RESULTS OF THE WORKS OF THE LAST SEASONS IN THE SETTLEMENTS OF OUTSKIRTS OF KIEV
Authors: Hotun I. A. , Kazymir A. M. 
Published: February 2020

Works of the last quarter of XX century, persuasively proved that the socio-economic development of the villages of the south-Russ reached a high level, having conditioned their parity relations with towns. Unlike the West European model, in the cities of Eastern Europe, according to experts, they were the centers of the agricultural surrounding, which facilitated their determination as collective feudal castles. Therefore, researchers should not set villages against towns, but consider them in a formational unity. An example of a rural agglomeration where the resources of the capital of the principality were concentrated is a group of settlements between the Dnieper and the lower reaches of the Desna, providing the necessary raw materials and products for the Chernigov dynasty. Undoubtedly, the capital metropolis had an analogue of such a resource zone, but it has been studied much worse.

Until recently, the rural district of Kiev was represented in Predslavyne and Teremky, not documented in Kremenyshche, an early stage of the excavations of the Sophiyivska Borshchagivka and small works on a few other monuments, which were explored in small volumes, and some of them could represent the outskirts of neighboring fortified centers, not of Kiev. Therefore, excavations since 2007 by the Northern Expedition of the IA NASU of the Hodosivka-Roslavske settlement, and since 2010 — of the Sofiyivska Borshchagivka have provided a large incremental of the sources on this topic. Sufficiently science-intensive materials have also been obtained in the recent studies.

In course of the works, residential buildings were studied: a part of them had small room as an additional premises next to the main chamber, one of the constructions on the Borshchagivka settlement consisted of two main chambers. The dwellings were heated with clay ovens, located, where it was possible to trace them, in the corner near the entrance. Noted was one case of placing the heating structure in the far corner with its further transferring to the near one. Near the residential buildings household, grain buildings and pits were erected.

Characteristics of agricultural activities can be understood from the findings of the tips of tools for soil handling and harvesting. The paleoethnobotanical spectrum is represented by six types of cereals and peas. Animal breeding is marked by spits and bones belonging to a horse, a pig, large and small cattle. Bones of cats and dogs were also found. Prey for hunters from S. Borshchagivka and Hodosivka were 4 and 15 species of mammals, as well as 4 and 13 species of birds, 5 more species of ornithofauna from Hodosivka were unlikely to be an object of hunting. Fixed are 14 species of fish, of rodents — 8, 5 of herpetofauna. arrowheads attribute to hunting, —hooks — to fishing, nets — to sinkers, other tools attributing to ice chisels. The tools found indicate the development of spinning, weaving, making clothes and shoes, processing products.

In the studied settlements, developing were ferrous metallurgy, processing of non-ferrous metals, wood, bones, wood chemical industries, and the population of Hodosivka-Roslavske was also engaged in making beads, inserts and crosses made of amber.

The ceramic complex includes various types of kitchen, dining and container ware, among which some very fine specimens are found. Some of the products are covered with a layer of watering, in Hodosivka there are quite a few, even more — with its individual stripes, drops and sprays. Fragments of imported vessels, as well as glass cups were fixed, and in S. Borshchagivka — wooden products of the specific purpose. Among the findings are household appliances, universal tools, tools of crafts, decorations and costume elements. The number of fragments of glass bracelets in Hodosivka exceeds the figures of many similar towns. There are imported things: beads of oriental origin, in Hodosivka settlement — fibula of bronze sheet, characteristic for the synchronous population of the Baltic lands, a pin with topping shaped as a little duck, a ring-shaped brooch with inserts of glass, a knife-shaped pendant with a pointed ending, which findings in the south of Russia are sporadic. At both spots fragments of plinth and floor tiles were found, on Borshchagivka — also cubes of smalt. A lot of items of armament and harness of the battle horse have been found. A range of subjects of personal piety of Christians and things of pagan cults is collected. Remarkable are, from Borshchagivka — a steatite cross of a pilgrim to the Holy Land, from Hodosivka — a sewn metal cross with the Crucifixion of Volto Santo — a sign of a pilgrim to a shrine in Tuscany and a copy of the mother-of-pearl cross of a visitor to Palestine from a clam that inhabits the northern rivers of Europe and America. Numerous keys and fragments of locks evidence quite a high wealth of the population.

In addition to the materials of the Old Rus and Mongolian-Lithuanian times, those related to the preceding epochs were also found.

The data obtained makes it possible to trace the development of the material and some aspects of the spiritual culture of inhabitants of the Kiev surroundings of the Middle Ages.