Main Features and Stages of the 1st Millenium AD Hillforts in the Altai Forest-Steppe

The paper features studies of ancient hillforts of the 1st millennium AD located in the forest-steppe of the Altai region. The research history can be divided into two stages. The first stage (late XIX – 1980s) focused on the accumulation and interpretation of materials. The second stage (1980s – to date) initiated a focused study of the monuments. Initially, the studies of the hillforts were connected with such local lore researchers as M. D. Kopytov and B. Kh. Kadikov, who were followed by archaeologists Y. F. Kiryushin, M. T. Abdulganeev, A. L. Kungurov, and A. A. Kazakov. An analysis of scientific literature revealed that 40 ancient settlements sites have been discovered and examined since the late XIX century. 11 of them were studied archaeologically. The obtained materials did not fit into the existing historical and cultural paradigm. The situation began to change in the 1980s whith the attempts to determine the relative chronology of the settlements and their cultural affiliation. As a result, two different cultural and chronological schemes were formed. The first one was based on funerary monuments and did not take into account their relationship with settlement complexes. The second approach included the materials on hillfort studies. The paper also focuses on the debatable question about the functional purpose of the ditch – shaft line. Further studies of the sites will make it possible to identify the economic and cultural characteristics of the population of the Altai forest-steppe in the 1st millennium AD.