The Matchmaker's Staffs From Fort Nadym of the 17th–18th Centuries

Peculiar artifacts described in this article were found at Fort Nadym, a 17th – early 18th-century Russian administrative center in aboriginal Western Siberia. Based on ethnographic data, these artifacts were identified as matchmaker's staffs. An attempt at a historical reconstruction of wedding rituals of the aboriginal people of northwest Siberia was made. The Nadym staffs were analyzed along with the data from the Ostyak and Samoyedic synchronous sites from the Voikar and Polui (Obdor) settlements and the Russian town of Mangazeya. Results of the study indicate that the matchmaker's staff as an element of wedding rituals of the Ostyaks and Samoyeds of Western Siberia performed the function of a trade and exchange agreement. As such, it was formed not earlier than the mid-17th century, apparently because of the Russian population influence in the region.