Kuzbass State Technical University will create a database on medieval weaponry in Kuzbass

A project led by Andrey Ilyushin, Doctor of Historical Sciences and Professor in the Department of History, Philosophy, and Social Sciences at Kuzbass State Technical University, was one of the winners of the regional competition "Conducting Fundamental Scientific Research and Exploratory Scientific Research by Small Individual Research Groups" sponsored by the Russian Science Foundation. The topic of the work is "Weapons and Military Science of the Medieval Population of the Kuznetsk Basin."

The project opens a new chapter in the study of the medieval history of Kuzbass. Currently, the region's archaeology lacks systematic data on weaponry and military science, hindering a full understanding of the role of war in shaping the historical processes of Eurasia and the ethnic groups that inhabited these territories. This research will fill this gap and create the first-of-its-kind database on the medieval weaponry of the Kuznetsk Basin. "Combat skills and abilities largely determined the direction and dynamics of sociocultural and ethnocultural processes," explains Andrei Mikhailovich. "Research into weaponry will not only systematize the data but also reveal the role of the Kuznetsk Basin population in the military history and historical events of Central Asia and the Eurasian steppe during various periods of the Middle Ages. This is especially true given that modern-day indigenous peoples of Kuzbass are direct descendants of the medieval aborigines of the Kuznetsk Basin."

The main objective of the project is to systematize and typologically classify archaeological artifacts into categories: ranged weapons, close combat weapons, and defensive weapons. This will involve extensive research using archival and museum materials, as well as archaeological finds collected over more than 100 years of research. The use of computer modeling and statistical analysis will help to create a dynamic picture of weaponry development and reconstruct the tactics and strategy of military operations in different historical eras.