History of Primorsky Krai
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Primorye in ancient times
Primorye in the stone age
First people on the territory of Primorye
According to the archaeological data, first people appeared on the territory of modern Primorye in the Upper Paleolithic period (ancient stone age) 10-30 thousand years ago.
There are not many sites of ancient people here. The most ancient site is considered the one near Osinovka village near Ussuriysk, where A.P.Okladnikov, a famous archaeologist, found human stone tools, which were made of river pebbles.
The finds from the Geograficheskogo Obshchestva (Geographic Society) Cave (located in Partizansky District) were very useful in understanding life and economy of the ancient people. This was the only cave where archaeologists had found the bones of animals that had been eaten by people (mammoth's, bison's, rhinoceros', deer's, cave tiger's, etc).
The sites at the Zerkalnaya (Mirror) River Valley near Ustinovka and Suvorovo villages (Kavalerovsky District) date from later times. The stone tools from these sites are different from the finds near Osinovka village; they were made in a different way (using the lamellar technique of stone processing). The similarity of all stone tools from the Zerkalnaya River Valley let the researchers put them into one Ustinovsky archaeological culture. It is interesting that the materials of the Ustinovsky archaeological culture are somewhat similar to the finds from the territories which have boundaries with Primorye, especially in Japan.
In the Paleolithic period people led nomadic life. Small groups of several dozens people were moving within their territories. Men were occupied with hunting and fishing, women - with collecting and housekeeping, elder people - with children's education. The most wise and able of them were put at the head of a group.
In the Palaeolithic period the main occupation of the ancient people was hunting. People were skillful hunters; they were using spears, darts, and different kinds of traps. The climate conditions allowed for active collecting of edible plants.
Primorye in the Neolithic period
The Neolithic period (New Stone Age) in Primorye started in the 7th-6th millennium BC. In the New Stone Age the activities of ancient people changed drastically. In many regions the economies became production-based, not appropriation-based as before. This process is called the Neolithic revolution. In Primorye it was accompanied with the appearance of earthenware (ceramics), the wide spreading of polishing techniques, sawing, and new kinds of tools.
One of the typical Neolithic monuments of in Primorye is the site in Chyortovy Vorota (Devil's Gates) cave (Dalnegorsky District). In this cave the traces of wooden dwelling, which burnt in the middle of the 5th millennium BC, were discovered. The site contained a lot of unharmed archaeological materials, which included hundreds of stone- and bone-made wares, ceramic vessels, and the fragments of five human skeletons. Among the stone- and bone-made wares there were polished and retouched arrow, dart, and spear tips, axes, chisels of schist, various decorations. Flat-bottomed ceramic utensils were decorated with geometrical pattern.
During transition to the New Stone Age the population of Primorye started fishing. Fishing became dominant in the New Stone Age. Excavations held a lot of pebble-made sinkers. In the Chyortovy Vorota cave remains of fishing nets were found. The cartiloginous fish caught during spawning was stored for winter. People knew and were using fire since the Stone Age already. It is possible that fish was not only dried and jerked, but also smoked.
One of the Neolithic monuments of Primorye, which is not similar to the others, is Valentin-Peresheyek (Valentin-Isthmus) settlement (Lazovsky District). This was a specialized settlement for iron ore mining and mineral paint making. For this purpose the ancient people were using stone mattocks, pestles, grating slabs. Special researches determined the purpose of many different tools such as scrapers, piercers, adzes, drills, etc. It was found that handicrafts, such as pelt, bone, and horn processing, etc, were very important for the life of settlement's ancient dwellers. The settlement subsisted in the first half of the 3rd millennium BC.
The Neolithic monuments are also common in the south and south-west of Primorye. Some of them form Zaysanovsky archeological culture. Many of them were excavated. In Boysman Bay (Chernigovsky District) the first in Primorye Neolithic burial ground was discovered.
In Siny (Blue) Gay settlement (Chernigovsky District) the remains of 30 Neolithic dwellings were found. The remains included various tools, ceramics with vertical zigzag ornaments, and works of applied art.
During the New Stone Age due to the transition to the settled way of life, the possibilities for community enlargement appeared. Its typical traits were collectivism and mutual aid. The territory of Primorye was opened up from the seashore to river valleys.
By the end of the New Stone Age the population of Primorye started to show premises of agriculture. The process of transition from appropriation to production started, bringing stabilization of food supply.
Theory of the Far Eastern nidus of Neolithic cultures
Any study of archaeological monuments and cultures of a certain region inevitably leads to the necessity of their comparison with neighboring and distant territories'. Such an analysis lets reveal general and special traits of the population development of different regions. In 1930s A.P.Okladnikov assumed the south of the Russian Far East to be a special center of Neolithic cultures. This theory was further developed in 1950-60s. It was found that the Neolithic cultures of Primorye and Priamurye had principle differences from the cultures of taiga Siberia in material culture, economy, and lifestyle. If for Neolithic Siberia the nomadic way of life was typical, in Primorye and Priamurye ancient people were settled. Excavations of the Neolithic settlements commonly discover long-term half-dug-out dwellings. For ceramic vessels in Primorye and Priamurye flat bottoms are common, while in Siberia they are bulging. Fishing was common among Neolithic tribes of the southern Far East of Russia, while in taiga Siberia hunting was more wide-spread. The art of Primorye and Priamurye had its own original traits.
The economy of Neolithic tribes of Primorye and Priamurye was well-developed. Recently it was found that they had agriculture, which means the transition of primitive economy to the higher level of development.
Primorye in the Iron Age
The Bronze Age
A new cultural and historical period - the Bronze Age - began in Primorye in the end of the 2nd millennium BC. At that time people discovered properties of a new type of raw materials for their tools. It was iron. Even now there are no reliable data if the region had its own bronze metallurgy in the 2nd - 1st millennium BC, or all of the bronze articles were imported to the region. Excavations of the Bronze Age monuments usually reveal not the bronze articles themselves, but their stone imitations (replicas).
One of the most famous Bronze Age monuments in Primorye is Siny Gay settlement. Seventeen dwellings, several ritual animal burial grounds, and, most important, numerous bronze articles were excavated here. Amphora-type vessels, pots, and cups (almost without ornaments) were found in this settlement. Stone articles mostly contained polished tools. The settlement dates from the last centuries of the 2nd millennium BC to the first centuries of the 1st millennium BC. Many Bronze Age monuments are located on the eastern coast of Primorye. Archaeologists find stone imitations of spear and knife bronze tips, "blocks" of soft light stone. The most intensive excavations were held in Lidovka (Dalnegorsky District) and Blagodatny (Terneysky District) settlements (a so-called Lidovsky archaeological culture). A lot of retouched and polished articles had been found there. Crockery was usually thin-walled and without ornament, but pots with rims decorated with impressions of different forms were also common. These monuments date from the 10th-5th centuries BC.
The Bronze Age in Primorye was a period of the production economy development (agriculture and stock-raising). Excavations extracted the remains of burnt millet and pigs' bones. In this period small groups were being replaced with stable communities counting from tens to thousands people. Inside the communities the elders' power was strengthening. The communities united into tribes on the basis of blood, marriage, economy, culture, and other relationships. With the tribes appearance the struggle among the communities for leadership began.
In general, the Bronze Age in Primorye is viewed by the researchers as a period of spreading of bronze items imitations, of prosperity of stone tools production, and production economy development. In Primorye, the transition from the Bronze to Iron Age was rather quick.
Early Iron Age in Primorye
Developed Iron Age in Primorye
Culture and religion conceptions of Primorye's ancient population
Quick facts about Primorye's ancient history
Primorye in the Middle Ages
Mohe (Utszi) tribes
Bohai (State of Bohai) (698-926)
Jurchen Empire (1115-1234)
Primorye in the 13th-17th centuries
Discovery and development of Zabaykalye and Priamurye in 17th - First Half of the 19th century
Discovery of Zabaykalye and Priamurye by Russians in the 17th century
Economic development of the region. Amursky question
Russian Far East in the first half of the 19th century
Primorye in the second half of the 19th century
Far East of Russia after the period of reforms: administrative division and population
Colonization of the Russian Far East in the second half of the 19th century
Economic development of the south of the Russian Far East
Russian foreign policy and international relations in Eastern Asia in the second half of the 19th century
In 1860, after several centuries under Qing control, Primosky Krai was ceded to Russian control. The area was traditionally part of the Jilin province.