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THE ANCIENT POPULATION OF THE NORTHERN URALS ACCORDING TO THE MYTHS OF THE NORTHERN MANSI // Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology. 2017. Issue 4 (18). P. 89-97

The article is devoted to the development of the Northern Urals as the territory of the settlement of the ancestors of the Northern group of the Mansi people in the past. The subjects of the research are ethnographic and archaeological data reflecting the stages of development of this part of the Urals as well as mythological texts which illustrate these data. Against the background of unequal settlement the formation of different actual level and social development of mythological characters revealed: the epic heroes of the song times; unions of the "owners" of the Urals; the tribes of ancient hunters; fraternal groups of soldiers both the autochthons and the aliens. The material of the article, including Mansi terminology, focuses on a group of native speakers of the Northern dialect of Mansi language. The purpose of the study is filling a gap in the insufficiently studied theme about the early colonization of the Urals and its first settlers on the materials of mythology.

Keywords: Northern Ural, Mansi, mythological epochs, ancient population, wars, resettlement