We're used to thinking of Siberia as a remote region, reached by the world only last, with the arrival of Russia. In fact, long before that, Iranian and Sogdian silver, Chinese silk, and Han mirrors had been transported here, while sable, prized from Baghdad to Constantinople, was shipped back south. The northern forest wasn't a fringe, but the far end of a vibrant trade network.

In this issue, I'll explore: Eastern silver, which the Ob Ugrians kept at sanctuaries as a relic, rather than spending it as money. Kulai bronze with a human face on a bird's chest and wax castings by taiga hunters. The Sargat culture, a forgotten kingdom of the forest-steppe, whose gold was dug up by hill-diggers before archaeologists, and some of it found its way into Peter the Great's Siberian collection. The Chichin settlement, whose true scale was first revealed by a magnetometer. The Ust-Poluy sanctuary on the Arctic Circle, with hundreds of sacrificed dogs and some of the world's oldest harness sleds. And the Chud mines of Altai, through which the Demidovs discovered silver, abandoned by a people who, according to legend, disappeared underground.

Six finds and one road we almost forgot about.

Issue Topics:
🥈 Eastern silver at the Khanty and Mansi shrines
🦅 Kulai bronze: a face on a bird's chest
🐎 Sargat culture and the northern branch of the Silk Road
🏘️ The Chichin settlement, which was spotted by the device
🐕 Ust-Polui: A Sanctuary on the Arctic Circle
The Chud Mines of Altai and the People Who Went Underground

Sources I relied on when creating:
1. Smirnov Ya.I. Eastern Silver. St. Petersburg, 1909.
2. Darkevich V.P. Artistic Metal of the East. Moscow, 1976.
3. Marshak B.I. Sogdian silver. Moscow, 1971.
4. Baulo, A.V. "The Connection of Times and Cultures (a silver dish from Verkhne-Nildino)". Journal of Archaeology, Ethnography, and Anthropology of Eurasia, 2004.
5. Chindina L.A. Ancient history of the Middle Ob region in the Iron Age. Tomsk, 1984.
6. Mogilnikov V.A. Sargat culture (in the volume “The Steppe Belt of the Asian Part of the USSR in the Scythian-Sarmatian Period”, series “Archaeology of the USSR”). Moscow, 1992.
7. Molodin V.I., Parzinger G. et al. Chicha, a Bronze-Iron Age settlement in the Baraba forest-steppe. Novosibirsk, 2004.
8. Moshinskaya V.I. Material culture and economy of Ust-Polui (Materials and research on the archeology of the USSR). Moscow, one thousand nine hundred and fifty-three.
9. Chernikov S.S. Ancient metallurgy and mining of Western Altai. Alma-Ata, 1949.

This video is for educational purposes only. Some of the theories presented, including interpretations of cult images and folk tales about the Chud, are presented as hypotheses and points of view, not as established scientific truths. Dates and attributions are based on published research and are subject to revision.

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