Islam in the Tomsk Region of the Ob Basin from the Thirteenth to the Eighteenth Century: from Hypotheses to Reality

Abstract

Objective: The article deals with the question of the time of the spread of Islam in the Tomsk region of the Ob basin. It not only analyzes the early date of the penetration of Islam (the thirteenth century), but also the events related to the integration of Western Siberia into the Russian state. Moscow’s policies toward the aboriginal population was flexible and considered the complexity of the ethnic picture of the annexed lands. After a relatively short time, the population of the region was split into two worlds – Christian (Orthodox) and Islamic. Research materials: The archaeological complexes of this period demonstrate this process and, considering the scarcity of the written sources, allow us to clarify the time and place of the population’s initiation into new religions. However, it is necessary to take into account all the nuances, and all the materials available for analysis, in order not to create a false idea of historical processes, and to succumb to the desire to push the spread of Islam in this region to a more distant past. Determination of the confessional affiliation of the deceased cannot be limited to two features, and it is necessary to consider both the global canons of Islam and its Siberian regional peculiarities. My report is based on the materials of the excavations of the Tojanov Gorodok burial ground of the famous national archaeologist M.P. Gryaznov in 1924. Results and novelty of the research: Based on the analysis of the available materials the following conclusion is made: this site cannot be considered “one of the earliest Islamic sites in the Lower Tom basin”. It is a burial site of the pre-Muslim period. The circumstances related to the spread of Islam are as follows: although it is possible that Islam penetrated the region as early as the thirteenth century, the formation of Muslim communities occurred in the seventeenth century, after Western Siberia became part of the Russian state.