Abstract: This article discusses the evolution of the study of industrial heritage in domestic and foreign historiography. According to the Nizhny Tagil Charter of the International Committee for the Preservation of Industrial Heritage (TICCIH), industrial heritage means the values of industrial culture that have historical, technological, social, architectural or scientific significance. Despite the fact that industrial heritage has been a topic of study for more than half a century, it is still often overlooked (not included in the register of cultural heritage), which sometimes puts industrial monuments at risk. Interest in industrial heritage is not a momentary trend or a local topic of individuals, but a significant scientific direction for decades, deserving the attention of researchers, the public and the state. Post-industrial development, characteristic of the XIX century, leads to the completion of the life cycle of a large number of industrial objects, which turn out to be unclaimed due to changes in production processes and, therefore, the loss of their original functions by objects. The question of how the future fate of the former industrial buildings should develop remains open. Therefore, it becomes important and necessary to collect and comprehend many years of experience in interdisciplinary work in the field of studying and preserving industrial heritage. Attention is also paid to innovations in this field, such as the use of virtual 3D-reconstruction and virtual reality technologies in the study and preservation of industrial monuments, which became possible both due to the rapid development of technologies and a large amount of work carried out by researchers to integrate these technologies into scientific research.

Keywords: reprofiling, museumification, preservation of monuments, industrial architecture, industrial monuments, industrial archeology, cultural heritage, industrial heritage, virtual 3D reconstruction, virtual reality

Abstract: The subject of the research is historical sources, oral Kazakh genealogies (shezhire) of the Kazakh-Nogai heroic and lyrical epic, as well as the results of Y-DNA research. The object of research is the Kazakh genus Zhagalbayly. The author examines in detail such aspects of the topic as the entry of the Zhagalbayly clan into the composition of the main peoples who stood out from the imperial super ethnos of the Golden Horde. The data on the places of settlement of Zhagalbayly in various historical periods in the post-Ordyn space are given. Various versions of such works as "Kyz Zhibek", "Kobylandy Batyr" and "Er Sayyn" in Kazakh, Nogai and Kyrgyz languages have been studied as folklore sources. The reasons and time of the emergence of the Kazakh tribal association Zhetiru, which included the genus zhagalbayly, are considered. The main conclusions of the study are to establish the availability of information about the early settlement of the ancestors of modern Kazakh Zhagalbayly clan on a vast territory from the Crimea to Afghanistan. This fact is confirmed by the presence of Zhagalbaila in the list of clans of the Crimean Khanate, Nogai Hordes, the Timurid Empire and the Kazakh Khanate. As a result of the analysis of the data of the oral Kazakh genealogy (shezhire) and the Kazakh-Nogai heroic and lyrical epic, for the purpose of their historical synthesis, the character Karabukan is established. He is represented as a batyr and a soothsayer of the Kiyat tribe troops. It is proposed to consider him as a possible legendary ancestor of the Kazakh Zhagalbayly. The results of studies of Y-chromosome polymorphism of representatives of various divisions of the Kazakh zhagalbayly are presented. When comparing the seven results of the Y-DNA12 samples, the probability that the number of generations before their common ancestor is equal to 24 generations is 91.41%. When comparing the three results for Y-DNA 67, it is equal to 99.61%. This information is consistent with shezhire, in which the distance to the common ancestor is 22-24 generations.

Keywords: Zhetiru, Kartkazak, Kazakh heroic epic, Karabukan, shezhire, Y-haplogroup, genetic genealogy, Karabuka, Zhagalbayly, O-M175

Abstract: The article presents the results of the study of the images of the Ottoman caricature of the initial period of the Balkan Wars (1912-1913) from the point of view of the efficiency and effectiveness of the work of the Ottoman military propaganda. Starting with the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878. The Ottoman Empire did not win a single war. In many ways, the reason for the defeats of the Ottoman Empire was its technological backwardness from other countries. By the time the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 began, propaganda had already been spread throughout Europe as a purposeful method of fighting against the enemy. Nevertheless, by the beginning of the 1910s, the Ottoman Empire also had propaganda tools and knew how to use them.   Methodologically, the article is based on the tools of imagology, the essence of which is to study the nature, character, purpose and meaning of the image. This approach makes it possible to decode caricature images of Ottoman magazines in more detail. The author examines the issue of efficiency and effectiveness of Ottoman propaganda in coverage through the caricature prism of the initial period of the Balkan Wars (1912-1913). The results of the analysis of the cartoons show to what extent the Ottoman propaganda was able to use the mechanisms available to it to mobilize the masses within the country. Special attention is paid to the cartoons of the Balkan Wars from the magazines "Cem" ("Cem") and "Black-eyed" ("Karagöz"), one of the most popular publications of the early 1910s. They allow us to see how the Ottoman visual propaganda was used in the period before the First World War (1914-1918), which remains little studied in Western and Russian Ottoman studies.

Keywords: ottoman caricature, imagology, Karagez, Balkan Wars, political caricature, propaganda, The Ottoman Empire, The First Balkan War, history of cartoons, the Young Turks

Abstract: The subject of the study is non-government initiatives and projects in the field of environmental protection in the Caspian Sea in the post-Soviet period of history. The purpose of the article is to characterize and evaluate these initiatives and projects, as well as to determine the conditions for their progressive development within the framework of the Caspian agenda. Author uses such methods of historical research as retrospective analysis, comparative analysis, document analysis, as well as a systematic approach and the method of expert assessments. The author analyzes the following aspects of the topic: changes in the reaction of the active part of the society of the Caspian countries to environmental problems in the post-Soviet period, the formation of ecological consciousness and ecological culture of the post-Soviet Caspian societies, the role of non-government initiatives and projects in the formation of ecological culture and country environmental policy, awareness of the active part of the societies of the countries of the region of the key problems of environmental protection in the Caspian Sea. As a result of the analysis, the key shortcomings of environmental policy in the civil sector of the Caspian countries are identified, which is the novelty of the study and the author's contribution to the study of the topic. According to the results of the study, the development of non-government initiatives in the field of environmental protection is possible provided that a unified coordinated environmental policy is implemented in the Caspian region, public control is strengthened, criteria for the effectiveness of volunteer initiatives are determined, formats for full-fledged interaction of non-government structures of the five Caspian littoral countries are developed, a unified environmental monitoring system and a common information and media space are created. It is stated that the role of non-government initiatives in the eco-policy in the Caspian Sea will steadily increase.

Keywords: environmental awareness, public initiatives, public organizations, environmental protection activities, Caspian countries, Caspian Sea, Caspian, ecological culture, ecology, environmental policy

Abstract: The subject of the study is the process of development of environmental protection activities of post-Soviet Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, as well as Iran in the Caspian Sea. The study used such methods of historical research as retrospective analysis, comparative analysis, document analysis, periodization method, systematic approach. The author considers such aspects of the topic as the problem of periodization of complex social processes, the actual periodization of the development of joint environmental activities of the Caspian states, the main characteristics of the stages of development of international relations in the field of environmental activities in the Caspian Sea. The author pays special attention to the problem of awareness by the "Caspian five" of the ecological integrity of the Caspian Sea and the need to develop collective solutions to environmental problems and the protection of the natural diversity of the sea. В  As a result of the analysis, the author's periodization of the development of environmental activities in the Caspian Sea in the post-Soviet period of the history of the region and the characteristics of the selected stages are proposed, which is the novelty of the study and the author's special contribution to the study of the topic. In total, the author identifies three stages that differ qualitatively from each other (the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s). The periodization is based on a qualitative assessment of the development of relations between the national states of the Caspian region within the framework of the regional subsystem of international relations, characterized as the "Caspian node", which distinguishes it from other well-known approaches to periodization and characterizes as promising.

Keywords: Tehran Convention, international agreements, interests, development, Caspian countries, stages, periodization, environmental protection activities, Caspian Sea, The Caspian Constitution

Abstract: This article examines the settlement dynamics in relation to the development of transport communications using the statistical, comparative geographical, and cartographic methods. A brief characteristics is given to the system of displacement of population of Southern Yakutia in the late XX – early XXI centuries. The analysis employs the materials of the population censuses of 1959, 1970, 1979, 1989, 2002, and 2010, which allows compiling the population maps that reveal the peculiarities of settlement network, their population density and structure. Spatial representation of the data is presented on the example of population displacement maps and development of transport communications in Southern Yakutia as of 1959 and 2010. Comparative analysis maps of different periods demonstrates a three-fold decrease in the number of settlements in Southern Yakutia during the intercensal period (1959–2010) due to liquidation of unpromising villages and change of nomadic lifestyle of the indigenous population to sedentary life in larger rural settlements during the period of Soviet administrative reforms of the late XX century. The emergence of new transport communications is associated with active industrial development of Southern Yakutia; however the territories were affected unevenly. It is established that spatial peculiarities of population displacement in Southern Yakutia in the late XX – early XXI centuries have remained, although the settlement areas of the indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North- the Evenks – have decreased. The study of transport communications on the maps of different periods revealed the dynamics of their development in different historical periods, determining the historical roads, abandoned transport routes, emergence of new types and categories of communication lines, including the network of technological roads of industrial companies used for infrastructure maintenance.

Keywords: Yakutia, spatial analysis, South Yakutia, multi - time cards, mapping, population census, communications, transport, settlement, dynamics

Abstract: The object of this research is the postcolonial theory, while the subject is its impact upon the historical, and namely, historical-anthropological research of Latin America. The author examines such peculiarities of post-colonialism as the problem of identification, the “oppressed”, the importance of linguistic component of scientific description, as well as the political bias of this direction. Attention is turned to the process of adaptation of postcolonial theory to Latin American scientific foundation; emphasis is placed on the fact that the region has its own tradition of interpretation of the colonial past that results in occurrence of the so-called phenomenon of decolonial turn within the Latin American humanities. Based on the comparative method and qualitative content analysis of the works dedicated to postcolonial theory, the author demonstrates the presence of a wide range of opinions of Latin American researchers on such concepts as “colonialism: and “Latin Americanism”. The conclusion is made that the intense discussion on the theoretical aspects of colonial and decolonial theory may underlie the new vector in the historical studies of Latin America.  At the same time, decolonial turn alongside postcolonial theory, raise a number of questions, the solution of which is vital for the development of accurate methodology for further scientific research. For the Russian Latin American scholars, the new trends turn into a special challenge that should be considered in carrying out historical and anthropological research.

Keywords: historical anthropology, Anibal Quijano, subaltern studies, Latin Americanism, colonialism, decolonial turn, Postcolonial theory, Latin America, modernity, identity

Abstract: Sociocultural processes that have taken place over the past three decades in the former Soviet republics are in the limelight of political, economic, and historical research. The Korean diaspora of the Republic of Kazakhstan is the object of particular interest, as it reflects the essence of the national political course and the level of development of democratic institutions in the country. Special attention is given to ethnocultural and business diasporic organizations and institutions of the Kazakh Koreans. The period from 1991 to 2020 demonstrates fruitful activity of the diaspora in the area of ethnic policy, establishment of domestic and international business relations. The last 30 years mark the renaissance of national culture of the Koreans in Kazakhstan due to the work of the Korean theater, performance groups, and educational centers across the country. This article discusses the following questions: institutionalization of the Korean diaspora in Kazakhstan; special role of the institutions in preservation of the centers of ethnic culture; impact of the activity of diasporic structures upon the relations with the state and historical homeland; functional role of ethnic organizations in socialization of the members of the diaspora and their advancement in the economic and political spheres. The answers to these questions define the relevance and novelty of this research in studying the problems of historical and national development of the new independent states of the post-Soviet region.

Keywords: Korean young people in Kazakhstan, Korean theatre of Kazakhstan, interethnic relations, koryo saram, Association of Koreans in Kazakhstan, korean organizations, national policy of Kazakhstan, korean diaspora, koryo ilbo, koreans of Kazakhstan

Abstract: The article addresses one of the most important sociological aspects of studying the topic of Victorian estate architecture: the aspect of the client. The Victorian era was accompanied by a particular boom in the field of suburban construction. The research subject of this article is the social composition of clients of the English country house during the Victorian era, which was very variegated and diverse. The author sets before himself the task of uncovering the most common motives that caused British landowners of this era to start building country houses or to rebuild their family nests. In this article, the author applies the method of art sociology, which is widely used in contemporary art history studies, and which considers the history of art and, in particular, architecture as a reflection of the characteristics of a period's social life. Using the example of British art sources, the author attempts to tie the topics in the history of suburban residential architecture of the 19th century with the social processes taking place in Victorian Britain. They can be most clearly seen, in the author's opinion, in such aspects of examining the historical material as the topic of the client, when not only his wealth but also his various ideological ambitions directly influence the architectural process.

Keywords: English customer, sociological aspects, British household, English country house, Victorian age, English estate, country house building, British architecture, English country house architecture, sociology of art

Abstract: The study of the growth of the Juchi Ulus (the Golden Horde) is bound by objective difficulties: only fragmentary information was deposited in monuments, contained in sources of various origins. This is the reason why scholars are obliged to apply complex research methods for the reconstruction of public relations in the Golden Horde. The subject of this article is the analysis of the methodological approaches applied to study of the history of the evolution of societies and communities on the example of the study of the history of Juchi Ulus (the Golden Horde). At the center of the author's attention lies the method of verbal modeling, which, unlike mathematical modeling, remains aside from the comprehension of its application in studying the Humanities. The article proposes a comparative analysis of the theories of historical research and the practice of their application to the history of Juchi Ulus (the Golden Horde) in order to describe the method of verbal modeling.  The article proposes the use of modeling techniques for the reconstruction of historical processes in the Juchi Ulus, presents the thesis of the importance of this method and the specificity of its application to the history of the Golden Horde. One of the conclusions in the understanding of the modeling method applied to the history of the Golden Horde is the observation that all written sources are verbal / symbolical (descriptive) models. This solution to the source study field of historical knowledge in relation to the development of the Golden Horde is proposed for the first time in historiography.  

Keywords: verbal model, source study, methodology, Golden Horde, Juchi Ulus, historical modeling, method, text, society, story

Abstract: The article examines the views of Medieval Italian lexicographers on the structure of the speech apparatus and the principles of its functioning. The author analyses the origins of these ideas, the reasons for the focus on this issue in Medieval dictionaries, and the general and specific features of these ideas. The author considers the ideas concerning the structure of the speech apparatus within the framework of the history of the intellectual culture of Medieval Europe and the scientific (in particular, medical) ideas, which in turn acquired metaphorical parallels in the field of the sign theory of this period. Along with traditional research methods (the principle of historicism and the historical-comparative approach), the author uses special interdisciplinary methods, including above all the linguistic, semiotic, and art criticism methods. The novelty of this research lies in the author’s use of a source new to Russian Medieval Studies, namely, derivational dictionaries. The conclusions made in the article are notable for their novelty and interdisciplinary relevance: in the author’s opinion, the principal interest of Medieval intellectuals, in particular, lexicographers, in the structure of the speech apparatus was due to philosophical and semiotic discussions related to the arrangement of the speech signs and the ability of speech in humans and other living creatures.

Keywords: body metaphors, history of body, speech, semiotics, medieval dictionaries, medieval Europe, intellectual culture, history of philosophy, lexicography, medieval Latin

Abstract: The research subject of this article is the gender and age structure and demographic situation of the Golden Horde populations in the Lower Volga region. The author considers the ratio of men and women in this population, as well as the number of burials of children. Additionally, the author determines the general age of survival for men and women and identifies the peak age of mortality. The author also highlights the average life expectancy of the studied population and calculates the ratio of the adult to child population. And finally, the author carries out an osteometric study of the child and adolescent population during the period of the Golden Horde and determines the main age cohorts and mortality peaks specific to this child population. The methodology applied in this work corresponds to the methods of paleodemography. The whole of the anthropological material is divided into five-year age intervals, on the basis of which the tables of mortality are built. The last age group is 50 or more years (50+). The author conducted an osteometric study of a child and adolescent sample. This group was divided into five age cohorts. In this study, for the first time in a scientific literature, the data on infant mortality during the Golden Horde era on the territory of the Lower Volga region is presented. The information obtained during the course of this research demonstrates the sequence of extinction of a certain simultaneously born generation. Mortality tables reflect patterns of mortality change in population groups with similar extinction order. The presented work gives the possibility to analyze the mortality curves, built on the data of survival tables. During the course of research, the author identified the average age of mortality for different population groups. For the first time in scientific studies, the characteristics of the child and adolescent cohorts of the Golden Horde population are given.

Keywords: demography, population, peak mortality, life expectancy, osteometry, cohorts, children, Golden Horde, infant mortality, anthropology

Abstract: The aim of this article is to review the activities of veterinary expeditions on the prevention, research, localization, and elimination of northern reindeer diseases (species Rangifer tarandus) under the conditions of extreme everyday life in the Berezovsky Uyezd in the beginning of the 20th century. In this case, the urgency manifested itself in the complex natural and climatic environment of this region and the frequent unavoidable contacts with infected animals. Moreover, the expeditionary activity in its specifics carries extreme features with elements of deprivation and force majeure. Throughout the 19th century, almost every decade, epizootics took place, which caused serious damage to the economy of the region under study. Only at the beginning of the 20th century was scientific research on the cases of domestic deer in the Bereza Uyezd was conducted using equipment, technologies, and specialists. The methodological approach of this study includes the methods of the local approach, the subject of which is the Berezovsky Uyezd as an isolated region in connection with its local periphery. The systemic approach identifies reality as a system of interrelated and interacting objects. The results of this study are reflected in the conclusions, the main of which are the following: before 1917, the Bereza Uyezd of the Tobolsk Governorate lacked not only a veterinary network but also elementary veterinary control; numerous epizootics and their large-scale consequences in the Bereza Uyezd in the late 19th - early 20th centuries had a decisive influence on the formation of the first scientific expeditions; thanks to the expeditions of 1912-1913 important discoveries were made in the field of bacteriology, zoology, anatomy, medicine, all of which allowed to organize a stationary veterinary system on the territory of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug and to minimize the likelihood of new outbreaks of diseases.

Keywords: Tobolsk province, autochthonous, anthrax, extreme daily, Berezovsky district, reindeer, epizootics, expedition, veterinary science, agriculture

Abstract: The subject of this study is the treaties and agreements that served as the normative basis for the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway, one of the most successful foreign policy enterprises of the Russian Empire at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries. The object of this study is the Russian national interests in the Far East. The railway project presented in the form of a concession solved several important geopolitical and strategic problems, among which the provision of the security of the Far Eastern borders of the empire, transport accessibility and access to the non-freezing ports of the Eastern seas were of primary importance. The methodology of this study involved an analysis of the treaties and agreements concluded between Russia and the Chinese side, as a result of which the Chinese Eastern Railway was built and successfully functioned for 40 years. For the first time, an attempt has been made to implement a systematic analysis of Russia's participation in the international relations in the Far East through the mechanism of concluding international treaties and agreements. Acting as the normative basis of Russian policy in the region, the author presents them for the first time as part of a comprehensive mechanism for ensuring national interests and also comes to the conclusion that the railway line was tied to the power of Russia, the presence of her own interests on the territory of Northeastern China and the ability to defend them.

Keywords: Chinese Eastern Railway, concession, Far East, Russian world, Russian empire, China, East Asia, Manchukuo, USSR, contract

Abstract: The article describes the use of the automatic language-independent algorithm for the analysis of authorship on the basis of calculating the transition frequency statistics of two-letter combinations written in the Ancient Greek language by patristic authors from the 2nd to the 12th centuries. The authorship of an analyzed text is attributed based on the proximity of the given distance to the referenced texts of various authors. The distance is calculated on the basis of the transition frequency of one two-letter combination into others. The author discusses the dependence of the algorithm's precision on the magnitude of the analyzed text and referenced texts of each of the presumed authors. The testing is conducted through the method of repetitive cross-validation in k-blocks and separately on 35 selected texts of three authors. The article proposes a modification of the algorithm in some cases, which provides a better result on the tested data. The author comes to the conclusion of the relatively high precision of the described algorithm and the possibility of its use in solving real problems. As an example of this use, the article presents a description of the attribution of the author of the texts De creatione hominis sermo 1, 2 (CPG 3215, 3216) between St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory of Nyssa.

Keywords: textual transmission, natural language processing, computational statistics, statistical analysis, Byzantine studies, patristics, historical informatics, authorship attribution, Gregory of Nyssa, Basil the Great

Abstract: The subject of this article is the transition from the Soviet regime to the modern political regime in the Republic of Kabardin-Balkaria, one of the North Caucasian subjects of the Federation. The purpose of this research is to verify the applicability of the complex model of transition from one political regime to the other in this particular case-study, where the transition is interpreted as an essential modification in the composition of both actors and institutions which regulate their relations. The structure of the narrative is constructed in correlation with the sequence of the regime transformation phases. It begins with the phase of the crisis and consequent collapse of the former regime, which entailed the disengagement of the elites, and concludes with the phase of consolidation of the post-Soviet political regime and the constitutional legalization of the modern system of the Republic's political institutions. The article's research methodology is based on the consideration of the particularities in the structure of societal and elite ruptures as an explanatory factor for the process and outcome of the post-Soviet transition. By the end of the Soviet period some structural pre-conditions for the successful democratization process had emerged in Kabardin-Balkaria, but the modernization processes were not completed. Hence, the base for the disengagement of the elite in the region was laid down by the factors of the general "ethnization" of social and political life. The main conclusion derived from this research is that the transformation of the political regime in Kabardin-Balkaria in the 1990s can be considered not as a "transition to democracy", but as an "open-ended transition". Typologically it belongs to the cases of "cartel agreements" of elite groups with the old party-state nomenclature as the dominant actor and the prevalence of informal regulating mechanism of intra-elite relations.

Keywords: North Caucasus, Republic of Kabardin-Balkar, 1990s, post-Soviet transition, elites, political institutions, political regime, democracy, transitology, ethnopolitics

Abstract: The article discusses the concept of soft power in the political culture of China. The issue is examined in the historical context of Ancient Chinese philosophy and the modern development of the concept of “soft power”. The author analyses the interrelation between the spiritual, social and political spheres in the establishment and development of the Chinese Empire. The concept of “soft power” has great meaning in the modern political strategies of the leading world powers. The main principles of this concept had been laid out in China already in early Antiquity and go back to the beginning of its philosophical tradition. The research methodologies applied in preparing this article are the theoretical analysis and the generalization of the scientific literature and periodic press on the studied topic. The main conclusions drawn from the conducted research are that Confucius developed a paternalistic concept of state, which he defined as a big family. The political ethics of Confucius were generally directed at achieving peace between the high and low strata of society and the stabilization of power. The flexibility and ability to reinterpret traditional values in the spirit of modernity towards permanent self-renewal, artistic perception and adaptation to external cultural influences, building on the national tradition – this is precisely where the solution of the “Pacific Ocean Miracle” is essentially hidden – a gigantic leap of the “Asian dragons”, and China itself, in almost all spheres of life.

Keywords: public diplomacy, empire, lAncient China, Confucius, politics, soft power, culture, civilization, history, society

Abstract: Studies of the article concern the main ways to encourage increasing of labor productivity, implement the innovation proposals and new forms and methods of management, allowing to cut off downtime and raise industrial efficiency, taking place while both construction and operation of the North Crimean canal in 60-70th of the XX century. Particular examples would review as flexible and tempered policy of work incentives, related to builders and reclamation specialists of irrigating systems in the Crimean area, forced the next "great building of communism", initially based on enthusiasm, be turned into the effective and well-coordinated economic machinery, not merely conformed to new economic requirements, but also facilitated achieving substantial results. Conducted research was applied to comparative-historical and typological methods, based on principles of objectivity and historicism. Studying subject in use appeared published memoirs of the North Crimean canal participants, related media issues as well as archival sources out of records SA RF and RSAE. Main conclusions resolve to the fact, that despite apparent abundance of honorary titles, diplomas, distinctions, medals and prizes, awarded to ameliorators, the main emphasis nevertheless was assigned to financial benefits of their activity, resulted in holding up and engaging new qualified staff.

Keywords: Crimean area, North Crimean canal, land-reclamation, irrigated farming, economic incentives, self-supporting basis, rural economy, team contract, honors, Ukrainian SSR

Abstract: The presented collection of jewellery, household items, raw material objects and waste from jewellery making was found during the excavation of the Gnezdovo cemetery and settlement, located in the Upper Dnieper region. This collection testifies to the developed state of the jewellery-making craft in one of the largest towns in Ancient Rus during the 10th century. The analysis of the findings’ metal chemical composition has allowed to identify the recipes for the alloys used by the Gnezdovo jewellers and the particularities of their raw material sources, but also permitted to form a basis for the discussion of the possible origins of nonferrous metals in Gnezdovo. The elementary compositions of the artefacts in copper and their alloys were tested in different laboratories with the help of the optic emission spectroscopy analysis and the energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence method. In the selection of the sample the objects were categorised by origins linked to particular ethnic groups and regions. The statistical analysis of the derived results illustrates that the Gnezdovo jewellers had at their disposal “pure” copper, tin and lead bronze, double and triple brass and multicomponent alloys resulting from the multiple remelting of objects and raw materials. The quantitative prevalence of copper-zinc alloys in the sample indicates that the majority of the metals came into the jewellers’ workshops from the Baltic and Scandinavia – the main distribution zone of brass during the 9th–11th centuries.

Keywords: Old Rus state, Middle Dnieper region, Gnezdovo jewellery making, metal chemical composition, analysis method, “pure” copper, brass, bronze, alloys, sources of raw material

Abstract: The article describes the new method of quantitative and qualitative processing of data from Medieval metals, derived through the method of X-ray fluorescence analysis, in order to identify theproduction location through the comparison of raw metal compositions and finished objects. The idea of the necessity of such a comparison is based on the earlier made conclusion that Pskovian workshops prioritised the use of finished raw metal without attempting to influence its technological properties through alloying. The application of this method makes sense only in the presence within the studied sample of a significant quantity of objects with a vast chronological span and represented by a full range of categories: from raw metal, blanks and semi-finished products, to finished objects. An important pre-condition is the origin of the metals from complexes, including production complexes. The presented method includes several stages, part of which has already been completed on the Pskov material. Its first testing has shown a sufficient effectiveness for the posed tasks. The use of the presented method on all types of tasks has allowed to obtain for the first time such precise information and an objective picture regarding the development of the local jewellery-making production.

Keywords: Medieval metal, Pskov, jewellery-making complexes, methods of data processing, raw metal, finished objects, metal composition correlation, result interpretation, jewellery-making, X-ray fluorescence analysis

Abstract: Today there is need for a comparison of materials on morphology, the chemical composition, manufacturing techniques of an inventory complex of non-ferrous metals of cultures in connection with domination of the point of view about successive development between tribes of Sintashta and Petrovka Cultures has ripened. The obtained analytical data on metalproduction of cultures conflict to the statement about the Sintashta sources of Petrovka metalproduction. Collected data disprove this assumption and give the chance to connect development of metalproduction at a boundary of average-late bronze with several lines of development of processing of non-ferrous metal in a Yamna-poltavka and catacomb communities. The article’s conclusions are based on the mass results derived from the atomic emission spectroscopy (at the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry at the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences), X-ray fluorescence (at the Institute of Archaeology at the Russian Academy of Sciences) (405 products) and metallographic (at the Institute for the Study of the Northern Expansion at the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 320 products) analyses.The morphological review of metal collections of the beginning of a late bronze age in the territory from Don to Ishim shows use of identical instruments of labor not only at the Sintashta and Petrovka tribes, and in much wider area of a steppe and forest-steppe strip of Eastern Europe, the Urals, Kazakhstan that is explainable from the point of view of emergence of epoch-making standard stereotypes of metalproduction of the West Asian province going the sources to the previous Yamna-poltavka and catacomb periods of early and average bronze. Features of technological traditions of Sintashta and Petrovka production are quite explainable the previous trends of development of metalproduction during of early and average bronze. In Sintashta Culture orientation to production traditions of steppe Yamna-poltavka and catacomb tribes of Northern Black Sea and Ciscaucasia in the use of predominantly low-alloy arsenic bronzes under the domination of the forging technique that uses low-temperature metal working.Petrovka blacksmiths, similar to Don-Volga Abashevo masters, continued the stable tradition of the Ural Yamna-Poltavka blacksmiths of handling pure copper, including oxidised copper with the use of casting and forging techniques.

Keywords: South Ural, Bronze Age, Petrovka culture, Sintashta culture, nonferrous metal production, metallography, Ancient technologies, nonferrous metal typology, morphology, technological traditions

Abstract: While conducting archaeological excavations in 2001–2006 on the territory of the Zatmatskiy posad in the city of Tver, researchers investigated the goldsmith quarter dating to the end of the 15th – beginning of the 16th centuries. The excavations included four estates with goldsmith workshops. Archaeological horizons were rich in individual finds, among which prevailed objects of nonferrous metallurgy. The most numerous objects were fragments of clay crucibles – 3524 specimens. Five unbroken vessels and 11 with fully or almost fully preserved profile have allowed to typify the form and size of the moulders’ instruments. These are open conical or cylindrical crucibles with a height of 7,5–10 cm. and a volume of 80–155 ml. On the walls of many specimens remain vitreous slags and drops of metal. Using the non-destructive x-ray fluorescence analysis, the chemical compound of 78 finds have been identified at the x-ray fluorescence laboratory of the Section of Geochemistry of the Geology Department of Lomonosov Moscow State University. On the basis of element ranging the groups of metal melted in the crucibles have been identified: pure copper, bronze and brass, lead-tin alloy. Zinc-containing alloys are the most common. In the remains of each estate a clear connection can be drawn between the metal filling the crucible, production waste and finished objects. The comparison of melting vessels with earlier finds on the territory of the posad has shown that their volume has increased by several times. This testifies to the important scale of production that the bronze casting trade has acquired in the Zatmatskiy posad during the late Medieval period.

Keywords: Tver Zatmarskiy posad, late Middle Ages, jewellery making, production workshops, crucibles, slag, nonferrous metals, x-ray fluorescence, chemical compound, alloy classification

Abstract: The article presents a study on the morphological, chemical and technological features of the metal from the North Caucasian, Novotitorovskaya and Yamnaya cultures during the transitional period from the Early to the Middle Bronze Age in the regions of Ciscaucasia and the South-Eastern Russian plain. A series of instruments, decorative objects and fastening devices from 62 burials, 51 kurgans, 43 burial grounds are reviewed. Using close and distant analogies, the author undertakes a detailed typological analysis of the findings, noting consequent remnant forms, modifications and innovations. The author also gives a description of the chemical composition of their metal, which is mostly arsenic bronze. Attention is drawn to the uninterrupted dominance of forming forging in metalworking technologies. The research’s results on the whole allow to make conclusions about the particularities of the given series of objects, which illustrate the general evolutionary tendencies of the steppe zone. The essence of the occurring changes consisted in the eradication of metal production standards of the Early Bronze Age and the formation of new traditions, developed and widely diffused contemporaneously with the spreading of the catacomb burial rite at the beginning of the Middle Bronze epoch in the south of Eastern Europe.

Keywords: Middle Bronze Age, burials, North Caucasian culture, Novotitorovskaya culture, Yamnaya culture, instruments, decorative objects, arsenic bronze, forging, metal

Abstract: The research subject of thе article is, on the one hand, the history of the restoration corrections to the canvas of «The Battle of Smolensk» by Peter Hess. On the other hand, the article examines the practice of commemorating Russia’s military history during the period of Nicholas I. Particular attention is paid to the history of creating the «Rooms of Battle Paintings» in the Winter Palace, which centered around the named picture. The article’s object of research is the official version of the history of the Patriotic War of 1812, formulated in the 1840—50s under the direct supervision of the emperor. The methodological basis of the study is the systematic examination of historical sources (including visual) and of facts obtained from unpublished archival documents. The study’s main results consist in dating the later corrections of the picture to the first half of the 20th century and the reassessment of the painting’s role during the reign of Nicholas I. The relevance of the obtained results lies in their practical application (for museum restoration), as well as in the theoretic sphere by inciting to rethink the concept of «the people’s war» in the history of Russia during the first half of the 19th century. During Alexander’s reign this concept dominated the historiography of the Patriotic War of 1812, while during Nicholas’s rule it was substantially reformed, finding reflection in the painting «The Battle of Smolensk».

Keywords: L. I. Kihl, A. I. Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky, battle painting, Hermitage, Smolensk, restoration, Winter Palace, Patriotic War, Nicholas I, Peter Hess

Abstract: The article presents a Russian translation of M. K. Gandhi’s (1869–1948) letter to H. Polak, dated to the 14th of October 1909. In this text the Indian thinker undertakes one of the first attempts to systematise his views on the issue of the relationships between East and West. The central subject of the letter is the critique of modern society’s external attributes – technical progress, judicial system, medical institutions, etc. This makes the text similar to “Hind Swaraj” – his programme brochure, written soon after the letter. The author examines through a categorical analysis of different sources Gandhi’s key philosophical concepts of “true” and “modern” civilisations, which he created to understand the modernisation processes. For the first time in Russian scientific study the author conducted a comparative analysis of Gandhi’s early texts, which reflect his views on Eastern and Western civilisations. Taking into consideration the Western influences on Gandhi and the Western ideas explicitly and implicitly presented in his philosophy, the author of the article arrives at the conclusion that the Indian thinker was not an absolute antagonist of modernisation. While denying technical progress, Gandhi calls to turn attention from the transformation of the surrounding environment to the development of man himself. This makes his ideas similar to the personalistic tendencies in modern Western social philosophy.

Keywords: East, M. K. Gandhi, West, civilisation, dialogue of cultures, “Hind Swaraj”, traditional society, modernisation, social development, technical progress

Abstract: The article discusses the possibilities and prerequisites for the re-actualisation of the concept of pseudomorphosis under contemporary conditions. The reference point in the author’s research is the conceptualisation by Oswald Spengler. The author defines pseudomorphosis not only as a global historical shift, a turning point in the development of a society, but also considers pseudomorphosism as a sort of defining characteristic, a quality inherent to the process of historical development, and defined by the significant role of the pseudomorphosis phenomenon in the history of one or another macro-culture. Based on the fact that the main instrument of any scientific research is its conceptual framework, the author describes the basic concepts used in the context of the pseudomorphic development theory of Russia: pseudomorphosis, reception, inversion; in addition, the author introduces the concept of local pseudomorphic space. The novelty of the author’s approach stems from regarding pseudomorphosis not only as a specific historical phenomenon, but also as a type of development inherent in some countries, including in Russia. This implies a broader understanding of this phenomenon than was prescribed by Spengler. The author draws attention to the issue of the reception of socio-cultural content during the process of pseudomorphosis, which can be borrowed incompletely, selectively, partially. Finally, the proposed conceptualisation involves the understanding of the mechanisms of pseudomorphic development, in particular, the phenomenon of inversion and “revenge” of the repressed autochthonous content.

Keywords: Spengler, Christianisation, politics, culture, inversion, reception, pseudomorphosis, history, Florovsky, Tsymbursky

Abstract: The article is a continuation of a series of works dedicated to the analysis of the wildlife information contained in the Economic notes to the General land-surveying of the end of the 18th – beginning of the 19th centuries. This contribution analyses the information on the presence of sturgeon fish in the rivers on the territories of European Russia. In recent years the history of fishery has been actively studied within the framework of environmental history, both in Russia and abroad. This article examines the given topic for the first time on the basis of the earliest mass source, which allows a systematic examination of the environment of the time, – the materials of the General Land Survey. The systematic processing of the information in the Economic notes covering the main territory of the country allowed the development of a sample containing data on 10 gubernias, 66 uezds, including more than 600 land plots and more than 400 large and small rivers. Mentions of the general sturgeon fish-family are studied, as well as of the citation of separate species (Russian sturgeon, Starry sturgeon, Huso, Sterlet, Bastard sturgeon). Additionally, the data on the natural habitat at the end of the 18th century is mapped and analysed in comparison to their modern habitat locations.

Keywords: Russian sturgeon, Economic notes, history of fishing, General Land Survey, Sturgeon fish, environmental history, Starry sturgeon, Huso, Sterlet, Bastard sturgeon

Abstract: The article addresses the named topic, which is much discussed in modern historical and political sciences. The aim is to review the formation and development of political regime typologies, exposing the factors that had a definitive influence on this process. The article contains a critical analysis of the existing classifications, showing their strong and weak points. Special attention is given to the inadequacy of the identification of the Soviet system within the framework of totalitarian and authoritarian paradigms, pointing out the factors that prevent its objective assessment. Comparing the changing interpretations and recognizing the limitations imposed by the discourse should contribute to the elaboration of more exact perceptions of history progressions and of political processes in the modern world. The historical approach is applied to the works of politologists: the topic is considered through its development in time, taking into account the changes in the objective historical settings and in the concepts of the researchers. It is noted that the systematic development of political regime typologies began after World War II and was based on the dichotomy “democracy – totalitarianism”. Thereafter significant effort has been devoted to the development of the concept of “authoritarianism”, to the adjustment of the definition of Soviet-type regimes and of liberal-democratic systems. Contemporary historiography retains the triad “totalitarianism – authoritarianism – democracy”, however, there exist some significant researches by scholars, who go beyond the dominant discourse. The acceptance of the democratic characteristics of the Soviet-like systems and describing them as “totalitarian democracy” will allow for the development of more adequate classifications, taking into account alternative variants in political modernization.

Keywords: political regime, classification of regimes, history, liberal democracy, totalitarianism, totalitarian democracy, authoritarian regime, democratization, political modernization, discourse.

Abstract: The Russian translation of “A Brief Sketch of the Ancient and Modern Boundaries and History of India,” by Rammohun Roy, is presented. This sketch is interpreted by the author of the article-preface for the translation as a textsymbol of the initial development of historical consciousness in Modern India and the birth of the idea of Indian History. Written by “Father of Modern India,” philosopher and reformer, founder of the Bengal Renaissance (XIX–early XX century) Rammohun Roy, “A Brief Sketch” shows that its author was thinking about India as a whole and its history and all- India problems. That is why this text is part of the “Discovery of India” (J. Nehru) phenomenon, creating an image of the native country for Indians and the rest of the world as well as integration of this image in the Modern World. Rammohun Roy had discovered India as sociocultural space, with ancient spiritual and cultural image, and as subcontinent, which has united different “countries” and “districts,” as a large society having its own history.

Keywords: history, India, Rammohun Roy, England, colonialism, development, time, society, institutes, progress.

Abstract: The article presents the reflections by a university teacher about the problems of Oriental achievements’ integration into the Modern humanitarian education in Russia. The author sees the problem of teaching special humanities in a lag of course content from the latest developments of Russian Oriental Studies, which remain the property of scholars and orientalists. The author cites the examples from their own pedagogical practice of teaching sociological disciplines and shows the need for the integration of Oriental problems into the humanities courses, both a general and special cycle. In addition to deepening knowledge of the socio-cultural reality and understanding their own country, oriental knowledge contributes to overall enlightenment purposes, viz to overcome the negative stereotypes about other people, cultures and countries, to expand the horizons of thinking, to understand the Other, as well as to understand of the universal and the particular in the development of Russia.

Keywords: history, oriental studies, sociology, science, education, Russia, East, tradition, modernization and education.

Abstract: Based on the example of the “memorial researches” the article examines a problem of interdisciplinary interaction (competition and cooperation) in the modern social and humanitarian knowledge, analyzes different aspects of theoretical and methodological discussions of the “historical memory” concept, evaluates the results of the development of the interdisciplinary approaches and perspectives of the synthesis of the research prospects in social and humanitarian sciences in the conditions of establishing of a new concept of “interdisciplinarity”.

Keywords: history, cultural studies, memory, culture, images of the past, interdisciplinary, interaction, identity, individual / supraindividual, the writing of history, synthesis of knowledge.

Abstract: the article analyzes the objects, concepts and methods of cultural history – modern historical subdiscipline presented in different national historiographical traditions. Due to the boundary nature of the object (social institutions, social networks, daily interaction, childhood, cultural memory, physicality, etc.) the phenomenon of interdisciplinary relation is problematized to history, the question of the institutional boundaries of disciplines is raised.

Keywords: history, culture, sultural history, neue Kulturgeschichte, histoire culturelle, theory, scientific method, the interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary object, institutional boundaries of science, axiomatic core.

Abstract: the paper analyzes the inter- and multidisciplinary researches of Knorozov Yu.V., who had decode the Mayan hieroglyphic writing. The article estimates the historical value of his theory of the collective and the signaling theory, considers his contribution to the development of the law of recapitulation (for Social Development). Author gives a detailed description of the “theory of self-organization of the antroposystem” created by the disciples and followers of the scientist.

Keywords: history, anthroposystem, self-organization, communication, signaling theory, the theory of the collective, social development, religious consciousness, writing system, Knorozov Yu.V.

Abstract: the article presents characteristics of the relations of the Russian Cultural Society and Italy. Based on the material of the XVII century it shows that in terms of educated Russian, except Russia, namely Italy has a genuine historical and cultural value in Europe and that the Italians, as well as Russians, clearly stand out among the nations of Europe.

Keywords: history, the Moscow court, Russian-Italian ties, Italian, Latin, Rome, fryags, foreign prints, “the Italian icon”, the historical and cultural value.

Abstract: The author studies the synthesis of the humanities in the Russian science in XIX–XX centuries. One of the topics, which is considered in this article, is a synthesis of history, sociology and psychology in the practice of several educational and scientific centers: Russian School of Social Sciences in Paris, Psychological Institute named after V.M. Bekhterev, Russian Sociological Society named after M. Kowalewsky. The author concludes that the interdisciplinary approach had been implemented more consistently in the teaching process (curricula) of these centers and it had not received sufficient development in their scientific activities.

Keywords: history, sociology, psychology, social science, education, synthesis, humanitarian, knowledge, theory, methodology.