Military and Dual-purpose Items in the Medieval Settlement of Lisnyky-Bezodnia
Authors:   Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Hotun Ihor , Havryliuk Bohdan ,   National University "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy"
Published: March 2024

Weaponry, horseman's, and warhorse's equipment for unfortified settlements were traditionally considered unusual. Only in the last quarter of the XX century, after extensive studies of the villages of southern Rus, a conclusion was made about the parity of relations between cities and their rural environment and about the inherent character of the rural centers of the mentioned category of things. However, recurrences of the old views continue to appear in recent publications, although the essential question seems to be whether the villagers were the subject or object of the use of the found weapons. New data on this category of findings have recently been obtained due to research on the settlement Lisnyky-Bezodnia in the southern suburbs of Kyiv. The site was discovered in 1991 by V. Petrashenko and V. Koziuba and has been repeatedly examined by the Northern Expedition of the Institute of Archeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Furthermore, in 2021, excavations were carried out on the site. As a result, several objects were investigated in the horizons of the Kyivan Rus and primitive / paleometal periods, and a representative collection of material from these eras was formed. Small in volume but quite an interesting group of things presenting militaristic and dual-purpose objects. Five arrowheads belong to the long-range weapons. All of them are petiolate, have analogies among the types common in Kievan Rus, and some – in the adjacent territories, some of them belong to the category of armor-piercing. Another find is identified as an awl. The object resembles an awl-shaped point, which has been repeatedly found in quiver sets, along with other types of arrowheads. Among the discoveries from the village is a knife, the size of which exceeds the indicators for this category of findings. In the literature, if they did not have a true combat purpose, large knives were proposed to be seen not as universal tools but as hunting weapons. The rider's equipment is represented by a whole sharp and a fragment of another. Elements of both items have analogies among the materials of the XII – first half of the XIII century. Products do not characterize peasant life; they mark the stay of the elite. Horse equipment from the settlement – rod of some snaffle and rod with a ring of others. Such finds are not uncommon. Moreover, although they are attributed to the evidence of the presence of war horses, it is logical to consider things as an indicator of the presence of these animals in general without limiting the purpose exclusively to combat clashes, which has already been noted in publications. In contrast to the previous ones, the other two finds were used for expensive horses, primarily combated ones. We are talking about two sets of metal halters equipped with cylindrical locks. The tendency of these products to the fortified points with representatives of the military-trade state and the lack of data on the fixation of these things on the monuments of rural type indicates the originality of the studied village. The cases of the detection of such items at other unfortified sites were considered to assess the role and place of the collection of items of the named purpose from the village in the Bezodnia tract in Lisnyky. The obtained data indicate the presence of few weapons and equestrian equipment in the layers of settlements and, at the same time, lead to the statement of cases of concentration of such things in sometimes separated from the main territory areas where other prestigious products are concentrated. The collection from Lisnyky-Bezodnia was gathered in a relatively limited area, not in the center or on the dominant hill. This leads to the conclusion that the partially studied monument presents a rather bright and extraordinary phenomenon and emphasizes the inexhaustibility of information opportunities of medieval village structures. Key words: Lisnyky-Bezodnia, Kyivan Rus, medieval settlement, arrowheads, spurs, horse. Language: Ukrainian