DEVELOPMENT AND FORMATION OF ARCHITECTURAL AND CONSTRUCTION TRADITIONS OF THE STEPPE AND FOREST-STEPPE ZONES OF EASTERN EUROPE FROM THE 5TH TO THE 7TH CENTURIES
Authors:   Odessa State Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Polshikova N.V. 
Published: April 2021

This article is the fourth of the general topics«Development and formation of architectural and construction traditions of the steppe and forest-steppe zones of Ancient Russia. In the process of studying historical and archaeological facts, tere arefollowing:The main type of settlements of the early medieval period of the 5th-7th centuries in all territories of Slavs' residence –uninhibited villages along the banks of rivers and lakes on low floodplain terraces with an area of 0.25-1.0 ha, but in Moldova -up to 1.2 ha, in Podolia –up to 1.5 ha, inSmolensk –up to 7.0-8.0 ha. In the Upper Dniester and Upper Dnieper, the location of settlements is «nesting» with a distance between «nests» of 0.3-0.5 km. Layout –ordinary along the coast according to the terrain. Settlements of 3 types: tribal trade and craft centers, shelters and religious centers. Refuge settlements were built in the Upper Dnieper Left Bank, in the Upper reaches of the Western Dvina, in the borderland with Finno-Ugric and Germanic tribes, especially in the Upper Oka basin, where the main type of settlement settlements. They are trade and craft centers of permanent residence, asylum-fortifications were built separately.Placement of settlements -suburban protected areas, additional fortifications -ramparts and ditches, wooden walls with crates along the inner perimeter of the walls, their area is 0.2 -0.3 ha. Ancient settlements-cult centers inSmolensk region had similar fortifications.Dwellings –everywhere rectangular plans (or close to them, with gable roofs covered with a layer of clay or resin, rammed earthen floors.Space-planning decisions in all territories of Slavs' residence are of the same type, the differences are only in wall designs, which depended on climatic conditions, and in the placement of heating devices: among Slavs, stove-stoves and clay in the corner of dwellings, among neighbors of the Slavs (Balts and Finns) –foci in the middle of dwellings.So in the Southern region there are half-dugouts and ground pillars and log houses with a hearth in the center or a stove with a stove in the corner of the outbuilding.In the Northern region there are rectangular log cabins with astove in a corner. In the Western region, there are half-dugouts and terrestrial columnar and log-house constructions with centers in the center or a stove-heater in the corner.Definitely religious buildings –pagan luminaries. Found only in the Smolenskregion. They are round, rammed, a platform with a diameter of 6 m, along the edge of which is in the center of the site.The burial facilities of the early period of the Slovenian middle ages ubiquitous soil burial grounds and mounds are mainly accordingto the rite of incineration.Thus, the construction and architecture in all areas of the Slavs and their immediate neighbors to the VIII century –of the same type. This situation in the Steppe continued in the Middle Ages, when the Turkic-speaking Huns invaded the Steppe in the Middle of the 4th century wich is putting an end to the centuries-old domination of the Iranians and causing the grandiose movement of European peoples –«The Great Relocation».Development and formation of architectural and construction traditions of the steppe and forest-steppe zones of Eastern Europe from the 5th to the 7th centuries –The early stage of the early Slavic Middle Ages –is considered separately for the forest-steppe and steppe zones. The development of constructionin the steppe zone, through which the namada of the Hun circle moved west, is represented only by random mounds, often inlets, left in the Steppe from the previous time. All types of structures of the settled population of the forest-steppe zone that havedeveloped earlier were developed in this period. The early Slavs, the formation of whose ethnicity began in the III century. BC., to the V century. n. e. the main types of buildings have developed, which have had a special development since the 5th century. n. e.