Research of holocene soils in the territory of the National historical and cultural reserve "Hetman's capital" in Baturyn, Chernihiv region
Authors: Matviishyna Zhanna 
Published: November 2020

Nowadays, cultural monuments deserve increasing attention. A comprehensive study of archeological complexes enables us to more accurately reproduce the conditions of formation and evolution of ancient society. In recent decades, archaeological sites have been investigated using archeology and paleogeography methods to reconstruct the character of landscape changes in the study area. Among such historical and archeological complexes is the famous city of Baturin, which holds a special place for deep and comprehensive study. Less than half a century later, having traveled from a small outpost on the northeastern border of the Commonwealth to the hetman's capital, Baturin died in the flames of the Northern War in the same short period of time. Tragedy of 1708 made Baturin not only a national shrine, but also a reference archaeological monument of the Cossack era, a cultural layer whose level of saturation and informativeness is unmatched.

The inter-river basin of the Desna and the Seimas, which is geographically included in the Baturin Family, is one of the most important watersheds of the Dnieper North Left Bank, and the Seim River itself is a kind of natural border between the forest-steppe and forest zones. The territory where Baturin originated had a number of significant advantages. Baturin is located on the edge of the high terrace of the Diet. It is the only such elevated area of the left bank terrace of the Diet in its lower stream, which allowed to control virtually all of its basin. ancient times, which, combined with the wide floodplain of the Seimas with its opportunities for the development of livestock, fishing, hunting, created optimal conditions for economic activity of the population.

During paleopedological research it was established that in the territory of the study in the catenary of soils with artifacts of the Bronze Age developed soils of meadow and forest-meadow genesis with well-formed humus horizons close to meadow-sod and alluvial-sod zones of temperate, but temperate climate. In the clearing of the shaft, the findings of the early Iron Age are confined to the surface of the humus horizon of the sod of slightly podzolic soils, formed in the conditions of meadow-steppe landscapes of temperate climate, less humid than the modern (background) soil. In the XVII-XVIII centuries. In the Polissya conditions, meadow-forest landscapes became widespread. In the soils on the high grass meadows there were conditions for the accumulation of organic matter, which made it possible to form well-defined humus horizons and the processes of sod genesis were quite pronounced. Turf-slightly podzolic ash-sandy sandy loamy and sandy soils of the XVII-XVIII centuries had well-defined humus horizons, and often were deeply humus, which provided for their agricultural use with ease of machining. The proximity of a fairly powerful river, as well as the spread of forests (as timber for business purposes), increased the possibility of comfortable living conditions in this area. In the XVIII-XX centuries. Opportunities for cultivation of soils with fertilizers have emerged and soils of clearing № 5,7,8 are characterized by high and deep (almost all over the profile) humus. They are an example of human influence on the cultivation of land and landscapes. In the floodplains, alluvial-marsh silt soils, enriched with the content of Fe and Mn hydroxides, often formed the basis for the development of iron-smelting production in the territories close to Baturin. In the low and high floodplains of the Diet, the formation of sediments was associated with alluvial processes (floods, alluvial sands) and aerial ones (sands, dunes). Among modern Baturin soils (background), typical sod-medium- and highly podzolic, as opposed to the predominance of slightly podzolic sod, aszed alluvial-meadow and alluvial-sod soils are identified. The terraces are characterized by the development of sod, sod-alluvial and sod-swamp soils (the latter on floodplains).