The name of the handicraft workshop in Russia. What crafts were common in Ancient Russia? Russian crafts that have become trades

The inhabitants of Ancient Rus were engaged in various types of crafts, and specialized in the manufacture of items of clothing, dishes, tools for the needs of the population. And to XII century, there were about 50 types of crafts. The work was conventionally divided into women and men. Women's pursuits included light, creative crafts that bring beauty and comfort to the home. And the male crafts were more coarse, difficult professions that required great strength... But the jewelry business was put into men's hands.

The female part of the population was engaged in sewing, embroidery, spinning, weaving, weaving, artistic painting.
At that time, the first spinning wheels appeared. They were made of wood and were used to create thread from plant fiber and a ball of wool. Weaving was the most important craft. Population growth favored the spread of weaving and spinning. For the production of fabric, wooden looms were used. And the fabric was woven from hemp, linen and wool. Shirts, sundresses, pants, towels, blankets, outerwear were sewn from the fabric obtained.

From an early age, girls were taught female crafts. Having achieved mastery, the girls prepared a dowry for themselves: they sewed napkins, tablecloths, rugs and other necessary textile things in everyday life. But above all, sewing was used to mend clothes. Later, festive clothes began to be decorated with decorative elements: embroidery, stones, various figures, signs and symbols.

Weaving was also done by women. They wove bast shoes, baskets, matting rugs, ropes, washcloths, jewelry, straw toys and protective amulets from wood bast.

Artistic painting appeared later and consisted of drawing a picture on various objects, mainly on dishes. Several types of painting are known: Gzhel, Khokhloma and Zhostovo painting. Gzhel - painting with white and blue paint on porcelain items. Khokhloma - decorative painting of wooden dishes. This type of painting is characterized by red, green and black colors. Zhostovo painting- this is art painting metal pallets.

Only men were engaged in blacksmithing, pottery and furrier crafts, woodworking, glass making, bone processing.
Blacksmithing was one of the most important activities in the days of Ancient Rus, as blacksmiths produced a large number of useful items. These are instruments of labor for farmers, various weapons and armor for warriors. Household items such as needles, knives, locks, keys, hooks. In those days, iron was obtained by smelting from swamp ore. Ore was mined in spring and autumn. They were dried, delivered to workshops, where the ore was smelted in furnaces. Blacksmiths worked metal 2 ways: forging and casting. Forging - this method consists in heating the metal to a high temperature, then on an anvil to give the metal the desired shape. To solidify the metal, it was immersed in water. During casting, the metal was melted to a liquid state, and then cast into the required forms. To simplify the work, blacksmiths used tools: hammer, sledgehammer, chisels, pliers.

Jewelers created amulets, bracelets, pendants, buckles, earrings, necklaces. Bronze, gold and silver were used in the work. To create jewelry, the following techniques were identified: grains, filigree and niello. Grains - many metal balls were soldered onto the base. Cloth - a wire drawing was soldered onto the base, and the gaps between the wires were filled with colored enamel. Niello - a drawing of silver threads or plates on a black background of the product. And gold and silver were used for minting coins, making seals, cups, crosses, icons.

Initially, the pottery craft was similar to modeling, and was carried out exclusively by hand. Clay was used for modeling. It was ubiquitous. We were engaged in sculpting women. Later, they decided to add sand, shells and quartz to the clay. But, in the century, the potter's wheel was invented, and men became potters. The potter's wheel was made of wood. The blade was rotated using a foot drive. Potters managed to create wonderful products. Pots of all sizes for oven cooking. Vessels different forms for storing water, food, berries and mushrooms. Household dishes, bricks, tiles, whistles, toys, bells and interior items.

Furrier's business consisted in dressing and processing animal skins. Fur and skins were not only used for clothing, but this product was also sold. The raw materials were ox, goat and horse skins. Before making anything from the skin, it had to be softened in order to peel the meat off it, then dry it, knock it out, and finally stretch it.

Glass-making in Ancient Russia appeared in XI century. Glass products have become widespread among the townspeople. Among the glass products are known: glass beads, rings, bracelets, beads, glassware, window panes.

For processing bones, not only the bones of large livestock were used, but also of animals living in the forests. Bone carvers used this craft to make combs, buttons, icons, tool handles, and arts and crafts. The following tools were used in the bone carving craft: cutters, knives, drills, saws.

Currently, excavations are often carried out, where archaeologists discover unique rare objects and household utensils of that time.

An indicator of the shift in the productive forces of Russia in the XI - early XII century. appeared further development crafts. In the countryside, under the conditions of the dominance of natural economy, the manufacture of clothing, footwear, utensils, agricultural implements, etc., was domestic production, which had not yet been separated from agriculture. Separated from Agriculture blacksmith and, to a lesser extent, pottery. Bone-cutting and carpentry also acquired a handicraft character. In Volhynia, whole villages made slate spinning wheels for spindles, which were distributed throughout Russia.

With the development of the feudal system, some of the communal artisans became dependent on the feudal lords, others left the village and went under the walls of princely castles and fortresses, where handicraft settlements were created. The possibility of a rupture of the artisan with the countryside was due to the development of agriculture, capable of providing the urban population with food and the beginning of the separation of handicrafts from agriculture. Cities became centers for the development of handicrafts. In them, by the XII century. there were over 60 craft specialties. A significant part of handicrafts was based on metallurgical production, the level of which is indicative for assessing the development of handicrafts in general. If in the countryside the blast furnace business had not yet separated from the blacksmith business, in the cities at least 16 specialties appeared in the field of iron and steel processing, which ensured a significant production of products. The technical level of metallurgical production is evidenced by the use of welding, casting, metal forging, welding and hardening of steel by artisans.

Russian artisans XI-XII centuries produced more than 150 types of iron and steel products, their products played an important role in the development of commodity relations between the city and the countryside. Ancient Russian jewelers knew the art of minting non-ferrous metals. In craft workshops, tools were made (plowshares, axes, chisels, pincers, etc.), weapons (shields, chain mail armor, spears, helmets, swords, etc.), household items (keys, etc.), jewelry - gold, silver, bronze, copper.

In the field of artistic craft, Russian craftsmen mastered the complex technique of grain (making patterns from the smallest grains of metal), filigree (making patterns from the finest wire), figured casting and, finally, the technique of rabble that requires special art (making a black background for patterned silver plates) and cloisonné enamel. Wonderful items with gold and silver inlays on iron and copper have survived. Such types of crafts as pottery, leather, woodworking, stone-making, and dozens of others were significantly developed in ancient Russian cities. With its products, Russia won fame in the then Europe. In the cities, artisans worked to order and to the market. However, the social division of labor in the country as a whole was weak. The village lived on subsistence farming. The products of the few village artisans spread over a distance of about 10-30 km. The penetration of small retail traders into the countryside from the city did not violate the natural character of the rural economy. The cities were the centers of internal trade. There were markets selling both food and handicrafts; foreign merchants brought their goods there. But urban commodity production did not change the natural economic basis of the country's economy.

More developed was international trade Rus. Russian merchants traded in the domain of the Arab Caliphate. The Dnieper path connected Russia with Byzantium. Russian merchants traveled from Kiev to Moravia, Czech Republic, Poland, South Germany; from Novgorod and Polotsk - along the Baltic Sea to Scandinavia, Polish Pomorie and further to the west. In the customs regulations of the X century. the city of Raffelstetten (Germany), Slavic merchants are mentioned. Mainly raw materials were exported from Russia. With the development of handicrafts, the export of handicraft products increased. The foreign market received furs, wax, honey, resin, flax and linen fabrics, silver items, a spindle made of pink slate, weapons, locks, carved bone, etc. Luxury goods, fruits, spices, paints, etc. were imported into Russia.

The princes tried to protect the interests of Russian merchants by special treaties with foreign states. In the "Russkaya Pravda" later (the so-called "Extensive") edition of the XII-early XIII century. provided for some measures to protect the property of merchants from losses associated with wars and other circumstances. Silver bars and foreign coins were used as money. Princes Vladimir Svyatoslavich and his son Yaroslav Vladimirovich produced (albeit in small quantities) a minted silver coin.

However, foreign trade also did not change the natural character of the economy of Rus, since the overwhelming majority of export items (fur, etc.) were not produced as a commodity, but were received in the form of tribute or quitrent from smerds; things brought from abroad served only the needs of wealthy feudal lords and townspeople. Foreign goods hardly entered the village.

With growth social division labor developed cities. They arose from fortresses-castles, gradually overgrown with settlements, and from trade and craft settlements, around which fortifications were erected. The city was connected with the nearest rural district, the products of which he lived and the population of which he served with handicrafts. At the same time, a part of the urban population retained a connection with agriculture, although it was an auxiliary occupation for the townspeople.

Scandinavian sources called Russia "the country of cities". These cities meant both craft and trade centers and small fortified points. The Russian chronicles, while retaining references to cities, are probably incomplete, make it possible to judge their growth. In the annals of the IX-X centuries. mentioned 25 cities, in the news of the XI century. -89. The heyday of ancient Russian cities falls on the XI-XII centuries.

The ancient Russian city consisted of a fortress - Detinets and a city settlement, where the trade and craft population lived and there was a market - bargaining. The population in such large cities as Kiev, which is a chronicler of the XI century. Adam Bremensky called "the rival of Constantinople", or Novgorod, in the XI-XII centuries. numbered, apparently, in tens of thousands of people. The urban artisan population was replenished by fugitive slaves and dependent smerds.

As in the countries of Western Europe, handicraft and merchant associations arose in ancient Russian cities, although a guild structure did not develop here. So, there were associations of carpenters and city dwellers (builders of fortifications) headed by elders, brotherhoods of blacksmiths. The artisans were divided into craftsmen and apprentices. In addition to free artisans, in the cities lived and patrimonial artisans, who were lackeys of princes and boyars. The town nobility was made up of boyars.

Large cities of Russia (Kiev, Chernigov, Polotsk, Novgorod, Smolensk, etc.) were administrative, judicial and military centers. At the same time, as the cities grew stronger, they contributed to the process of political fragmentation. This was a natural phenomenon in the conditions of the dominance of the natural economy and with the weakness of economic ties between individual lands.

Russian artisans made a great contribution to the development of culture Ancient Rus... In cities and rural villages, craftsmen achieved high skill in their production, which influenced the revival of domestic trade.

In the Scandinavian sagas, Russia is called the country of cities - Gardarika. The chronicles give information about the existence in the 9th century of at least twenty-three Russian cities. In reality, there were more of them: in "A Treatise on Empire Governance" Konstantin Porphyrogenitus names cities that are not mentioned in Russian chronicles.

Old Russian cities. The largest cities in Ancient Rus were Kiev, Novgorod, Chernigov, Lyubech, Smolensk, Polotsk and others. Foreign merchants and goods flocked here. Here there was a bargaining, caravans with goods were formed, which then went along the trade routes to the Khazar and Greek markets. The city was the center of the surrounding parish. People of various tribes rushed to it and united according to their occupations in other communities: they became warriors, artisans, merchants. Rural workers traveled to the cities to sell the fruits of their labor and buy anything needed on the farm.

Blacksmith craft. The first artisans-specialists in Russia were blacksmiths who were in charge difficult business ore processing in forges and hot metal forging. The raw material in this craft was bog ore - ferruginous deposits on the rhizomes of bog plants. "Iron cooking" from the ore came by heating it in special furnaces-blast furnaces with the help of synergistic furnaces. The resulting iron was put under the hammer, and only then the blacksmith began to make various tools from it: plowshares, shovels, axes, bits, nails, scythes, sickles, plow knives, frying pans and much more.

For the manufacture of durable iron products, the technique of forge welding was used. Scissors, pliers, keys, boat rivets were made with a chisel. Great art required the production of axes, locks, hammers and spears. In the cities, the range of iron products was much wider. Blacksmiths made stirrups, spurs, chests for storing valuables, rivets and umbons for shields, chain mail, helmets, armor, swords, sabers, darts and much more.

"Blacksmiths of copper and silver"... Archaeologists have established that ancient goldsmiths mastered the art of making wire, from which they made braided bracelets. Casting was a popular technique, for which the forms are distinguished by great regional diversity. Archaeologists have found casting molds for crosses, medal-shaped pendants, temple rings. In the cities, craftsmen made decorations with grain and filigree (brazed grains or metal threads). In their arsenal were forging and casting of silver, copper and alloys. Jewelry was decorated with chasing. The ornaments were not complicated and were applied with a cutter or a cogwheel.

Pottery craft in Russia. In the Slavic lands, pottery had a long tradition dating back centuries. But in the 9th century it acquired new technique and turned into a craft. The ancient stucco ware was replaced by one made on a potter's wheel. If earlier the manufacture of clay utensils was a woman's business, then in Kievan Rus, male potters were already working everywhere. The typical and most widespread motif of Slavic ceramics was a pattern consisting of parallel horizontal or wavy lines. Along with it, there was a comb-like ornament, when imprints of a rare comb are visible on the product. After shaping and drawing, the dishes were dried and then fired in an oven or potter's forge. The products were pots of various sizes and purposes, pots for storing grain or mash.

The pot, placed on under the stove, was lined with wood or coals around the lower part and thus was engulfed in heat from all sides. The shape of the pot was successfully found by potters. If it were flatter or had a wider opening, then boiling water could splash out on the under the stove. If the pot had a narrow long throat, the process of boiling water would be very slow. The pots were made of special potting clay, oily, plastic, blue, green or dirty yellow, to which quartz sand was added. After firing in the furnace, it acquired a reddish brown, beige or black color, depending on the original color and firing conditions. The pots were rarely ornamented; narrow concentric circles or a chain of shallow dimples, triangles squeezed out around the rim or on the shoulders of the vessel served as their decoration. The shiny lead glaze, which gave an attractive look to the newly made vessel, was applied to the pot for utilitarian purposes - to give the vessel strength and moisture resistance. The lack of decorations was due to the purpose of the pot: to be always in the stove, only briefly on weekdays to appear on the table during breakfast or lunch.

Home production. In Ancient Russia, natural production dominated, where practically everything necessary for life was made in each individual household: clothes, shoes, household utensils, agricultural implements. Carpentry work was carried out with only one ax. An adze was used to process wood, with which it was possible to hollow out a trough, log or boat. In the household, they were engaged in the manufacture of leather and fur, the manufacture of fabrics, the production of buckets, tubs and barrels.

Russian trade in the 9th-10th centuries. Archaeological finds indicate that internal exchange among the East Slavic tribes has long been developed. In the Dnieper region and in Northern Russia, objects of the Black Sea origin, silver items from Central Asia and Iran were found. The placement of treasures with Arab silver coins, which served as a currency at the time, allow the identification of trade routes and areas most affected by trade. These include the lands of the glades, northerners, Krivichi and Slovens of Novgorod. Treasures are less common in the land of the Dregovichi and Radimichi and are completely absent among the Drevlyans.

Trade routes of Russian merchants. One of the main trade routes of the Russians was the Volga.

The merchants went to the capital of Khazaria, Itil, where they paid the kagan a duty on the goods they brought, traded a little, and then sailed further along the Caspian Sea to the Arab lands. The Volga trade route was used by merchants from Novgorod, Rostov, Vladimir, Ryazan and other northern Russian lands. Merchants from Kiev, Chernigov and Smolensk had to go to Itil and to the East through Byzantium. Trade with Byzantium was very lively, which was facilitated by the agreements of 907 and 911. It was possible to get to Constantinople from Kiev by following the Dnieper and along the Black Sea coast. The journey was dangerous, and the prince's vigilantes were often traders. Trade with the West was carried out in two ways: from Kiev to Central Europe and from Novgorod through the Baltic Sea to Scandinavia, the southern Baltic states and further westward by land and by water.

In craft workshops, tools were made (plowshares, axes, chisels, pincers, etc.), weapons (shields, chain mail armor, spears, helmets, swords, etc.), household items (keys, etc.), jewelry - gold, silver, bronze, copper.

In ancient Russian cities, such types of crafts as pottery, leather, woodworking, stone-making, etc. were developed. With its products, Russia won fame in Europe at that time. In the cities, artisans worked both to order and to the market. Academician Rybakov divides urban and rural handicraft production. The cities developed blacksmithing and metalworking and arms business, processing of precious metals, foundry, forging and chasing, wire drawing, filigree and granulating, enamel, pottery, glass production, etc. Blacksmiths and jewelry were developed in the villages. , pottery, woodworking, leather and fur processing, weaving, etc.

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general characteristics

The first stage in the development of Old Russian crafts lasted more than two centuries - until the 20-30s of the XII century. It is characterized by perfect and high craftsmanship technique. The number of products was limited, and they themselves were quite expensive. During this period, work to order was widespread, since the free market was still limited. At this time, the main types of handicraft implements were created and new technological foundations of ancient Russian production were laid. Archaeological excavations allow us to conclude that the handicraft production of Ancient Rus was on a par with the artisans of Western Europe and the East.

At the second stage of development, which began at the end of the first third of the 12th century, there was a sharp expansion of the range of products and a significant rationalization of production in the form of simplification of technological operations. V textile production at the end of the 12th century, the horizontal loom appears. The productivity increases, the weaving system is simplified, the varietal types of fabrics are reduced. In metalworking, instead of high-quality multilayer steel blades, simplified and lower-quality blades with a welded edge appear. At this time, the serial production is also manifested. Product standards are being created, especially in the metalworking, textile, woodworking, shoemaking, and jewelry industries. During this period, widespread specialization of handicrafts began within individual branches of production. At the end of the 12th century, the number of specialties in some ancient Russian cities exceeded 100. At the same time, there was a sharp development of small-scale commodity production, the products of which were designed to be sold not only in the city, but also in the villages.

Handicrafts

Smelting and processing of iron and steel

By the time the Old Russian state was created in Eastern Europe, a stationary ground shaft furnace with a slag removal device had become the main type of iron furnaces. In Ancient Russia, metallurgy quite early separated from metalworking, that is, from blacksmithing. Iron production in Russia has always been carried out by metallurgists who lived in the villages. The ore was mined in autumn and spring. Metallurgical objects of Ancient Russia, excavated during archaeological work, represent the collapse of adobe and stone forges, around which there are accumulations of raw materials. More than 80 such objects, which are entire complexes, are known. Moreover, almost all of them were located outside settlements.

The technique of metallurgical production consisted in the direct reduction of iron ore to metallic iron. In the production of steel, iron was saturated with carbon. This method is called cheese-blowing. The essence of the blowing process lies in the fact that iron ore, poured into the furnace on top of the burning coal, undergoes chemical changes: iron oxides (ore) lose their oxygen and turn into iron, which flows down into the lower part of the furnace in a thick dough mass. A prerequisite for iron reduction is a constant supply of air. The disadvantage of this method was the low percentage of metal smelting from ore. Some of the metal remained in the ore. The process of restoring iron was called "cooking", it required a great deal of experience and skill from the master. Cooking greatly expanded the possibilities of forging technology. In addition to iron, carbon steel was widely used in Ancient Rus. Working elements of cutting tools, weapons, tools were made of steel - an alloy of iron with carbon. In ancient Russian written monuments, steel is referred to as "otsel", and in total, three types of steel were used in Russia:

cemented (stewed) with a homogeneous structure and carbon evenly distributed throughout the mass
non-uniform welding steel
cheese, weakly and unevenly carburized

Old Russian blacksmiths supplied farmers with openers, sickles, scythes, and warriors - with swords, spears, arrows, battle axes. Everything that was needed for the economy - knives, needles, chisels, awls, scrapers, fish hooks, locks, keys and many other tools and household items - were made in blacksmith shops.

Blacksmiths-gunsmiths constituted a special group of artisans. The production of weapons was widely developed in Ancient Russia due to the general need for it. Various types of weapons have received special names for the method of their manufacture, appearance and coloring or at the main place of their production. Specialization in the arms business reached a large scale, as it required particularly careful and skillful processing techniques.

Wood processing

The main material for production in Russia was wood. It was used to make dwellings, city fortifications, workshops, outbuildings, ships, sledges, pavements, water pipes, machines and lathes, tools and tools, dishes, furniture, household utensils, children's toys, etc. Wood processing was especially developed in central and northern regions of Russia, rich in coniferous and deciduous forests. Old Russian craftsmen were well aware of the technical properties and other qualities of wood of all species growing in Russian forests and widely used it depending on the technical conditions of the product and the physical and mechanical properties of the breed.

In processing, the most common were pine and spruce. Pine was preferred for joinery, household items, etc., while spruce, in turn, was most widely used in construction. Hardwood was mainly used for the manufacture of household items; it was rarely used in construction. Oak, birch, aspen were practically not used in the construction of residential and outbuildings. Oak wood was in short supply, so they tried to use it in the manufacture of products of increased strength, such as sled runners, barrels, shovels, etc. Maple and ash were widely used. Maple was used to make carved utensils, ladles, spoons, etc. Ash went to the production of turned utensils, which were made on lathes.

Old Russian craftsmen also owned the processing of rare breeds in Russia, such as boxwood. This breed was delivered from the Caucasus, from the forests of Talysh. Double-sided combs and small pixids were made of boxwood (it is important to note that wooden combs in Ancient Rus were made almost exclusively of boxwood).

Little is known about the technique and organization of timber harvesting in Ancient Rus. The felling of the forest was a feudal duty of the peasants; they cut it down in winter. Archaeological sites associated with wood processing are represented mainly by tools and directly by the products of craftsmen. At the same time, few workshops were found, a significant part of them were discovered during excavations in Veliky Novgorod. In particular, there were workshops for wood-turners, coopers, comb-cutters, spoon-cutters, crockery cutters, etc. Among the found tools, axes, adzes, saws, chisels, drills, etc. predominate, and these samples have reached a high level of development. level and were not inferior to the best Western European models of that time.

Non-ferrous metal processing

The products of artisans for the processing of non-ferrous metals in Ancient Rus were in great demand. They made women's jewelry and costume accessories, religious and church utensils, decorative and tableware, horse harness, ornaments for weapons, etc. The main branch of the non-ferrous metalworking industry was foundry, which reached a high artistic and technological development in Ancient Rus. Numerous mechanical operations were also widely used - forging, embossing, rolling, engraving, stamping, stamping, drawing, filigree, blackening, enamel, gold guidance and metal inlay. Forging, embossing and stamping were the main mechanical operations in the manufacture of any non-cast item.

Ancient Russia did not have its own non-ferrous metals and their ores. They were brought from the countries of Western Europe and the East. Gold mainly came in the form of coins. It was received as a result of trade or wars with Byzantium and the Polovtsy. Silver went to Russia in the form of coins and ingots. It came from Bohemia, from beyond the Urals, from the Caucasus and from Byzantium. Copper, tin and lead were imported in the form of ingots and semi-finished products in the form of rods, strips and wires. At the same time, documentary evidence of the nature and routes of import appeared only in the XIV century.

Gold and silver were used for minting coins, making seals, bowls, cups, etc. The main buyers of products from them were princes and wealthy people, as well as clergy. In addition to bowls and other church vessels, the clergy acquired gold and silver crosses, frames for icons and the Gospels used during church services. Some cathedral churches had gilded domes. At times, certain parts of the inner walls and partitions of churches were covered with gold and silver plates.

Jewelers in Ancient Russia were called "goldsmiths" or "silversmiths". Jewelry production was spread mainly in large cities. Some of the products were sold widely, while others were made to order. Princes patronized jewelers. Among the cities where jewelry was developed, Ryazan, Kiev, Polotsk and Novgorod stood out.

The main production technology was casting. However, in addition to it, the following operations were also used in the processing of non-ferrous metals: chasing, stamping, stamping, etc. These operations required advanced tools, which included simple and figured anvils, anvils for embossing, simple and shaped hammers, bone hammers for punching , chisels, pliers, nippers, tweezers, chisels, drills, clamps, barbs, metal scissors, etc.

Spinning and weaving

Spinning and weaving occupied one of the most important places in the handicraft production of Ancient Rus. It was the most widespread and widespread, directly related to the manufacture of clothing and other household items. Its spread was facilitated by population growth and the development of trade. Hand weaving as a household craft was quite common. The range of ancient Russian fabrics was very wide. In addition to local fabrics, imported ones were also used - woolen, silk, cotton, brought from the countries of the East, Byzantium and Western Europe. Fabrics in the form of all kinds of fragments are widely represented among the ancient Russian archaeological finds. Some of them were found in burial mounds, the rest - during excavations of ancient Russian cities.

In ancient Russia, fabrics were made from wool, flax and hemp. They varied in material, quality, types of weaves, texture and color. A simple linen fabric used for men's and women's shirts, trimmings, and towels was called linen and uszinka. A coarse fabric made of plant fiber, used in the manufacture of outerwear, was called votola. There were also other names for linen fabrics - chastina, tonchina, etc. Of the woolen fabrics, ponyava and hair shirt were the most widespread; yariga and sermyaga were coarse fabrics. Cloth was made for outerwear. Technological study of fabrics of the period of Ancient Rus showed that weavers used several systems of weaving weaves, combined into three groups with different options: linen, twill and complex. Also, three types of fabrics were made: fine-haired, semi-coarse-haired and coarse-haired. Fine-wooled fabrics include different types of cloth. Basically, woolen fabrics were made in red, then black, green, yellow, blue and white.

Leather processing

Manufacture of leather dressing and sewing leather products had a large share in the national economy of Ancient Rus. The demand for leather goods was great among the population. Shoes were made of leather, saddlers and saddlers consumed large quantities of it, horse harness, quivers, shields, bases of plate armor and other household and household items were made from it. Archaeological materials have made it possible to completely reconstruct the technique and technology of leather and shoe production.

In the 9th-13th centuries, the main raw materials for tanners were ox, goat and horse skins. First technological stage The work consisted of cleaning the skin from wool, which was done by processing in a special vat with the help of lime. Such a vat, which is a box made of wooden blocks, was found in Novgorod in a 12th century leather workshop. The next stage was leather tanning, for which special solutions and mechanical softening were used - the leather was crumpled with hands. After that, the finished leather was cut and sewn. Then it was used to make a wide variety of products.

Among the tanning works, there were separate professions: saddlers and tulniks (quiver makers), furriers and shoemakers, parchment and morocco makers.

Bone processing

The assortment of bone products in the 9th-13th centuries was quite wide. Combs, knife handles, buttons, mirror handles, chess and checkers, bows and saddles, icons were cut from bone. Of the specialized tools in the bone carving craft, knives, cutters, drills, saws and a lathe were used. The high level of bone carving work is evidenced by horn ridges, the cuts between the teeth of which sometimes did not exceed tenths of a millimeter. Most household items made of bone and horn were ornamented with chisels. Lathe It was used in the manufacture of bulky items - for example, bone dice pieces from the Black Grave in Chernigov were carved on it.

Bones of large domestic animals, as well as the horns of moose and deer were the mass material of bone carving production. Sometimes used horns of bulls, rounds and walrus bone. The bone carver's toolkit consisted of a set of knives, saws, flat and engraving cutters, drill bits, ordinary feather drills, files, rasps, etc.

Among the bone products, a significant mass was made up of art items: tops of staffs, overhead plates for caskets and leather bags, various deliveries. The tops were made in the form of the heads of birds and animals and in the form of various geometric shapes. Fantastic animals, sun signs, geometric, floral, circular ornaments, all kinds of braids and other motifs were depicted on flat overlaid plates.

Pottery

The ubiquitous distribution of clays suitable for the manufacture of ceramic dishes ensured the widespread development of pottery in Ancient Rus. It was widespread everywhere, but in the cities it was more developed than in the villages. The dishes were produced in various capacities and shapes, which determined the abundance of names to designate it. different types... In addition to tableware, potters produced children's toys, bricks, facing tiles, etc. They also produced lamps, washstands, pots and other items. On the bottoms of many vessels, ancient Russian artisans left special hallmarks in the form of triangles, crosses, squares, circles and other geometric shapes. Some of the pottery featured images of keys and flowers.

Among the archaeological finds are dominated by hand-made pottery wheels. This is due to the fact that at the turn of the 9th-10th centuries there was a transition from molded ceramics to pottery, that is, circular. Pottery wheels were made of wood, so the remains of pottery wheels and their parts have not survived. Academician Rybakov singled out two systems of pottery forges that were used by ancient Russian artisans - two-tier forges with direct flame and horizontal forges with reverse flame. According to Rybakov, the second system was more perfect. The furnaces were heated to a temperature of about 1200 ° C.

Prior to the transition to circular ceramics, pottery was mainly practiced by women. However, with the advent of the potter's wheel, pottery passed to male artisans. The early potter's wheel was mounted on a rough wooden bench, which had a special hole with an axis that held a large wooden circle. While working, the potter rotated the circle with his left hand, and with his right he began to form clay. Later, circles appeared that rotated with the help of their legs.

Glass making

Glass-making in Ancient Russia originated in the 11th century and reached a significant development by the 12th-13th centuries. At the beginning of the 11th century, glass beads of domestic production became widespread, which in the next century were supplanted by imported products. The appearance of glassware and various vessels for tableware dates back to the middle of the 11th century. By the 12th century, table glassware was widespread, and ordinary townspeople also used it. In the first half of the 12th century, glass bracelets, popular with women, became widespread. Almost every city dweller wore them.

In the 9th - early 11th centuries, several categories of glass products are known archeologically for Ancient Rus. The most common were glass beads and beads, glass vessels and playing checkers were less common, and glass bracelets were even less common. During this period, all glass products in Russia were imported - along trade routes they came to Eastern Europe from Byzantium and the Arab world. The very first Russian glass-making workshops appeared in Kiev in the first half of the 11th century in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. Perhaps the reason for this was the need to make mosaics for the decoration of St. Sophia of Kiev.

Glass products in Ancient Russia were made of glass of different composition, which was determined by the purpose of the product. Glassware, window glass, beads, and rings were made of potassium-lead-silica glass, which was weakly colored or colored. For the production of toys, Easter eggs, etc., lead-silica glass was used with a color in different colors.

Notes (edit)

Culture of Ancient Russia (Russian)... Retrieved March 30, 2013. Archived April 5, 2013.
Rybakov B.A. Craft of Ancient Russia. - Moscow: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1948.
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Blacksmithing in Russia (Russian)... Retrieved April 23, 2013. Archived April 30, 2013.
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Russian artisans made a great contribution to the development of culture Ancient Rus ... In cities and rural villages, craftsmen achieved high skill in their production, which influenced the revival of domestic trade.

Blacksmith craft. The first artisans-specialists in Russia were blacksmiths, who were in charge of the complex business of processing ore in forges and forging red-hot metal. The raw material in this craft was bog ore - ferruginous deposits on the rhizomes of bog plants. "Iron cooking" from the ore came by heating it in special furnaces-blast furnaces with the help of synergistic furnaces. The resulting iron was put under the hammer, and only then the blacksmith began to make various tools from it: plowshares, shovels, axes, bits, nails, scythes, sickles, plow knives, frying pans and much more. For the manufacture of durable iron products, the technique of forge welding was used. Scissors, pliers, keys, boat rivets were made with a chisel. Great art required the production of axes, locks, hammers and spears. In the cities, the range of iron products was much wider. Blacksmiths made stirrups, spurs, chests for storing valuables, rivets and umbons for shields, chain mail, helmets, armor, swords, sabers, darts and much more.

"Blacksmiths of copper and silver" ... Archaeologists have established that ancient goldsmiths mastered the art of making wire, from which they made braided bracelets. Casting was a popular technique, for which the forms are distinguished by great regional diversity. Archaeologists have found casting molds for crosses, medal-shaped pendants, temple rings. In the cities, craftsmen made decorations with grain and filigree (brazed grains or metal threads). In their arsenal were forging and casting of silver, copper and alloys. Jewelry was decorated with chasing. The ornaments were not complicated and were applied with a cutter or a cogwheel.

Pottery craft in Russia. In the Slavic lands, pottery had a long tradition dating back centuries. But in the 9th century it acquired a new technique and turned into a craft. The ancient stucco ware was replaced by one made on a potter's wheel. If earlier the manufacture of clay utensils was a woman's business, then male potters were already working everywhere. The typical and most widespread motif of Slavic ceramics was a pattern consisting of parallel horizontal or wavy lines. Along with it, there was a comb-like ornament, when imprints of a rare comb are visible on the product. After shaping and drawing, the dishes were dried and then fired in an oven or potter's forge. The products were pots of various sizes and purposes, pots for storing grain or mash.

Trade routes of Russian merchants. One of the main trade routes of the Russians was the Volga. The merchants went to the capital of Khazaria, Itil, where they paid the kagan a duty on the goods they brought, traded a little, and then sailed further along the Caspian Sea to the Arab lands. The Volga trade route was used by merchants from Novgorod, Rostov, Vladimir, Ryazan and other northern Russian lands. Merchants from Kiev, Chernigov and Smolensk had to go to Itil and to the East through Byzantium. Trade with Byzantium was very lively, which was facilitated by the agreements of 907 and 911. It was possible to get to Constantinople from Kiev by following the Dnieper and along the Black Sea coast. The journey was dangerous, and the prince's vigilantes were often traders. Trade with the West was carried out in two ways: from Kiev to Central Europe and from Novgorod through the Baltic Sea to Scandinavia, the southern Baltic states and further westward by land and by water.