ARCHAEOLOGICAL OBJECT OF EARLY MODERN TIME FROM THE TRUBIZH RIVER IN PEREIASLAV

Abstract

On June 16, 1958, the survey team of the expedition of the Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, which should carry out the reconnaissance of archaeological sites on the flood zone of the Kremenchug reservoir in the Poltava and Cherkasy regions, on the way to the place of exploration stopped at the city of Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyi. Archaeologists, among whom was Dr. Michailo Kuchera, have met the director of the local historical museum Mikhailo Sikorskyi. They visited the Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyi Historical Museum, the site of excavations of the mortuary church of the 11^th century and the accidentally discovered stair tower of the over-the-gate church of the historic Episcopal Gate. In addition, their attention was drawn to a large old two-horned anchor standing in the central city park. This paper is devoted to the consideration of the circumstances of its discovery in the Trubizh River in Pereyaslav and the history of the study of this anchor.

By the late 1950s this anchor had been standing in the central park of Pereyaslav for more than a century. It was accidentally found in 1844 in the Trubizh River on the territory of the city and attached to a brick pillar in the fence of a small garden located around the monument on the grave of Countess Fongenstein. In the early 1990s the anchor was moved to the bank of the Alta River and installed in the park that is now named in memory of Mikhailo Sikorski.

On one side, on the lower part of the anchor spindle during manufacture the inscription «κ̃ς пy^д κ^г̃» was cut out which means the total weight of the anchor — 26 poods 23 pounds (approximately 438 kg). The Slavic-Cyrillic digital system was used until the beginning of the 18^th century, that is, before the beginning of the reforms of Peter I. So, the Pereyaslav anchor can be dated to the late 17^th century or the turn of the 17^th and 18^th centuries. This dating is also confirmed by the shape of the anchor which has arcuately curved horns, indicating its manufacture by Dutch craftsmen. Ten years before the death of Peter I they began to be changed by English masters who brought with them the technology of manufacturing straight anchors of the English model.

The anchor has significant dimensions: the total height is 3 m 26.5 cm; spindle length — 3 m 12 cm; the span of the horns (in a straight line) together with the fluks is 2 m 55.5 cm. It was the largest of the five anchors of a sea sailing vessel (a best bower anchor); from its weight the weight of all other ship’s anchors was calculated. Its weight, in turn, was calculated from the ship’s tonnage using special formulas. The following calculations were also used: the weight of the starboard anchor in pounds had to be greater in numerical terms than the displacement of the ship in tons. Thus, the sea ship for which this anchor was intended had to have a displacement of no more than 880 tons.

The anchor was probably transported from the place of manufacture through the rivers of the Siverski Donets basin, partly by land, further into the Dnieper basin along the Trubizh river where it was accidentally or deliberately flooded and was never used for its intended purpose.