| Popis: |
The excavations of 1994 and 2001–2004 at Ryurik Gorodishche (Rurik’s Hillfort) have yielded an interesting collection of objects from leather, particularly leather footwear. The chronological range of the finds is from the turn between the 9th and 10th centuries to the 13th–14th century. Most of the finds are datable to the turn of the 11th/ 12th centuries. This collection reflects different periods of occupation of Gorodishche and the specifics of the life activities at this settlement. The leather objects should be considered primarily as an indicator of the formation and development of an independent manufacture in Novgorod and the Novgorod Land. Morphological and stylistic analysis of the foot- wear patterns combined with evaluation of the entire mass of the leather objects, including the scraps of leather, allows us to identify one of the basic critical moments in the organization of the tanning craft in Novgorod. This crucial moment is reflected also in other material evidence of different crafts and house building in Novgorod in the middle — second half of the 12th century. There has been proposed an opinion and substantiation of the fact that the social and political struggle in Novgorod of the 1130s must have had in its basis the securing of certain rights to the trade and manufactur- ing groups of the population in the sphere of manufacture and realization of the entire handicraft production both in Novgorod itself and beyond its limits. |
