L.V. Tataurova1 and V.B. Bogomolov2 1Omsk Division of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Mаrksa 15/1, Omsk, 644024, Russia 2Omsk Regional College of Culture and Arts, 30-Severnaya 70, Omsk, 644116, Russia
Variously preserved leather shoes from three 17th–18th century Russian villages in the Irtysh River basin, such as those from Siberian towns of Mangazeya in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug and Tara in the Omsk Region, are used to reconstruct certain constructive and technological aspects of footwear-manufacture. Ten types of shoe are described. A high-heel shoe from Izyuk I combines Russian and Western European features. To assess its original form, a model was manufactured on a last, and a graphic reconstruction of the shoe was made in fi ve views. As a result, constructive defects, possibly accounting for the discomfort mentioned in 17th century written sources, were revealed. The local variety of high-heel shoe likely originated in Western Siberia in the last quarter of the 17th to early 18th century. Shoes like those found in Izyuk appear to have been manufactured in Tara, and were probably acquired there by local villagers. They differ from those made in Mangazeya.
