ARCHAEOLOGY, ETHNOLOGY & ANTHROPOLOGY OF EURASIA Archaeology Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 40/3 (2012) 103–113 E-mail: Eurasia@archaeology.nsc.ru © 2012, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved doi:10.1016/j.aeae.2012.11.012 103 Introduction Traditional arts and crafts are highly relevant to understanding ethnic beliefs and values (Ryndina, Goncharov, 2009: 137). The present study of the applied arts of Russian settlers living in Siberia takes into account the regional character of individual distaffs as well as the ethnic and cultural position of the craftsmen. This study is important in modeling the evolution and transformation of the traditional culture both of the ｿrst Russian settlers in the 17th–18th centuries (Siberian Starozhily or Old Settlers) and immigrants arriving to Siberia in the early 20th century. We should ｿrst clarify certain terminology and conceptual notions. Folk or traditional arts is here understood in the narrow sense as the canons, based on many centuries of artistic traditions which existed in a rural (peasant) environment in the second half of the *Study supported by the Russian Foundation for the Humanities (Project 10-01-00470a). E.F. Fursova Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia E-mail: mf11@mail.ru WESTERN SIBERIAN FOLK ART: NORTHERN RUSSIAN AND URAL TRADITIONS IN DISTAFF DECORATION* The present study gives an overview of research materials from expeditions conducted during the period 1977–2010, containing regional and local examples of the folk art of the Russian Siberian population, primarily carved and painted household objects – distaffs. Representing a component of material and spiritual culture, distaffs are viewed within the context of the ethnic and cultural peculiarities of the Russian settlers. As ethnographic materials show, in Siberia the tradition of decorating distaffs developed under the inﾀuence of settlers from Northern Russia. Keywords: Russian peasants, Siberia, folk art, distaff decoration. 19th–ｿrst third of the 20th century. When we consider the decoration of distaffs, instead of the term “art” as a category of Cultural Studies we use the concept of “artistic creativity,” which reflects belonging to an ethnic community and to the whole set of ethnic beliefs, preferences, and canons related to this “artistic creativity.” Folk artistic creativity is a holistic cultural system, fully deserving of detailed study. Art historical and ethnographic literature on centers where distaffs were produced and dynasties of distaff craftsmen as well as literature on the artistic and semantic features of this type of folk art is quite extensive. The fundamental work by N.I. Lebedeva reﾀected the ｿrst attempt at an ethnographic mapping of the East Slavic distaffs, combined with the dialect division of the East Slavic tribes and the boundaries of non-Slavic peoples (1956: 486–490). T.M. Razina analyzed distaffs from Mezen, Gorodets, and Vologda in the context of general issues of folk art and aesthetic interpretation of nature in the works of these craftsmen (1970). B.A. Rybakov ETHNOLOGY