“UNDERGROUND ETERNITY OF PODESENNYA” IN THE RESEARCHES OF V.E. KURYLENKO"
Authors: Usatenko Тamara 
Published: January 2019

The article is devoted to the study of the historical development of the territory of the Chernihiv-Siversky Podesennya by the researcher-archaeologist Vasily Eliseyevich Kurylenko, to the learning of his role in the development of Ukrainian archaeological science, museum affairs and his educational activities. The author analyzes the life and search path of the researcher, describes the importance of field archeological activity and museum-educational work. The study tested the significance of scientific (archeological), literary heritage and educational activities for the development of modern views on the ancient history of Ukraine. The study of the historical processes of the Desnian region for some reasons has not been sufficiently disclosed. Among them, the Mizun stand, named after the culture of the Eastern player of Sivershchyna, which is the most prominent archaeological sites, whose age reaches 20-18 millennium BC. The Mizun stand testifies the transition of people in ancient times at the turn of the Paleolithic and Mesolithic period from the caves of natural origin in handmade dwellings built from the bones and skins of mammoths. The opening of the Mizun stand nowadays equates to the opening of Troy by H. Schliemann, Trypillia culture by V. Khvoika, the Scythian Golden pectoral by B. Mazolevsky, the value of Egyptian hieroglyphs be Zh.F. Champolion. Having analyzed the formation of V.E. Kurylenko as an archaeologist-researcher focuses on the significance of his archaeological researches, scientific activity, literary-journalistic, artistic, educational, museum-heritage for the development of contemporary views on the ancient history of Ukraine, on the factors of the formation of the Ukrainian ethnic group, and the consolidation of civil society. In the article the significance of V.E.Kurylenko’ researches of the Mizun bracelets, fragments of the original products with ornament, which was deciphered by the scientist, the monthly protocalendar of the hunters and fishermen of the Neolithic Age, the protozoan instruments, etc., which do not have world analogues were noted. By deciphering the Mizun bracelets the scientist launched a new direction in archaeological science - astroarheology. The researcher has developed a scientific method of complex study of cultures of the district. V.Kurylenko looked for traces of the Mesolithic and Neolithic settlements in the district of Mizin on Podesennya during 46 years (from 1965 to 2011). He found the second Mizun Paleolithic stand "Kostomakh’ well”. V.Kurylenko discovered more than 60 archeological artefacts, found on the banks of the Desna more than twenty different cultures, in particular - previously unknown − Preyukhnov culture. V.E.Kurilenko collected more than 54,000 archaeological finds, systematized them, classified and created archaeological museums for them, among them a museum near the world-famous Mizun stand. V.Kurylenko studied the interconnection, interplay of chronological changes in the cultures of a particular region., avoid pseudo-scientific, imposed, ideologically-ordered conclusions. He created the Ukrainian concept of museum creation.