Archaeological and historical sources on the use of wood in the city of Tara in the 17-18thcenturies

This article is based on materials of archaeological researches of Tara, one of the first Russian cities in Western Siberia. The aim of the work is to show the importance of wood in life of the Siberian city — from construction of dwellings and defensive works to its use as the main fuel for heating of constructions in winter time, for cooking and as the main material for production of instruments of labor and household items. The aim of the research is to show deficit of wood in life of the city of Tara which is examplified by reusing of wood in case new objects were constructed. It is possible to single out several directions of the reuse: economic constructions, bases under structures, fences, zavalinkas, for repairment of pavements and roads, as firewood. The construction of the Market square is used as an example of reusing wood as it was made of logs which had formed part of the wooden fence of the Tara fortress. The study revealed that the main reasons of the lack of wood were numerous fires, high level of groundwater and a large swamped area in close proximity to the paled part of the city. The service class population was forced to pass their time free from guard constantly repairing defensive constructions and administrative buildings of the city which suffered of fire or decayed because of the soil saturated with water. Many labor costs were accounted for making pavements and sidewalks on city streets, building drainage trenches and maintaining them in normal state. We also found it interesting to determine the number of gathered firewood for the winter period: it turned out that the city consumed more than three thousand cubic meters for these needs, which is a very large number for a small fortified city. In fact, a small forest on the area of several hectares was annually cut down. The conducted research showed a certain dependence of the city on regular deliveries of wood, both as a construction material, and as firewood. This situation was typical of most of the first Russian cities in Western Siberia, so the results of our work can be used even in the archaeological research of their historical centers

Archaeology · Geography · Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Archaeological Research and Protection · History

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  Open Access•V Gorokhov•Vestnik NSU Series History and…•2024

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