weight of the fragment is 248 g. The diameter of the grenade is 6.9 cm. Outside, in the middle part of the grenade, there is a convex seam left over from the casting. In the upper part of the grenade there is a point – hole for placing a grenade tube, which served as a fuse, with a diameter of 1.5 cm. When fired, the grenade tube ignites, which after a certain time undermines the main powder charge in the grenade and the scattering of striking fragments occurs. The lower part of the grenade is thicker. This is necessary so that its weight is shifted in the opposite direction from the point, which is necessary so that the powder in the ignition tube does not go out ^{[13, p. 105]}.

Due to the modernization of cannon calibers under Peter I and their reduction to 8, relative uniformity of guns was achieved ^{[4, p. 59]}. A grenade of this diameter was used in widespread three-pounder guns from 1700 to 1877. ^[18] (Scales ...). Hollow ammunition weighing more than 1 pood and, therefore, of a larger caliber, similar in design, were called bombs ^{[19, p. 607]}.

The second specimen was found on the third horizon, in the layer of the XIX-XX centuries. A fragment of a cast-iron hollow projectile of spherical shape measuring 6.4x5.2 cm (Fig. 1-5). The wall thickness is 2.1-2.3 cm. The weight of the fragment is 589 g. The diameter is 11.2 cm. The considered projectile was used in 12-pounder smoothbore guns from 1700 to 1877. ^[18]

N.M. Zinyakov was engaged in the characterization of Tobolsk ammunition for heavy long-range weapons ^[13]. He studied the archaeological collection of the XVII-beginning. XX century. from the Gostiny excavation, consisting of 18 copies. When classifying the finds, he identified cores (2 copies) (forged and cast iron) and explosive grenades (16 copies). The forged core belonged to a half-pound deep squeaker, and the gray cast iron core belonged to a half-penny squeaker. The grenades he examined are represented by large fragments, and, according to his data, belong to a three-pound regimental cannon. Metallographic analysis of the garnets from the Gostiny excavation showed that, basically, they are made of white cast iron, one copy is made of gray cast iron. The thickness of the walls of the grenades was 0.7-1.5 cm.

A comparison of the metric characteristics of the grenades from Oktyabrskaya 9 with similar finds analyzed by N.M. Zinyakov from the Gostiny excavation showed that this type of ammunition was used not only with a three-pound regimental cannon, but was also used with 12-pound guns.

Conclusion

The analysis of weapons items of the XVII-XIX centuries from the excavations in 2019 at the site of one of the historical quarters of the upper posad of Tobolsk on the street Oktyabrsky showed that various types of it were used. These were both quite archaic (bow, arrows), which could be used for hunting, as well as for military defensive purposes, and advanced firearms used in combat (shotguns with a shock-flintlock, artillery). In general, these finds demonstrate the military potential of the city, which during the XVII-XVIII centuries occupied a leading position in the development of vast territories of Siberia and the Far East. Also, the presented weapons samples expand the cartography of their detection, which was previously known mainly on the territory of the Tobolsk Kremlin – Red Square, and this, in turn, allows us to raise the question of localizing the places of residence of the city's military personnel to the north of the Kremlin.

Fig. 1. Weapons items from the 2019 excavations in Tobolsk

(1 – arrow (bone), 2-3 – rifle flints (stone), 4-5 – grenades from cannons (cast iron)).