Reports of the Laboratory of ancient technologies

51-64

Authors: N.A Konstantinov, A.U. Urbushev

The article publishes the disturbed burial of the Pazyryk culture, investigated by the expedition of the GornoAltaisk State University in 2016 at the Taldura II cemetery in the Kosh-Agach district of the Altai Republic. During the excavations of the burial mound, traces of robbery in the form of a cut through hole in a wooden cover of the burial, separation of the heads of the buried people, changes in the initial position of the deceased persons were recorded. Observations over the features of this complex and comparison with other disturbed burials made it possible to make a number of observations on the interpretation of the tradition of the violation of the burial mounds of Pazyryk culture. Most of these objects were robbed back in a short time after placing of bodies into burials. Two approaches to the interpretation of the violation of funeral complexes are considered. The first is a “pragmatic” approach, explaining the violation of graves only for the purpose of gaining profit by obtaining a valuable accompanying inventory. The second approach sees a violation of burial as part of the ritual sphere of activity of the ancient man. Such an approach suggests that the “robbery” could be carried out with a view to: a) desecrating the grave, for example, by an alien population to demonstrate their rights to the territory; b) the implementation of the final rituals in the framework of the burial ritual.

85-97

Authors: S.B. Miyagasheva

The article is devoted to the study of the traditional ritualism of hunting of the Buryats reflected in the syncretic ritual practice. The process of developing an unified Buddhist-shamanic canonized ritual was carried out with the help of written recording of previously existed shamanic traditions. Such texts are called shamanic manuscripts and represent the cult system of Tibetan Buddhism, and show the development and transformation of its concepts in the regional forms. Shamanic manuscripts basically reflect the most popular and significant rites, for example, hunting rituals. Despite sufficient study of hunting traditions of the Mongolian peoples, the study of the semantics of rituals, reveal of archaic elements such as magical, mythological, animistic, and its comparison with rituals prescribed in Buddhism is of interest. For this purpose, the article analyzes and presents the characteristics of hunting rituals of the Buryats reflected in the ritual texts of the san-choga category, i.e. texts of offering and burning incense (bsangs cho ga). These include the prayers devoted to the hunting deity Manakhan, as well as ranks for cleaning guns and straps of horse saddles. The evolution of the image of the hunting deity Manakhan Khan is discussed. Common features and parallels with local deities are revealed. It is shown that hunting rituals recorded in the shamanic manuscripts of the Buryats contain different layers of archaic and syncretic elements.

121-126

Authors: O.E. Naumova

This publication is devoted to the stay of archierium Veniamin Bagryansky at the head of the Irkutsk diocese from 1789 to 1814. The article shows the main directions of Benjamin Bagryansky's activities in the development of the Irkutsk diocese, which paid special attention to the issues of spiritual education. He made a particularly large contribution to the establishment of the seminar library and became the only archpriest of Irkutsk, for whom was installed the monument in the seminary for his pedagogical work. The purpose of writing the articles is to highlight the work of Veniamin Bagryansky on the development of missionary work and the construction of new churches on the territory of the Irkutsk diocese. It includes his contribution to the development of “Russian America” – Alaska and the Aleutian Islands in the late XVIII – early XIX century, as well as his participation in the church reforms of Emperor Paul the First and in charitable activities. The article discusses the interaction of the bishop with the provincial authorities and his contribution to strengthening the Irkutsk province. There are also shortcomings in the management of the diocese