The solution to the problem of the emergence and specific development of ancient agriculture in Western Siberia is presented by analyzing exclusively paleobotanical data. Information is provided on the main methods of searching and identifying phytoliths, grains (grain prints )and pollen of cultivated cereals, and the possibilities of these methods for solving the problem are evaluated. Currently known and new paleobotanical indicators of agriculture in Western Siberia, Kazakhstan, Altai and Semirechye are summarized. Based on the analysis of the spatial and temporal distribution of grains and pollen of cultivated cereals, an attempt is made to reconstruct the foci of their cultivation from the end of the Bronze Age.

Keywords: ancient agriculture, paleobotanical methods, grains and pollen of cultivated cereals, ancient agricultural areas, Western Siberia.

Introduction

Agriculture is still one of the most poorly studied types of economic activity of the ancient population of Northern Eurasia, in Siberia there is especially little reliable evidence of its development. The study of this issue is of great interest not only for archeology. Identifying traces of ancient agriculture as the most intensive form of anthropogenic impact allows us to objectively assess the role of human society in changing natural landscapes in the Holocene.

As a rule, the assumption about the cultivation of plants is based on the presence of agricultural tools or tools for processing grain. However, most researchers agree that it is very difficult to judge the appearance of agriculture in ancient times by inventory, since it is almost impossible to differentiate between collecting and early agricultural tools. It is assumed that most of the tools were made of wood in ancient times and have not been preserved (Sidorov, 1986). In addition, the rare occurrence of such stone artefacts and the general narrowness of the range of sources is explained by the lack of stone raw materials in the central regions of Western Siberia (Chemyakina and Dergacheva, 2005). However, despite the scanty material available, archaeologists have long drawn direct conclusions about the transition to agriculture from the Eneolithic period on indirect grounds (sedimentation, floodplain settlement, paleoclimatic changes, and the presence of individual agricultural implements in the inventory) [Kosarev, 1991, pp. 35-36]. Reconstructions of the size of arable land, the composition of cultivated cereals and their yield for the Bronze Age are also completely unfounded [Ibid., pp. 38-40]. Therefore, the statement that " by the turn of our era, agriculture among the Siberian peoples already has a significant centuries-old history of development "(Martynova, 1987) has not yet been proven.

Paleoethnobotanical studies can be used to explain the time of the emergence of agriculture and reconstruct its specifics. They are a necessary and very important addition to the "indirect" archaeological features. The most promising research methods include

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1. Micrographs of phytoliths of grain husks (according to Goleva, 2001). a - oats; b-wheat; c-rye; d-barley.

2. Micrographs of grass pollen. a-single-grain wheat (Triticum monococcum L.); b-meadow timothy (Phleum pratense L.); c - stingless stalk (Bromopsis unermis (Leys.) Holub.); d-meadow bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.); e - fossilized pollen from deposits of the Kurya -1 settlement (single pollen grains and clusters).

palynological, carpological, and biomorphic, with pollen, grains, and phytoliths as the main objects (Figs. 1, 2).

Methods

The biomorphic method, which is relatively young and little known among archaeologists, has so far only been locally tested for the purpose of detecting traces of agriculture (Talgar hillforts in Kazakhstan [Goleva, 2001, 2008], Rostislavl in the Moscow region, Raevskoe in the Krasnodar Territory [Goleva, 2008]), and its active introduction into the practice of archaeological research is just beginning [Goleva, 2000]. The method makes it possible to identify phytoliths and cuticle casts not only from the husk of cultivated cereals, but also from stems and leaves, which is extremely important for justifying their cultivation, rather than import. Microscopic siliceous bodies of relatively regular shape (phytoliths) are formed in plant cells and are well preserved. Unfortunately, the identification of cultivated plants by phytoliths in modern studies is not given sufficient attention, although there are prerequisites for identifying special types of arable and garden biomorphic complexes (Goleva, 2003). The disadvantage of this method is the clear localization of phytoliths and cuticle casts in the place of plant burial, i.e. they can only be found in areas of the settlement where cereals were processed or stored, or on the territory occupied by arable land in ancient times.

The discovery of grains of cultivated cereals or seeds of other cultivated plants on archaeological sites is an infrequent phenomenon (especially beyond the Urals [Krivtsova-Grakova, 1948, p. 114; Zadneprovsky, 1962, p. 75; Martynov, 1979, p. 100; Abdulganeev, 1997; Bashtannik, 2002; Belikova, 2003; Kiryushin et al., 2006]).

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They are preserved under specific fossilization conditions (charring, placing near copper products, preserving in ash, clay-coated pits, permafrost, etc.). In arid regions, grain preservation is associated with their dehydration in extremely dry soil (Zohary and Hopf, 1994). The most informative carpological materials are obtained by flotation (washing) of the cultural layer. This makes it possible to analyze all the stages of the monument's functioning. Plant macrostates not only serve as a key to identifying agriculture, but also allow us to assess the scale of grain production and even the degree of agricultural development (Antipina and Lebedeva, 2005). A randomly detected accumulation of grains usually captures the situation at the time of burial (Bashtannik, 2008). Often on the fragments of dishes there are prints of seeds, plant parts or even whole spikelets, accidentally caught or intentionally included in the ceramic dough. After firing, organic substances are charred, but the print can identify plant remains. Although in most cases they belong to wild plants, grain imprints of cultivated cereals have also been repeatedly noted. However, targeted searches for prints in ceramic collections are relatively rare among archaeologists (Sidorov, 1986; Matveev, Matveeva, and Korona, 1998; Matveeva, Volkov, and Ryabogina, 2003, p.150). Unfortunately, accidentally discovered prints of plant parts or grains are not always determined by carpologists, and later it is difficult for archaeologists to confirm their cultural origin [Chernikov, 1960, p. 232, Table 37; Korochkova and Stefanov, 1991, p. 61; Kuzmina, 1994, p.195]. It should be noted that the preserved seeds do not necessarily indicate agriculture - the grain could have been imported and produced in another region. Therefore, an important diagnostic feature is the detection of weed seeds from crops or straw together with cereals.

Spore-pollen analysis and study of the fossil pollen of cultivated cereals in Holocene sediments are very promising for solving the problem of the time and features of the emergence of agriculture. This is especially true in areas where soil and climatic conditions do not contribute to the preservation of grains and seeds in the cultural layer. Methodological prerequisites for the introduction of spore-pollen analysis in this area were laid down by R. V. Fedorova [1959a, b; 1965]. The fundamental difference between palynological data and biomorphic or carpological data is the possibility of detecting cultivated plants in a large area of their direct growth, i.e. evidence of the existence of agriculture, and not the use of grain in the economy. Due to the specificity of the spore-pollen analysis, signs of agriculture can be found where the corresponding tools have not been preserved, and even in archaeologically "sterile" layers, for example, in peat bogs, lake or floodplain deposits. In such cases, layers with pollen from cultivated plants are dated by radiocarbon and stratigraphic methods.

The anthropogenic origin of cereals is not in doubt, since in Eastern Europe and Western Siberia, as a rule, they did not grow in natural cenoses. The situation is more complicated with the identification of foci of cultivation of fruit and vegetable crops, medicinal or spicy herbs, which for a long time could be collected in a wild state. Therefore, the materials presented in this article will only apply to cereals.

Despite the monotonous structure of the pollen of all cereals, there is an important morphological feature: in cultivated plants, the size of pollen grains is noticeably larger than in wild plants (see Fig. According to a study by Firbas (1937), who studied the pollen of 215 species of modern cereals, the value of 38 microns can be taken as the boundary between cultivated and wild-growing cereals. Currently, in Western Europe, this biometric threshold has been raised to 45 microns, and for the Mediterranean coast, it is set at about 47 microns (Joly et al., 2007). However, we must admit that there are also cultivated cereals that are closer to wild ones in this parameter. In particular, pollen grains of chumiz (Setaria italica L.) and single-grain wheat (Triticum monococcum L. the size (32-35 microns) will be very difficult to determine in the fossil state. Despite numerous morphometric studies of cereal pollen, the analysis of the size of pollen grains varies greatly among different authors (Fedorova, 1959a), which does not allow us to focus only on them when making more detailed definitions of the genus and species. This is done using other diagnostic features , such as the shape of pollen and the location of the seedling pore (Kupriyanova, 1948). Only cultivated cereals are characterized by an egg-shaped, less often elliptical shape of the pollen grain and a large seedling pore located at its wide end or slightly shifted sideways. However, in most cases in the fossil state, pollen is crumpled or stuck together in lumps, which greatly complicates its species identification. This significant disadvantage of pollen analysis can be compensated for by carpological research, since more accurate species definitions of cultivated plants are possible from seeds.

The group of cultivated cereals includes rye (Secale cereale L.), wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), barley (Hordeum sp.), corn (Zea mays L.), millet (Panicum sp.), sorghum (Sorghum sp.), and rice (Oryza sativa L.) and oats (Avena sativa L.). To the West-

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In Western Siberia, the Urals, and the Russian Plain, maize (of Central American origin) could not have been cultivated from these crops in ancient times, and rice and sorghum cultivation is also unlikely (due to the specific nature of agroclimatic conditions).

In the practice of spore-pollen analysis, the most obvious diagnostic sign of agriculture is considered to be the presence of accumulations of large pollen grains of cultivated cereals in sediments in combination with weed pollen accompanying crops [Spiridonova, Aleshinskaya, Kochanova, 2008]. The identification of indicators of anthropogenic activity (in other words, weeds) in the spore-pollen spectra has been carried out for more than 30 years (Fedorova, 1965; Krupenina, 1973; Safarova, 1973; Fedorova, 1976; Guman, 1978; Aleksandrovsky et al., 1991). Weeds are conventionally divided into three groups (Aleksandrovsky et al., 1991):

1) segetal - weed vegetation of ploughed fields, which is spread out in pairs, deposits, i.e. mainly associated with agriculture. For example, in the forest-steppe Trans-Urals, its main modern representatives are cornflower (Centaurea cyanus L.), schiritsa (Amaranthus retroflexus L.), surepka (Barberea arcuata (Opiz ex J. et C. Presl) Reichenb.), oatmeal (Avena fatua L.), mar (Chenopodium album L.), hemp (Cannabis sativa L.), less common are sow thistle (Sonchus arvensis L.), buckwheat (Fallopia dumetorum L., F. convolvulis L.), cabbage (Brassica campestris L., B. Juncea L.), mustard (Sinapis alba L., S. arvensis L.), field radish (Raphanus raphanistrum L.);

2) pasquale weeds - weeds on pastures or mown areas, usually indicating cattle breeding;

3) ruderal-growing near housing and near roads.

Using a set of anthropogenic indicators, it is quite possible to identify the specifics of land use by humans. According to experimental studies of surface soil samples in the Trans-Urals forest-steppe, the share of weed pollen reaches 70% during intensive land development (Ryabogina, 2005). Despite extensive modern crops, the share of pollen of cultivated cereals in these samples is no more than 2%, and only in the immediate vicinity of the fields it significantly increases. Probably, due to the fact that the pollen of cultivated cereals is heavy, most of it settles inside the crops or is carried by the wind over short distances - from 0.5 to 2 km (Fedorova, 1958, p.19; Aleksandrovsky et al., 1991). Most of the pollen of segetal weeds settles within 5 - 10 km. Therefore, the presence of agricultural palynological indicators in the fossil spectra cannot be a consequence of wind drift from other areas, as it happens with tree pollen, but only characterizes local conditions.

Fact analysis

A generalization of the available paleobotanical data related to ancient agriculture in the territories of the Russian Plain, Western Siberia, the Urals, and Kazakhstan allows us to consider the time of its occurrence and the dynamics of its development (see the table). It is known that when the Neolithic population of the steppe and forest-steppe regions rapidly transitioned to a productive economy on the Russian Plain in the mid-to-late Atlantic period of the Holocene, most of Western Siberia retained the appropriating hunting and fishing trend. The earliest evidence of agriculture (pollen of cultivated grasses and segetal weeds) dating back to about 6300 BP was found in Western Ukraine (Alexandrovsky et al., 1991); in the Central Russian forest - steppe, such finds date from 5500 - 5400 BP, and in Moldavia - 5200-5500 BP [Ibid.]. At the beginning of the third millennium BC, barley (grain imprints), wheat and rye (pollen) were grown at the Vita-Litovskaya settlement in Central Ukraine (Fedorova, 1959a).

The first, though controversial, evidence of agriculture in the Southern Urals refers to the Neolithic cultural layer of the Kaga settlement, where rye pollen was found (Alexandrovsky et al., 1991). Wheat grains were found in the Late Bronze Age strata of the Cherkassy settlement (Lebedeva, 2005), and millet and wheat grains were found in the Novy Kumak-2 Sarmatian burial ground (Akbulatov, 1999).

In the subboreal deposits of the Russian Plain, the pollen of cultivated cereals and related weeds is constantly found. Similar finds dating back to the Bronze Age are known in Lithuania, Western Ukraine, Polesie [Ibid.], Central Meshchera [Abramova, 2001], and other regions. Since the middle of the sub-Atlantic period (the turn of the millennium), agriculture has already played a significant role in the economy of the forest zone of Eastern Europe, as evidenced by extensive deforestation and burning of forests. Researchers note that on the Russian Plain, the pollen of cultivated cereals occurs only sporadically in the first half of the subboreal period, and starting from the second, it consistently accounts for 4% of the amount of pollen of herbaceous plants [Ibid.].

Similar conclusions were drawn from large-scale archaeobotanical (carpological) studies in Eastern Europe and the Southern Urals (Lebedeva, 2005). In the middle and early stages of the late Bronze Age, only isolated grains were found, which are difficult to interpret as signs of agricultural culture. The penetration of agricultural traditions into steppe and forest-steppe regions can be reliably established only at the final stages of the Bronze Age. But the most frequent occurrence of macrostates of cultivated plants is noted from the Early Iron Age on a vast territory from

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From Crimea to the Moscow region. Reconstruction of early agricultural traditions and the process of developing the technology of cultivating various cereals was performed based on palynological, carpological, and historical sources for the territories of the Far East, Mongolia, and China (Kuzmin, 1997, 2006).

Unfortunately, the available paleobotanical data on agriculture in the southern and central regions of Western Siberia are still scarce, which does not allow us to present a full-fledged comprehensive reconstruction of the economy of the ancient population of this region. In Western Siberia, the area of productive farming was finally formed only in the Subboreal period of the Holocene, but for a long time the pastoral direction prevailed. The first assumptions about the adoption of agriculture are associated with the discovery of tools for collecting and processing grain in the settlements of the Cherkaskul and Elovskaya cultures of the late Bronze Age, as well as with the general sedentary nature of life of their inhabitants [Kosarev. 1981; Sidorov, 1986; The Bronze Age..., 1987]. Until recently, the only paleobotanical source confirming the occurrence of local foci of cereal cultivation in the end of the Bronze Age in the Southern Trans-Urals was considered to be two imprints of barley and wheat grains found on Cherkaskul-type ceramics from the Olkhovka settlement in the Priisetye region (O. M. Korona's carpological definitions [Matveev, Matveeva, Korona, 1998; Matveev, 1999]). It is interesting that the Circassian people lived during the middle - end of the second millennium BC. The most arid climatic conditions of the mid-Subboreal Holocene period and the associated significant landscape cooling occur in the Southern Trans-Urals. Therefore, the emergence of agriculture and the beginning of the cultivation of cultivated plants seems somewhat inappropriate at this time, although it does not contradict the assumption of single plants.

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agricultural centers in floodplains, in the most moist and fertile areas (Kosarev, 1981; Potemkina, 1985). In addition to the general landscape and climatic situation, the development of agriculture was probably blocked by the highly specialized livestock sector of the Cherkaskul community, which inherited the traditions of the early Andronovites.

Recently, new data have been obtained that indicate that the bearers of the Fedorov culture of the Southern Trans-Urals were familiar with agriculture before the Cherkaskul people. As a result of a purposeful search for paleobotanical indicators of agriculture in the Kurya-1 settlement in 2007, large pollen grains of cereals were found in the filling of wells. Most of them are morphologically similar to wheat pollen (Triticum sp.). A very important fact is not a single find, but a mass accumulation - this is one of the main diagnostic signs of a very close location of a sown field. Unfortunately, the flotation of the cultural layer and the filling of wells did not bear fruit, which is not surprising, since organic residues are very quickly destroyed in meadow-chernozem soils. The monument is located near the city of Tyumen, and its research will continue [Volkov et al., 2007].

Natural conditions were more favorable for agricultural development at the end of the Holocene Subboreal period, when humidity gradually increased in the taiga (2900 BP) and then in the forest-steppe regions (2700 BP) of Western Siberia, and dry steppes became more mesophytic (Ryabogina, 2004; Zakh and Ryabogina, 2005]. Probably, as a result of paleoecological changes in the Late Bronze Age and the transition period from the Bronze to the Iron Age, a complex, multi-branch type of economy was formed, with a clear predominance of cattle breeding with

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increase in the share of horses in the herd. Nevertheless, an analysis of archaeological data (Potemkina, 1985, pp. 319-320) suggested that agriculture was already familiar to the ancient population, but due to the primitiveness of technology, it could only be very limited or even episodic. When hoeing the land, it is impossible to cultivate large areas and collect sufficient crops. However, it is precisely at the turn of the II-I and the beginning of the I millennium BC that more frequent paleobotanical finds indicate agriculture. At this time, in the southern regions of Western Siberia, the Barkhat culture existed almost simultaneously in the southwest, the Suzgun culture in the north, the Irma culture in the east, and the Alekseev-Sargarinsky culture in the south.

In the forest-steppe Ob region, there are clear evidences of the Irmen culture's familiarity with agriculture at the beginning of the first millennium BC. In addition to comparative typological, traceological and experimental studies of tools found here (hoe tip, cleaver, grain grater), clay-coated pits interpreted as granaries are of interest. Plant imprints on ceramics from the Milovanovo-3 settlement were used to identify naked hexaploid wheat (Triticum antiquorum) and presumably millet (as determined by R. A. Udachin) (Sidorov, 1986). This is a rather archaic type of wheat, which preceded not only the modern soft T. aestivum L., but also the dwarf naked T. compactum, which, according to R. A. Udachin, forms its range in Central Asia already in the Bronze Age. The existence of the identified wheat species is explained by the very early penetration of agriculture on the territory of Western Siberia [Ibid.]. Later, a complex of weed seeds, including segetal ones, was obtained in the Irmen settlement of Iskok during flotation of the cultural layer (Bashtannik, 2006).

An imprint of wheat grain (Triticum sp.)was found in the materials of the Barkhatov ceramic complex from the Kolovsky settlement in Priisetye. [Matveeva, Volkov, Ryabogina, 2003, p. 150]. Ceramics from the Zavodoukovskoye-10 settlement in Pritobolye show a similar imprint, but the cultural origin of the plant has not been proven by experts [Korochkova and Stefanov, 1991, p. 61]. A purposeful search for similar prints in the materials of other Barkhatov monuments in the Trans-Urals region did not yield positive results. Directly in the Barkhatov cultural layer of the Shchetkovo-2 monument, the pollen of cultivated cereals was also not found, but individual pollen grains were found in the layers that overlap it [Zakh et al., 2008, p. 59], probably they are associated with the latest stage of the functioning of this settlement. If the bearers of the Barkhat culture were familiar with the beginnings of agriculture, a single find cannot reliably indicate its significant role in the life support of the population.

Perhaps the presence of wheat grain imprints on ceramics in the Southern Trans-Urals is explained by the contacts of Barkhatov residents with the population of neighboring territories of Kazakhstan. Burnt wheat grains (no exact definition) at the sacrificial site near the Alekseevsky settlement of the Alekseevsko-Sargara culture in Northern Kazakhstan (Krivtsova-Grakova, 1948), it is suggested that this cereal was grown there. Irrigation structures have been widespread on the territory of Northern, Central, and Eastern Kazakhstan since the Late Bronze Age, and grain grinders, hoes, and bronze sickles have been found during excavations (Margulan, 1979). The bronze sickle known in East Kazakhstan materials (Chernikov, 1960) with numerous prints of leaves and stems of cereals (sedges?), unfortunately, is not provided with more accurate botanical definitions, the origin and age of the prints are unclear, so its use as an argument in favor of the existence of agriculture is doubtful.

It is extremely interesting to regularly detect pollen of cultivated cereals (mainly wheat, sometimes barley/oats, rye) in the southern regions of the Tobolsk-Ishim region, and in layers that do not contain cultural residues [Zakh et al., 2008, pp. 6 - 59]. It is found in archaeologically "sterile" soil deposits that overlap the Barkhatov cultural layer (Shchetkovo settlement-2), as well as in the underlying Sargat (Nizhne-Ingalskoye settlement-3) and Zhuravlev (Lastochkino Gnezdo settlement-1) cultural layers. Pollen of cultivated cereals is found in the soil profile formed over the Eneolithic ground burials Buzan-3 and over the cultural layer of the cult site Ostrov-2. A comparison of radiocarbon and palynostratigraphic data makes it possible to assign all these layers to the interval of 2900-2500 BP, i.e., to the transition time from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. Despite the fact that only single pollen grains of cultivated cereals were recorded in sediments of the IX-VI centuries BC, the pollen of segetal weeds found with them (Chenopodium album L., Centaurea cyanus L., Sonchus sp.) gives grounds to talk about the elements of agriculture in the economy of the population of the Southern Trans-Urals in the specified period. However, due to the rarity of palynological studies on monuments of this time, it is not yet possible to reliably compare the finds with a specific archaeological culture.

In the first half of the sub-Atlantic period of the Holocene, according to the archaeological scale corresponding to the Early Iron Age, in the south-western regions of Western Siberia, the tradition of growing cereals was poorly established and gradually died out during the reign of the Sargat culture carriers and Sarmatians. Flotation of Sargat cultural layers in the forest-steppe gave

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negative results [Matveev, Matveeva, Korona, 1998]. However, there are interesting but poorly documented data on the discovery of barley, oats, and segetal weeds in Sargat mounds near the Podchevash settlement (excavations of the late 19th century near Tobolsk) [Bashtannik, 2006].

More convincing data were obtained on the agriculture of the Tagar culture, which existed almost simultaneously with the Sargat culture. Preserved grains of barley (Hordeum sp.) and millet (Panicum sp.) were found in the Serebryakovsky burial ground in the Tomsk-Yenisei interfluve (Martynov, 1979, p.100). Many Tagar tools can be attributed to agriculture, including 200 sickles found in the Krasnoyarsk Territory (Chernikov, 1960). Unfortunately, the claims about agriculture of other crops in the foothills of the Altai and Barnaul-Biysk Ob region are not supported by paleobotanical data.

In the later Early Saka, Saka, and Xiongnu periods, with the predominance of nomadic and semi - nomadic pastoralism, the existence of agriculture in the southeastern part of Western Siberia is controversial. However, there are data confirming the revival of the agricultural tradition in the northern foothills of the Altai among the carriers of the Maima culture (the beginning of the first millennium AD). Placers of millet and barley grains found at the settlements of Maima-1 and Ush-lep-5, as well as hoes, grain grinders and sickles indicate hoe farming at this time (Abdulganeev, 1997).

Paleocarpological material was obtained from the Biryuzovaya Katun-1 mound, which belongs to the Katandinsky stage of the ancient Turkic culture of the Altai Mountains (the second half of the VII-first half of the VIII centuries AD). The main grain crop was determined-millet (Panicum miliaceum L.), and grains of weeds were also found, some of which accompany row crops: Galeopsis speciosa Mill., G. ladanum L., Sinaps arvensis L., Stachys palustris L., Stellaria media L., Potentila cf. supina L., Carex cf. acuta L. The same complex of species is also found today in spring crops in the immediate vicinity of the burial site (Kiryushin et al., 2006).

Later, agricultural features disappear in the economy of the Altai population, probably due to the growing influence of the Kyrgyz, Kimans, and other nomads (Abdulganeev, 1997). Favorable military and political conditions for its renewal appeared only in the Middle Ages around the XIII-XIV centuries. Placers of barley and millet grains, as well as iron hoe tips (and possibly a ploughshare) were found on the Srostkin monuments - the Elbank settlement, the Inya-1 and Teleutsky Vzvoz-1 burial grounds (as defined by E. A. Ponomareva) (Kiryushin, Grushin, and Tishkin, 2003). It is symptomatic that the ceramic complex of the Yelbank settlement is similar to that of the Ush Lep-5 settlement, and the inhabitants of these settlements grew the same crops, i.e. there is reason to assume some continuity. However, unlike the Maimins, the Srostkin culture carriers were probably familiar with the simplest plow, so their agriculture can be interpreted as hoe and ploughed (Abdulganeev, 1997).

According to archaeological, written, and paleobotanical sources (Bashtannik, 2007), southern Kazakhstan was a large agricultural region in the VI-XIV centuries AD. Paleobotanical data on agriculture in the Middle Ages were obtained from the cultural layer of the Talgar settlement of the 8th-9th centuries (foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau) [Goleva, 2008], where phytoliths of millet, barley, oat husks and rice grain husks were found. According to A. A. Goleva, this indicates the imported origin of rice and the cultivation of barley, millet and oats. Carbonized grains of double-row filmy barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), millet grains (Panicum milliaceum), and several grains of a dwarf variety of soft wheat (Triticum aestivum) were also found here (Bashtannik, 2002). On the ancient settlement of Kayalyk (Antonovka) of the XI-XIII centuries, wheat grains predominate, while barley and millet are represented in smaller quantities. There are a number of carpological definitions that indicate the cultivation of fruit crops and cereals (barley, millet, and less often wheat) for ancient settlements of the IX-XV centuries in the Talas Valley (Akyrtas, Ornek, Kuiruk-tobe, Karaspan-tobe) [Bashtannik, 2007].

In the central regions of Western Siberia, archaeobotanical finds are known, indicating agriculture in the late Middle Ages. Of course, for this period, they would have been much larger if archaeologists had given plant remains to specialists for research. Archaeobotanical finds from one burial of the Zyryansky burial ground of the XVI-XVII centuries are studied in the most detail. (Prichulymye, Tomsk region), where a whole complex of food and weed plants was identified among the plant remains (as defined by E. A. Ponomareva) [Belikova, 2003]. Of particular interest is oats (Avena sativa L.) and the segetal weed accompanying its crops, the common cuckoo (Agrostemma githago L.). Plant remains of oats belong to a cultured but primitive form, probably intended for foraging purposes.

Conclusion

Analysis of the spatial and temporal distribution of paleobotanical indicators of agriculture in Western Siberia (Figure 3) has shown that it is still difficult to identify any region and stage where and when this type of activity was the main one in life support.

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3. Reconstruction of cereal cultivation centers in Western Siberia, Southern Kazakhstan, and the Southern Urals in the Bronze Age-Middle Ages. a - d-conditional areas of agriculture: a-late Bronze Age, b-end of the Bronze Age-transition time to the Early Iron Age, c-early Iron Age, d-early Middle Ages, e-late Middle Ages; f - probable direction of agricultural tradition promotion to the territory of Western Siberia; g - spread of agriculture in the Middle Ages. z-archaeological sites with paleobotanical finds: 1-Kurya-1 settlement; 2-Olkhovka settlement; 3-Alekseyevskoye settlement; 4-Milovanovo-3 settlement; 5-soil deposits of 2900-2500 liters.n. (without cultural reference); 6-Serebryakovsky burial ground; 7-Maima settlement-1; 8-Ush'lep settlement-5; 9-Biryuzovaya Katun mound-1; 10-Elbank settlement; 11-Inya burial ground-1; 12-Teleutsky Vzvoz burial ground-1; 13-Zyryansky burial ground; 14 - Talgar settlement; 15-Akyrtas settlement; 16-Ornek settlement; 17-Kuiruk-tobe settlement; 18 - Kayalyk (Antonovka) settlement; 19-Karaspan - tobe settlement; 20 - Kaga settlement; 21 - Cherkassy settlement; 22-Novy Kuma k -2 burial ground. Paleobotanical traces of agriculture (grains, grain prints, pollen): P-wheat, O - millet, I-barley, O - oats, R-rye.

Unlike the Russian Plain, the West Siberian region was not characterized by agriculture until Modern times.

The identification by archaeologists of pastoral-agricultural crops in Western Siberia since the beginning of the Bronze Age solely on the basis of the discovered "agricultural tools" is probably premature, it is not yet reasoned by paleobotanical finds. Few centers of cereal cultivation may have appeared only at the end of the Bronze Age in the Southern Trans-Urals. According to available data, the earliest of them was probably in the Middle Tribobol region (between the Tura and Iseti rivers). The limited area outlined by two monuments and the absence of agricultural tools in their materials suggest only an auxiliary, tentative nature of grain production. The tradition of growing wheat and barley in the XVIII-XIII centuries BC (Feodorovskaya and Cherkaskulskaya cultures) may have penetrated from the Volga-Ural region. Here, single grains of wheat and millet were found on the site of the log cabin culture in the Middle Volga region, and later wheat and barley grains predominated in the materials of the Suskan culture of the Southern Urals and the Middle Volga (Lebedeva, 2005).

More convincing is the assumption that the beginning of agriculture in the forest-steppe and steppe zones of Western Siberia in the late II-early I millennium BC. e. Perhaps this change in the economy arose as an adaptation of ancient people to changing natural conditions. In the western, central, and eastern regions, the archaeological sites of this period (Barkhatov, Irma, and Alekseyevo-Sargara cultures) contain grains, their imprints, and pollen mainly from wheat, as well as barley/oats and rye. It is the turn of the second and first millennia BC that is the most likely time for the inclusion of agriculture in the structure of the producing economy of the population of the forest-steppe zone of Western Siberia. Although paleobotanical finds of this time are rare, the appearance of grain mills, hoes and sickles, as well as irrigation structures allows us to include

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the conditional area of agriculture includes the forest-steppe part of the Volga region, Northern Kazakhstan, Barabu and the forest-steppe Ob region.

Since the Early Iron Age, the specifics and vector of agricultural development have been changing. In the western and central regions of Western Siberia, not a single reliable paleobotanical evidence of agriculture has been found, which probably indicates its extinction or blocking of its development by a highly specialized pastoral direction. However, in the Tomsk-Yenisei interfluve (Tagar culture), and later in the northern foothills of the Altai (Maimin culture), the area of millet and barley production is designated. It is likely that the predominance of millet, the oldest crop in China and the Far East, in archaeological materials is associated with the import of grain and, possibly, with attempts to cultivate it independently. The area of agriculture was preserved in the foothills of the Altai and in the early Middle Ages (ancient Turkic and Srostkin cultures).

The formation of an agricultural focus in Southern Kazakhstan, identified from paleobotanical finds in late Medieval cultural layers, is probably not related to the Altai one. Here, the tradition of cultivating cereals could have penetrated from Central Asia.

The lack of paleobotanical evidence of agriculture in Northern and Central Kazakhstan and the Barabinsk forest-steppe (the most favorable soil and climatic conditions for these purposes) does not currently allow us to present a complete picture of its development in Western Siberia. In the future, new paleobotanical data may radically change the initial conclusions about the time of emergence and the main areas of agriculture in this region. An objective reconstruction of the agricultural direction in the economy of the ancient population of Western Siberia will be facilitated by an understanding by archaeologists of the importance of collecting and specialized analysis of paleobotanical indicators of agriculture.

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The article was submitted to the Editorial Board on 25.03.10.

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