On the Borders of the Vanvizdino Archaeological Culture Area

Abstract

This article deals with the results of an analysis of the distribution of pottery from the Vanvizdino archaeological culture during the second half of the I millennium AD in the north of the European part of Russia. Based on cartographic mapping, the main concentration areas of pottery typical for the Vanvizdino culture – hand-made dotted-combed-and-corded ware – were identified: settlements on the Middle Vychegda River, and to a lesser extent, the Upper and Lower Vychegda, and the Upper and Middle Mezen River (73,0% of all known Vanvizdino sites). The extreme northwestern, southwestern, and northeastern limits of the identified settlements containing Vanvizdino pottery were established: the Northern Dvina basin, the Lower Mezen, and the watershed lakes of the Pechora Ural region (10,2%). Outside the main distribution area, the greatest concentration of settlements – including fortified ones – where Vanvizdino ceramic ware was found alongside local pottery, was traced in the Northern Kama region (16,8%). It was established that starting from the VI–VII centuries AD, Vanvizdino groups spread in all directions from their initial settlement areas, but most significantly in the northwestern (Mezen) and southern (Kama region) directions. In the final stage of the culture's development (towards the end of the I millennium AD), Vanvizdino groups became a factor of constant presence in the lands of the northern Kama region and the interfluve of the right-bank tributaries of the Northern Dvina – the Vychegda and Yug rivers. Here, they subsequently likely became part of the local late medieval population.