Tools of the Population of the Northern Foothills of Altai in the Beginning of the Early Middle Ages (Based on Materials from the Gorny-10 Necropolis)

Purpose. Tools are an important element of the life support system of ancient and medieval societies, the analysis of which allows us to comprehensively characterize the features of economic activities of the society under study, the established level of processing various materials, the specifics of the production of specific products. The article concerns the systematization and analysis of a representative collection of tools from the burials of the Gorny-10 necropolis in the northern foothills of Altai. Results. The collection of tools includes 40 knives, five awls, five needles, three adzes, a flint, a file, a hammer-file, a part of a whip, an item with an unspecified functional purpose. A morphological and classification analysis of these finds was carried out, as well as their comparison with similar materials from synchronous complexes of Northern and Central Asia. General and specific characteristics of the products are highlighted, and the uniqueness of the Г -shaped hammer-file for the Altai monuments is noted. Conclusion. It has been established that the existence of most types of the considered products from the objects of the Gorny-10 necropolis dates back to the initial period of the early Middle Ages, mainly coinciding with the period of the existence of the Turkic Khaganates (the second half of the 6th – first half of the 8th centuries AD). The state of available material sources, despite the presence of a certain number of analogies, does not yet allow us to unambiguously consider the genesis of most categories of the considered tool complex in the context of the processes of intercultural interaction of the population of the northern foothills of Altai with the Turks, as well as with the peoples of the Upper Ob region and the Kuznetsk Basin.