Introduction. The article deals with the issue of Christian communities of different denominations to have resided in the city of Majar, the latter localized around Majar hillfort on the Kuma riverside. Christian cult objects have been discovered in the commercial and crafts quarter of the hillfort. Archaeological and written sources make it possible to identify certain groups of Christians — Orthodox, Catholic, and Gregorian (Armenian) ones — within the city’s population. Goals. The study aims to summarize data on Christians in Majar. Nowadays, there is archaeological evidence confirming Majar had been also inhabited by ethnic Russians and Armenians. Materials and methods. The work analyzes the First Sophia Chronicle, sources on Latin missionary activity in the Golden Horde published by Ph. Bruun, A. Malyshev, and R.  Hautala, a 1774 map of the Caucasus compiled by Georg Treitel, and archaeological materials. The study employs a number of research methods, such as the historical/systemic, historical/comparative, and cartographic ones. Results. The year 1245 had witnessed earliest contacts between the papacy and the Mongol Empire. In 1260, relations between the Golden Horde and the Byzantine Empire were set up. And in 1267, Metropolitan Kirill II of Kiev received a jarlig from Khan Mengu-Timur. Rulers of the Golden Horde were seeking to achieve various domestic and foreign policy goals through the agenda of religious tolerance. Franciscan missions, parishes of the Alan Metropolitanate, Diocese of Sarai, and the Armenian Church were functioning across the early 14th-century North Caucasus. Some 16th–18th century written sources attest to the presence of a Christian temple within the hillfort of Majar. Materials published by Ph. Bruun, A. Malyshev, and R. Hautala provide evidence Majar and its neighborhood used to host several Franciscan missions throughout the 14th century. Christian cult objects (encolpion cross, copper icon) discovered in the territory of Majar’s trade and crafts quarter testify to that Orthodox Christians had also lived there and had a temple of their own. The Armenian cross-stone (khachkar) which had been part of a church and found at the ancient site suggests there may have been an Armenian community and an Armenian temple too. Conclusions. The available evidence of the presence of different Christian denominations in Majar insufficiently reveals their role in the city’s life. And it gets urgent to localize the Christian quarter at the ancient site of Majar. So, the search for archival materials and archaeological explorations of the site should be continued.

Introduction. The economic development of Eastern Persian provinces Kerman and Sistan — and the latter’s role in Russian-British economic rivalry — throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries remains somewhat understudied in both Russian and foreign historiographies. Goals. The article attempts an analysis of key trends in the development of Sistan and Kerman at the turn of the 20th century and their significance in foreign economic activities of both Great Britain and Russia. Materials and methods. The paper investigates reports by Russian diplomats to have headed Consulates to Kerman and Sistan. The employed research methods are the historical/genetic, historical/comparative, and historical/typological ones. Results. Russian diplomats paid great attention to peculiarities of Kerman and Sistan’s development, with due regard of their ethnic compositions, climatic conditions, and economic potentials. The article emphasizes that for a long time foreign trade of Kerman and Sistan was dominated by the British Empire which used, first of all, the potential and experience gained by India in organizing trade with Persia. The analysis of the Russian diplomatic reports shows since the late 19th century Russia — driven by its own foreign economic ambitions in Eastern Persia — was showing great interest in these provinces. St. Petersburg was aware of the impossibility of maintaining political dominance in Persia without strengthening its economic presence in the country, including in regions traditionally dominated by the British Empire. This initiative of St. Petersburg caused great concern in London. Conclusions. In the late 19th – early 20th centuries, Russia succeeded in challenging the positions of the British Empire in Sistan and Kerman markets, even in the segment of textile exports traditionally dominated by Great Britain. At the same time, when it comes to describe the obvious achievements of Russia in Persia’s eastern provinces it should be noted that Russian entrepreneurs showed little interest in developing trade with Kerman and Sistan. Therefore, most foreign economic operations were to be implemented with the active participation of Russian diplomatic missions. However, on the eve of WWI Russia’s entrepreneurs did take an initiative of their own, and thus paved further trade success in Sistan and Kerman.

Introduction. The 20th-century shaping and development of the intelligentsia in China’s Inner Mongolia remains understudied in Russian Mongolian studies. Goals. The study aims at exploring the development of Inner Mongolia’s education system, including in Daur-inhabited areas, in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, at determining the place and role of the Mongolian-Tibetan Special School in training of Inner Mongolia’s advanced youth. Materials and methods. The article analyzes a wide range of sources, including documents from the Russian State Archive of Sociopolitical History (RGASPI) and Central Archives of the Federal Security Service of Russia (CA FSB). It also examines a number of publications, such as collected documents and memoirs titled ‘Notes of Disasters and Sufferings’, one reference book on Morin Dawa Daur Autonomous Banner, and the Neimenggu ribao (Inner Mongolia Daily) newspaper. Certain attention is paid to works by Russian and foreign historians that touch upon some aspects of education development in ethnic regions of China. Results. In the early 20th century, the youth of Inner Mongolia gained opportunities to study at educational institutions of China and other countries. Subsequently, the revolutionary youth to further constitute a large proportion of the Mongolian intelligentsia took an active part in the sociopolitical events of the examined period. Conclusions. The reforms of the Qing and ROC governments in ethnic minorities education system gave rise to a large number of educational institutions to be attended by commoners’ children in Inner Mongolia. This proved a crucial factor to have formed a new social stratum in the region throughout the 1920s and 1930s. The latter was shaped by young Mongols to have undergone training not only in China but also in Japan, Mongolia, and the USSR. They played a significant role in the all-Mongolian national liberation movement. The paper asserts important impacts of the Mongolian-Tibetan Special School which had educated political elites of 20th-century Inner Mongolia.

Introduction. The edition titled ‘Federal Security Service Archives: Mongolia Documented, 1922–1936’ contains a Note by Advisor to the MPR Economic Council E. Stulov on [His] Journey to Arkhangai Aimag. The document is of certain interest primarily from a perspective of the current economic and political situation in the country. Advisor E. Stulov was staying in Tsetserleg, the capital of Arkhangai Aimag, from 1 to 10 June 1932, and compiled the Note on 25 June of the same year to be marked top secret. The author mentions the main objective of the journey was to ‘investigate essentials and causes of the uprising’ in the aimag. Personal files of Evgeny A. Stulov are housed at the Russian State Archive of the Economy (Collection of the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Trade as of the Year 1925). The Note can be viewed as an extended report on events to have taken place not only in Arkhangai but also in other provinces, and be structured as follows: 1) causes and essentials of the 1932 uprising, 2) economic reasons of the uprising, 3) work of the party organization in the aimag and wider — that of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party nationwide. Goals. The article attempts an analysis of Stulov’s journey to Arkhangai Aimag and examines reasons — political and economic ones — of the uprising and related riots both in Arkhangai and across the bulk of the country. Materials. The paper examines archival documents, published sources, and academic literature. Results and conclusions. E. Stulov’s Note reveals reasons of social unrests across various Mongolian estates. The journey is sure to have been crucial to that the Soviet Government undertook prompt measures to tackle the dramatic events. The unrests had begun in April 1932, and already in May the Mongolian question was being discussed at a meeting of the Politburo (VKP(b) Central Committee), which dispatched a letter to Ulaanbaatar containing proposals aimed at eliminating errors and miscounts afforded. This is why in June the Advisor to the MPR Economic Council was missioned to the country for detailed insights, and the officer’s journey note did reveal actual reasons of what had happened.

Introduction. The article scrutinizes the 1727 Kalmyk-Kuban contacts and — within the latter — the role of the rebellious Sultan Bahti Giray of Kuban to have dramatically destabilized the Russian-Ottoman steppe frontier. The recent years witness an increasing interest in Bahti Giray’s biography examined in a series of special publications. Goals. The paper aims to introduce some newly discovered data on Kalmyk-Kuban relations. Materials. The work focuses on materials from the National Archive of Kalmykia to have collected unique documents of correspondence between Kalmyk princes and South Russian authorities, as well as secret eyewitness reports on Kalmyk-Kuban contacts. Results. The article provides a detailed historical review of Kalmyk-Kuban relations as of 1727. Conclusions. In 1726–1727, Bahti Giray — after a number of misfortunes — joined another struggle for power in Kuban with the military aid of the Kalmyks. Kalmyk leaders were eager to seize the opportunity for minimizing any threats from Kuban rather than for regaining control over Yedisan and Jamboiluk Nogais. So, those were common military and political interests that brought Bahti Giray and Kalmyk chieftains together. Meanwhile, the Russian Government was worried enough by the tense situation in the Russian-Turkish frontier and sought for various means to neutralize the rebellious sultan — from political murder to proclamation of a protectorate, the latter having been welcomed by both the sultan himself and most Kalmyk princes that took an active part in the negotiation process. However, Colonel V. Beklemishev who was acting as Russia’s chief representative throughout the negotiations did fear the two parties may have initiated a political imitation but had no efficient levers to influence the situation and cancel the forthcoming Kuban campaign.

Introduction. The current community demand for ethnic identity search and its paths makes insights into everyday life of the past topical enough. So, there is also a growing interest in past Kalmyk everyday life which proves unique in many respects. Another research motive is that the phenomenon remains understudied and is limited to some fragmentary observations of a small circle of authors. Goals. The paper aims at characterizing a history of Kalmyk everyday life through the example of deeds and concerns of one shabinar clan to have inhabited Kalmyk Steppe of Astrakhan Governorate. The chronological framework — mid-19th to early 20th centuries — is explained by the abundance of innovations witnessed by the period to have caused essential changes in the slow-paced nomadic life. Materials and methods. The study analyzes a wide range of archival sources to focus on records management documents housed at the National Archive of Kalmykia (collections ‘Kalmyk People’s Executive Department’ and ‘Executive Office of Baga Dorbet Ulus’) and thus introduced into scientific circulation. The study employs a complex of general scientific and special historical methods, with a fundamental role to be played by the civilizational/cultural and interdisciplinary approaches in combination with the principles of historicism and objectivity together supposed to yield maximum truthfulness in descriptions of examined phenomena. Results. The period under study is distinguished by a dramatic destruction of the clan/tribal isolation once inherent to Kalmyk society, this caused by both administrative measures (the 1910 consolidation of aimaks and khotons) and socioeconomic changes to have resulted in essential stratification of society and labor migrations of impoverished individuals and families (including beyond borders of Governorate proper). The latter processes were aggravated by Russian peasant inflows to Kalmyk Steppe and additional land-related problems.

Introduction. The article deals with the Russian colonization of Uryankhay Krai (present-day Tyva Republic) prior to the establishment of Russian protectorate. Goals. The paper aims at analyzing migration flows to have accompanied the peopling of Uryankhay Krai. Materials and methods. The source base for the study was a wide range of materials, among which a significant proportion is occupied by pre-revolutionary publications, including periodicals (Siberia, Minusinsk Territory, Minusinsk Leaf, Yenisei Thought, Krasnoyarsk Voice, etc.), containing information on the topic under study. The methodological basis of the article was the general scientific principle and methods of scientific knowledge. Data on the demographic composition of migrants are limited. Results. A total of three Russian population inflows — gold mining, agricultural, and commercial ones — can be traced. Earliest messages about gold mining in Uryankhay date back to 1837 when Russians started exploiting gold mines in upper reaches of the Sistikema River. Tuvans worked in the mines, panned for gold. By the 1910s, there were 15 operating mines in Uryankhay. Gold mining was hindered not only by roadless terrain but also by the 1903 decree obliging Russian gold miners to leave their mines upon receipt of any restrictive resolution from the Chinese Government. Those were Old Believers who had arrived in Uryankhay earliest (around the 1860s) in search of Belevodye kingdom. Those were first Russians to have started cultivating land in the region. Periodicals were depicting Tuvan-inhabited lands as fertile, and after the expulsion of the Chinese a campaign popularizing ‘rich soils’ was organized among Minusinsk peasants and across territories adjacent to the Siberian railway. By 1914, over 3,000 dessiatins were occupied by Russian crops. Earliest merchants to have arrived in region were delivering ‘goods in their bosom’ exchanging knives, matches, tobacco and other commodities for livestock and furs. The bulk of Russians moved to Uryankhay from nearest provinces and the migration could be characterized as replacement one: bordering peasants suffering from lack of plough-land and aware of Uryankhay’s resources chose to move therein to be replaced by migrant Minusinsk peasants. Ethnic and social structure of immigrants from Russia was not that homogeneous. So, representatives of different ethnic groups — Russians, Tatars, Khakas, Latvians, Poles — came from different social classes, e.g., merchants, Cossacks, peasants. This attests to a high migration mobility in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As of the establishment of Russian protectorate in 1914, over 5,5 thousand Russians were living in the region. Conclusions. Russian colonization — from the arrival of Old Believers and to the official protectorate of Russia — was complete in less than 60 years. The rapid and successful process was facilitated by a number of factors, namely: geographical location, lack of an exact borderline between the two countries, China’s political situation, and economic opportunities for Russian population in the region.

Goals. The article seeks to reveal specifics of historical science’s institutionalization in the Buryat-Mongol ASSR throughout the 1920s and 1930s. It analyzes the conditions to have accompanied the development of historical science in the prerevolutionary era, peculiarities in the shaping of new organizational forms for historical research in the Republic (scientific institution, scientific society, museums and archives), and a corresponding educational infrastructure. Much attention is paid to the analysis of history and ethnography research endeavors of scientific societies (Dorzhi Banzarov Buryat-Mongol Society, Troitskosavsk-Kyakhta Branch of the Russian Geographical Society) and the first scientific institution of the Republic to have evolved from Buryat-Mongol Scientific Committee into the State Institute of Language, Literature and Cultural History during the mentioned period. Materials and methods. The paper examines unpublished documents stored at the Center of Oriental Manuscripts and Xylographs (Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies SB RAS), Scientific Archive of the Buryat Scientific Center (SB RAS), and the State Archive of Buryatia. The principles of historicism and systemacity employed make it possible to reconstruct the process of historical science’s institutionalization in the young Buryat-Mongol autonomy, the latter having been determined by objectives of scientific, cultural, social, economic and political development of the Soviet state. This has yielded a balanced approach aimed to characterize the ideological predicaments faced by the humanities in earliest decades of the BMASSR. Results. The first post-October decade witnessed the shaping of a conceptually new paradigm of historical science based on Marxist-Leninist ideologies — paralleled by the formation of Buryat-Mongolia’s infrastructure of historical science represented by institutions of science and education, public organizations and archives. In methodological terms, the very historical science was being developed ‘under the flag of local history’ with the typically insufficient detailing and generalizing nature of historical problem statements. The first 1926 meeting on ethnic culture and the 1934 meeting on controversial issues of Buryat-Mongolia’s history did articulate consolidated ideas pertaining to development directions and objectives for historical science in the Republic. Despite the ideological extremities had had most negative impacts on human resources and potentials of regional historical science, by the late 1930s there were a source base and theoretical/methodological tools generally compliant with Marxist-Leninist ideologies. All that helped P. Khaptaev, A. Okladnikov, F. Kudryavtsev and many others prepare generalized works on the history of Buryatia that have become classics of Russian historiography.

Introduction. The article introduces newly discovered documents from Kalmykia’s National Archive and the State Archive of Russia (supplemented with other historical sources) to continue insights into pre-army training and conscription among the Kalmyks from the perspective of strengthening Soviet defense capability in pre-war years. Goals. The paper seeks to analyze mobilization arrangements to have aimed at increasing the country’s defense potentials on the basis of a mixed army recruitment system (professional and territorial principles) — in the period prior to the transition to a regular commissioned staff system. Results. The work shows the mid-1930s witnessed a completion of the military reforms to have introduced a mixed army recruitment system. Over two thousand ethnic Kalmyks were conscripted into the Red Army to undergo military, political, physical training — and become professional soldiers qualified enough to defend Motherland. Somewhat seven thousand enlistment-age residents of Kalmykia received paramilitary training (foundations of military science, weapons handling) and joined the country’s military manpower pool. Still, by the mid-1930s, the Soviet Government faced a severe necessity to take additional measures to ensure national security. First of all, they needed a regular professional army with increased numbers of forces, high efficiency standards, combat and mobilization readiness, officers with expertise in new weapons and contemporary combat tactics. That required another radical military reform — a transition from the mixed professional-militia system to the one based on compulsory military service of Soviet citizens. 

Introduction. Museum items tend to arouse significant research interest since they make it possible to trace household activities inherent to a certain community, i.e. aspects of life usually overlooked by archival documents. Astrakhan Reserve Museum houses an authentic collection of Buddhist icons examined in the present study. Goals. The paper attempts an analysis of Kalmyk dartsigs (Buddhist icons) as a source for historical and ethnographic research. Materials and methods. The ‘Kalmyk’ Collection of Astrakhan Reserve Museum numbers over 220 items, including 49 dartsigs. The work analyzes 48 icons, since dartsig 49 is attributed to the modern tradition and has no authentic value. The employed research methods are the historical/genetic, statistical, descriptive, anthropological ones, that of comparative analysis and others. The study is based on an interdisciplinary approach instrumental in providing multifaceted insights. Results. The shaping of the ‘Kalmyk’ Collection took place in the prerevolutionary and Soviet periods. The cultural artifacts were collected and donated to the Museum for a number of reasons, the primary one having been that members of Peter the Great Society for the Study of Astrakhan Land were seeking to preserve cultural heritage of peoples to have inhabited the region, lest the latter should be destroyed by the Soviets or lost in the swirl of history. Our comparisons of the current ‘Kalmyk’ Collection and other sources yield a list of certain Buddhist images that have been lost and are still of great scholarly interest. The well preserved thangkas without passe-partouts had been purposely painted and passed to Peter the Great Society, the poorly preserved ones with traces of soot had once been used in homes of Kalmyk commoners, while the larger and fine images are likely to have been attributes of Buddhist temples or estates of wealthy Kalmyks. The analysis of passe-partouts attests to that Kalmyks were actually handling the icons with utmost veneration, which is evident enough in the qualities of textiles the former were sewn from.

Introduction. The article discusses an essential upcycling practice to have existed in various local cultures of the past — and still observable in different forms. Goals. The study aims at describing and analyzing a contemporary form of the children’s clothing sharing tradition of Tuvans, indigenous population of the Tyva Republic. The former is viewed as a local traditional variant of upcycling. The tradition proper has no special name in Tuvan culture but there are several Tuvan terms to denote old things. The most common one is ergindi — ‘old stuff’. The paper draws examples to introduce present-day patterns of the tradition and outlines it, since the latter has been totally uninvestigated. Materials and methods. The study comprises autoethnographic observations, employs anthropological methods and data from related academic disciplines, including philology, linguoculturology, and history. Results and conclusions. Tuvan folklore and ethnic literary narratives, 19th and 20th century ethnographic publications do mention the practice, the latter to be confirmed by stories of Tuvan elders about their childhood, family customs. The tradition was not only to save money or instruct people to handle things carefully but also illustrated special attitudes of Tuvans towards children, and furthermore acted as a kinship maintenance mechanism. Similar characteristics are inherent to contemporary patterns. Nevertheless, the paper also lists some innovations, e.g., expanded categories of things involved (children’s clothes proper be added to with clothes for pregnant women, children’s implements, toys, books), sharing not only with relatives, use of national costumes once owned by relatives, etc.

Introduction. The territory of South Siberia has historically been a crossroads of ancient migration routes. So, the complex process of ethnogenesis across the region requires multidisciplinary insights of historians, ethnographers, anthropologists, linguists, and geneticists. Goals. The work aims to substantiate the possibility of a comprehensive study of Tuvan tribal groups on the basis of the latter’s gene pools and structures. Materials and methods. The most efficient tool thereto is the Y chromosome since it is inherited — like the clan/tribal name proper — paternally, has a high variety, makes it possible to reconstruct migration waves, and may yield genetic dates. These properties of the Y chromosome make it an additional historical source within comprehensive ethnographic, historical, linguistic, anthropological, and genetic studies of ancestral groups among peoples to have retained the memory of clan/tribal structures. Results. The early 21st century has witnessed an intensive research of the Tuvan Y-chromosomal gene pool — with no sufficient data on corresponding tribal groups mentioned. The analysis of Tuvan tribal structures is complicated by a number of factors, such as the administrative/territorial system of the Qing Empire in Tuva (1757–1912), introduction of a passport system in Tuva (1945–1947) when not clan/tribal names but rather personal ones were registered as surnames, and an increase in unmarried cohabitation that violates the patrilineal system. Y-chromosomal analyses of the largest Tuvan tribal groups Mongush and Oorzhak show that the bulk of their gene pool are North Eurasian haplogroups (N*, N1a2, N3a, Q) associated with the autochthonous population of the area nowadays inhabited by Tuvans. At the same time, Central Asian haplogroups (C2, O2) make up less than a fifth (17 %) of the gene pool. A targeted analysis of the most frequent branch (C2a1a2a2a2-SK1066) of the Central Asian haplogroup C2 shows it had originated about 900 years ago in the territory of Northeast Mongolia, and thus could not have reached Tuva before the 11th–12th centuries AD. Anthropological data also attest to the late admixture of the Central Asian cluster into the Tuvans and their tribal groups. The North Eurasian haplogroups completely dominate within the gene pool of tribal groups Kol, Oyun, and Khertek, which results in that the share of Central Asian lineages drops to 3%. Conclusions. In general, the paper shows the Mongolian expansion had no essential genetic impacts on the Y-chromosomal gene pool of Tuvan tribal groups, but — in contrast — did overwhelmingly influence ethnocultural, economic, and linguistic spheres. 

Introduction. The article introduces anthropological materials instrumental in tracing processes inherent to Middle Bronze Age Kalmykia’s population referred to as Catacomb culture.  Goals. The work attempts an analysis of the age-sex structure in the Catacomb population to have inhabited the Sarpa Lowland. Materials and methods. The age-sex characteristics of the buried individuals have been identified via a comprehensive anthropological program involving traditional anthropology research techniques, documentation of stress markers revealed and physiological properties of skeletons, injuries and traumas. The study examines human skeletal remains from Catacomb burials nowadays primarily stored at the Osteological Materials Repository of Kalmyk Scientific Center (RAS). Data on missing anthropological materials have been reconstructed with the aid of photographs contained in corresponding field reports. Results. The undertaken research efforts aim at characterizing the archaeological sites to have yielded the anthropological materials; outlining age-sex properties of the buried individuals; identifying and describing some pathologies, physiological stress markers and traumas; comparing the paleopopulation to that of Middle Bronze Age Dagestan (neighboring region) for similarities and differences on certain demographic parameters. The insights into the newly introduced materials make it possible to trace processes of population formation across the Volga-Manych steppe in the Middle Bronze Age. The study is the first to use anthropological materials from Kalmykia’s excavations stored at Kalmyk Scientific Center (RAS) as object of paleodemographic research, and introduces new data into scientific discourse. 

Introduction. The article describes a 3D documentation and visualization technique. Goals. The study seeks to preserve and reconstruct key forms and types of Kazakh memorial architecture with the aid of visual archeology tools. Materials and methods. The work started with determination of morphological characteristics inherent to the objects under study — mudbrick mausoleums. In accordance with the latter, a three-dimensional visualization technique was selected. The photography scenarios have been developed following recommendations of the software developers. The paper provides detailed insights into all stages of creating three-dimensional models, including data collection, feature description of the equipment used, pre-shooting computational analysis, shooting proper, and data post-processing. Special attention is paid to the most important and crucial moment of the survey — shooting, which was performed from different angles each to have yielded a distinguished set of photographs. It is urgent to take a sufficient number of high-quality photographs from different angles. A number of photographs for each angle should be as high as possible — from 30–40 to several hundreds and thousands. Results. The work notes that 6–8 sets were made for each mausoleum. Documentation of one object only (taking into account additional and spare photographs) includes a total of 500–600 photographs. Extensive efforts were made to process the obtained data, the latter work be implemented in a specific order to result in three-dimensional models and visualization patterns of the examined mausoleums. Preservation of mudbrick steppe monuments in digital format is an urgent need because those are a vanishing type of late medieval memorial architecture dating back to ancient times. Digital 3D-models of collapsing mudbrick mausoleums shall always be invaluable for science as historical sources, part of the Kazakh national cultural heritage.

Introduction. In Eurasia’s history and archeology, the issues of origins, inhabited territories, and political history of Sauromato-Sarmatian tribes remain understudied.  Archaeological data are supplemented with messages on Sauromato-Sarmatian tribes contained in works of ancient writers, since no written sources have been found in monuments of those tribes proper. Goals. The study aims to analyze historical sources and archaeological data, examine the history of origins of Sauromato-Sarmatian tribes to have inhabited the Southern Uralsin the Iron Age,and focuses on swords from Sauromato-Sarmatian monuments of Western Kazakhstan. Materials. Swords and daggers that constitute the bulk of finds from burials provide valuable information for determining chronologies of burial grounds or certain burials and identifying areas once inhabitedby the nomadic tribes,with regional features of those tribes be duly distinguished. A. Melyukova, K. Smirnov, A. Khazanov, E. Chernenko, A. Simonenko, P. Shulga, V. Kocheev and other researchers have developed a chronological typology for swords and daggers from monuments of nomadic tribes of the Northern Black Sea, the North Caucasus, and other regions. However, Sauromato-Sarmatian weapons from Western Kazakhstan have remained unstudied without any chronological typology developed. So, the work employs experiences of the above-mentioned researchers and systematizes the available and newlyobtained data to develop a typological classification and chronology of swords from Sauromato-Sarmatian burial grounds excavated in the territory of Western Kazakhstan.  Results. The paper notes that the Sauromato-Sarmatians descend from Bronze Age populations to have created the Andronovo and Srubnaya cultures, and had a close relationship with the Saka tribes. It is deemed that Sarmatian tribes were formed on the basis of Sauromatians, i.e. those had had common roots. Furthermore, insights into archaeological data conclude the tribes had lived in the territory of Western Kazakhstan, yield a typological classification of swords discovered in mounds across the region, and result in a scientific analysis. The work attempts a statistical analysis of swords and daggers from Sauromato-Sarmatian mounds of Western Kazakhstan, provides scientific conclusions as to predominant types of weapons and manufacturing technologies. The article also highlights some specific features of sword types identified, areas of distribution, and performs a comparative analysis.

Introduction. The issues pertaining to records keeping and management in 19th-century Russia’s government agencies have been well studied. However, there are no fundamental scientific works covering the phenomena in Kalmykia. The paper analyzes activities by the Astrakhan Kalmyk Affairs Commission for the actual document flow procedures and types of documents to have resulted from the Commission’s work. The review procedure of a petition filed by landlord E. Ts. Kichikov and dealing with the bronze medal awarded to the Russian nobility and merchants in memory of the Patriotic War of 1812 — and the Kalmyk nobility’s relevance to the mentioned category — arouses particular interest. Goals. The article aims to introduce some archival documents contained in Collection И-2 ‘Kalmyk Affairs Commission’, examine the execution procedure for a document identified as ‘register’, and thus trace document review procedures in administrative bodies of prerevolutionary Russia and Kalmykia. Results. The insight into the composition of archival documents (by types) created during activities of the Astrakhan Kalmyk Affairs Commission makes it possible to study the actual records keeping and management procedures in one ethnic periphery of Russia, as well as to consider relevance of the Kalmyk nobility to the Russian one.

Introduction. The article describes a treatise titled The Roar of Euphonious Speech by renown 19th-century Buryat Buddhist cleric and educator Ven. Lubsan-Rinchen Nomtoev. The text examined is a xylograph printed at the Atsagat Datsan. Goals. The article aims at analyzing and introducing results of a preliminary insight into the mentioned historical and grammatical work, which is concise enough though valuable in terms of its informativeness and textual harmony. Materials and methods. So, the paper investigates a xylograph headed Degedü šasin erdeni ber mongɣol oron-i tügegülügsen uɣ-i üjegülügsen iraɣu kelen-ü kürkirel neretü orusibai and housed at the Center of Oriental Manuscripts and Xylographs (IMBT SB RAS, Mongolian Collection, file ID БМ-658). The source analysis proper is preceded by a brief historiographical introduction to studies that have dealt with the to be examined writing and some other treatises by L.-R. Nomtoev. Results. The work notes R. Nomtoev’s efforts were highly appreciated by A. Pozdneev, M. Bogdanov, B. Vladimirtsov, F. Kudryavtsev, P. Baldanzhapov, Ts.-A. Dugar-Nimaev, B. Bayartuev, Mongolian scholars T. Pagba, Ts. Damdinsüren, D. Tserensodnom, etc. The content analysis reveals the essay consists of two parts, namely: Part One describes the history of how Buddhist teaching was disseminated among Mongols and how Lama-donator relations were established, including the rise of the Gelugpa school to power; Mongolian-language Part Two discusses the history of Buddhism’s dissemination and the importance of delivering sermons in Mongolian. Conclusions. The study identifies Part One is the author’s revision of Chapter Four (‘How the [Holy] Teaching Was Spread in Mongolia’) of The Crystal Mirror of Philosophical Systems by Thuken Losang Chökyi Nyima (Mong. Tugan-Gegen Luvsanchojinima, 1737–1802). The work determines main sources of the writing and emphasizes the latter is a historical and philological composition covering the history of Mongolian Buddhism and Mongolian script.

Introduction. The oral tradition has figured largely in the literature of Mongols since ancient times. This is due to the nomadic way of life resulting in that sparse population gets scattered across vast territories forced to exchange news and knowledge by word of mouth. Such intensive functioning of the oral text transmission form can be witnessed even nowadays. Goals. The paper aims at introducing some data on ‘oral histories’ contained in Ts. Damdinsüren’s diaries into scientific circulation. Results. The tradition of using oral narratives in the functional sphere, in particular, to preserve and transmit historical facts — i.e. to somewhat ‘document’ the past — has given rise to such genres as ‘oral history’ (aman tuuh), ‘oral memoires’ (huuch yaria), and ‘folkloric accounts’ (yaria) that have become very popular in recent decades. And it is Academician Ts. Damdinsüren that can be viewed as initiator of this genre in Mongolian literature. The diaries of Ts. Damdinsüren dated from 1956 to 1986 contain materials used by him in his publications of ‘oral histories’. The latter can be somewhat provisionally classified into a few categories. First of all, it is evident enough that Ts. Damdinsüren was interested in funny stories, amusements, and anecdotes. Furthermore, he had been collecting narratives about supernatural entities for many years. The theme aroused the academician’s interest as manifested mythopoeia of the Mongols and as embodied living mythology of the people rather than as some mere object of curiosity, neither was he ever that enthusiastic about insights into esoteric practices of Mongolian Buddhist priests. The notebooks also contain quite a number of texts dealing with the Mongolian Revolution and the dramatic 1930s to have witnessed harsh repressions. The latter coupled with arrangements directed against the old culture did capture the scholar’s attention. The recorded ‘oral histories’ were articulating inconvenient and sometimes even hostile data for authorities on topics that remained banned up to the 1990s. So, the ‘oral histories’ not only introduce new historical and cultural facts, opinions of commoners on certain events, but also narrate about Mongolian household life of the past, peculiarities of ethnic worldviews and attitudes.

Introduction. Investigations of sources written in Old Kalmyk Clear Script (todo biciq) (17th–20th centuries) as part of academic Mongolian studies have been continuous for more than 150 years. However, in modern Kalmyk studies there can hardly be found any generalizing works on Kalmyk historical grammar. Besides, there is still a problem of digitizing all Clear Script texts (including lexicographical works) to form a corresponding database. Meanwhile, the study of such sources shall make it possible to describe the process of development — in a diachronic aspect — of the Kalmyk (Oirat) language which has been isolated from other Mongolic languages in differing ethnic and cultural environments of European Russia. Goals. The paper aims to describe some preliminary results dealing with the system of Old Kalmyk vowels and received through the analysis of Old Kalmyk bilingual dictionaries conducted on the Lingvodoc linguistic platform. Materials. The study examines five dictionaries of Old Kalmyk, namely: an anonymous 18th-century Russian-Kalmyk dictionary, dictionaries by V. Diligensky, P. Smirnov, N. Lvovsky, and A. Pozdneev. Results. The Lingvodoc-based insight into the Old Kalmyk vowel system throughout the five examined dictionaries has revealed some vowel concordances, such as u (ü) / o (ö), e / i — and analogues of the latter have also been found in Turkic languages. The u > o transition is traced in N. Lvovsky’s dictionary which suggests the registered (source) dialect involved can be associated with the modern Dorbet one characterized by the same process. The linguistic platform and its tools have been instrumental in identifying transitions similar to the ones observed in the examined dictionaries — in Kazakh, Bashkir, and Tatar languages together referred to as Kipchak Turkic ones. Moreover, our analysis of techniques once employed in the dictionaries to transcribe long vowels of Old Kalmyk has actualized and clarified some conclusions of D. Pavlov who had also investigated the issue.

Introduction. A number with peculiar symbolism is closely associated with the shaping of a certain linguistic worldview, and can articulate essentials of material and spiritual culture. However, official Kalmyk texts have not yet been examined for numeric symbolism. Official narratives usually tend to desacralize numbers, the latter to function only as denoters of quantities and measures. Still, such letters may contain tokens involving numbers to be characterized as sacred and able to preserve elements of symbolic semantics in definite contexts. Goals. The article aims at revealing peculiarities of number as ethnolinguistic component in Khan Ayuka’s letters, and comparing 17th–18th century Kalmyk-language texts to synchronic Russian translations. Materials and methods. The paper analyzes letters of the Kalmyk Khan Ayuka housed at the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts and the National Archive of Kalmykia. Both synchronic and diachronic Kalmyk-to-Russian translations of 18th-century letters are investigated for culture-specific vocabulary translation strategies. The employed research methods include the descriptive, comparative ones, and that of contextual analysis. Results and conclusions. 18th-century official Kalmyk letters are abundant in numbers, the latter to be divided into ones that preserve semantic elements of sacrality — and desacralized ones that convey quantitative meanings only. Those are the numbers one, three, and four that retain symbolic semantics in materials analyzed. The number one conveys meanings of insignificance and extremely small quantity — virtually equal to ‘naught’ and ‘absence’. The number three retains its traditional messages to have been traced in etiquette formulas mentioning the Three Jewels of Buddhism. Synchronic translations articulate the deep cultural meanings of three without the number as such — with tools and concepts of a different religious tradition. Both in the original and translated texts, the number four maintains its spatial semantics in etiquette formulas mentioning the four cardinal directions — to convey ideas of dividing the world into ours and theirs, the latter to exist beyond the addresser’s locality characterized by four-side structure oriented towards the center.

Introduction. The article deals with lexical means of expressing the category of locativity, the latter to serve a basic concept of space. Descriptions of locative parts of speech in typological works analyzing different languages make it possible to consider lexical semantic groups of locative nouns in Mongolian, Buryat, Oirat and Kalmyk. Goals. So, the study aims at describing lexical semantic groups of locative nouns in the mentioned Mongolic languages. Materials. The work examines various dictionaries of the Mongolic languages, literary and journalistic texts included into the available corpora of the languages. Results. Our insights show that Mongolic nouns may serve as various tools to express locativity meanings.  The paper distinguishes a total of four key lexical semantic groups of the considered nouns: 1) types of surface, cardinal points, types of landscape; 2) names of countries, regions, cities, streets, squares; 3) structures, buildings, dwellings; 4) transport. In Mongolic languages, the analyzed vocabulary is represented by a wide range of lexemes. Different use patterns, absence or presence of certain lexemes in the languages under consideration has been noted. Conclusions. Analysis of the identified lexical semantic groups of locative nouns shows a variety of meanings in different combinations, as well as peculiarities of their use in related Mongolic languages. Nouns employed to refer to parts of the world, types of landscape, earth’s surface, countries and cities constitute quite a diverse layer of vocabulary too.