Settlement Pattern of Siberian Tatars and Bokharans of the Irtysh-Osha Interfluve in the 18th to Mid-19th Centuries

Abstract

On the basis of 18th century written sources, mid-19th century archival documents, historic and ethnographic studies, we examine certain aspects of the origin and functioning of village clusters of Siberian Tatars and Bokharans in the area between the Irtysh and its left tributary, the Osha, in the 1700s to mid-1800s. We publish archaeological and ethnographic field data on the location of abandoned villages. West Siberian Tatars emerged in the region at that time as a result of an amalgamation of indigenous Siberian Tatars and Bokharans that had migrated from Central Asia. They resettled from their villages on the right and left banks of the Irtysh. Five principal clusters of villages are described: Aubatkan (Yalankul), Tuskazan (Ulenkul), Kazatovo (Koshkul), Turaly, and Kogotovo. Each cluster had a center and adjoining camps, some of which were inhabited only during agricultural work—farmsteads, hamlets, separate houses located far from the central village in places of agricultural activities and subsidiary infrastructure (roads, wells, cemeteries, farmlands, etc.). Villages were situated on ridges, mostly on southeastern lake shores or on terraces and in floodplains of small rivers.