Abstract
Dwellings surface of the ancient Eskimos constructed with a frame made of whale bone and a drift wood are found in large variety on the coast of Chukotka, from Anadyrskiy Gulf to the mouth of the bride-price. From the ancient times they attracted the attention of travelers and researchers. The Chukotka archaeological expedition of the State Museum of Oriental Art lasted 1995 to 2015 and worked in the settlements Ekven and Paypelghak (North-East Chukotka).
In the settlement Ekven researchers had the opportunity to fully understand the design of the home N-18 with a frame made of whale bone and fi n tip, turf walls and a light roof with platforms outside exterior walls. The N-18 dwelling refers to the birnirk – early punuk phase (chronology of archaeological cultures corrected for a «reservoir effect» in the Bering Sea: the Ancient Bering Sea – the 3rd/4th – 8th/9th centuries; Birnirk – 9th – 11th centuries; Punuk – 11th –13th centuries).
The Paypelghak settlement is the fi rst residential and a well-stratifi ed site in Chukotka. It occupies the top, the youngest stratigraphic level on the settlement housing of the birnirk phase and consists of two overlapping volumes connected by a pathway. The corridor exit was arranged in the larger room.
This dwelling blocked three residential structures (premises 4–6) related to the Old Bering Sea culture (the period of OBS-II and within the fi rst half of the 1st Millennium) – it was a dwelling during seasonal hunting and similar of design: small area of about 6 sq m, with stone basements under the walls, vertical supports frame walls and high stone fl oors. One of the houses (No. 6) – consisted of two rooms.
Ancient Escimo dwellings served as a typological basis for the designs of traditional yarangas settlement of Naukan, which existed until the mid – 20th century. Light roof of the yarangas of Nayana made from wooden poles and walrus skin has allowed to confi dently recreate a similar constracted of dwellings of the Old Bering Sea, Birnirk and early Punuk phase. The roof shape is the most characteristic feature of an ancient Escimo dwelling.
The article presents two Rock art panels from Pegtymel with images of stationary groundbased dwellings identifi ed by the expedition IA RAS. These images allow the reconstruction of the light roof supported by wooden poles and made from animal skins. This conclusion is made on the basis of comparison with the archaeological data in dwellings of the lower layer of the Paypelghak village.
Considering the general brevity of the images primary with the materials from dwellings on household items of the ethnographic time and the petroglyphs Pegtymel the pictorial sources are extremely accurate – often in images of dwellings and sea mammal hunters the shape of the roof is prominently given.
All completely investigated dwellings of the ancient Eskimo in Chukotka were built on the surface. Built upon the slopes and even more often underneath the slopes, these buildings were intensively destroyed and were washed away with soil material from the top of the hill. Even V.G. Bogoraz considered the nynly dwellings to be underground or semi-underground structures.
On smaller elements of buildings – corridor exits – could be constructed with a hard sod roof with horizontal joists made of bone and wood. The large overlap of the volume of such a roof would require a large number of vertical supports, not only along the walls, but inside as well. The construction of dwellings buried in the ground in the permafrost was not advisable and usually not performed.
Keywords
Chukotka, Ancient Eskimo, Ancient and traditional settlements, construction of the dwellings, imagery, petroglyphs
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