ARCHEOLOGICAL SITES OF THE LAST CENTURIES BC IN THE SULA RIVER BASIN

Abstract

The result of the general analysis of archaeological sites of the Sula River basin dated to the 3rd—1st centuries BC is published in the paper. The authors emphasize the small population of the territory during this period which is reflected in the small number of settlement sites and burial assemblages. Today only two hillforts and five burials can be confidently correlated with this period. The main goal of the work is to systematize the available data, introduce new materials, and outline the features of the historical and cultural situation of the region. The authors pay special attention to the materials of the research of Basivka and Glinsk hillforts. The stratigraphy and the complex of finds indicate the continuity of settlement of the territory of these sites from the Scythian Age to the last centuries BC. The latest layers are synchronous with the early period of the classical Zarubyntsi culture which was located west and north of Sula Rivers basins: in the Middle Dnieper and Seym Rivers basins. However, the material complex of the settlements on the Sula River contains the elements of different cultural traditions: the local forest-steppe population, the Zarubyntsi culture, ancient Greek and Scythian ones. In particular, one can see this in the pottery complex which includes pots and bowls typical of the forest-steppe culture of the Scythian period, polished tableware of the Zarubyntsi type, clay incense cups with flutes and lids with a central handle, Greek imported pottery. Among other there are notable artifacts of the La Tиne type, as well as a metal roundel, with the parallels in the inventory of the so-called «odd assemblages». The features of materials from the late layer of the Basivka hillfort indicate that this site continued to be the administrative, cultural and trade center in the 3rd—2nd centuries BC. Data on all known burial assemblages (Basivka, Vovkivtsi, Lubny) were also collected and analyzed. This analysis provides a few but important information about the burial rite of this time. These burials were inserted to the mounds of already existing barrows erected before, in the Scythian period. The presence of traces of the fire can be considered common to most complexes: cremations, hearths in the corners or in the center, artifacts which are damaged by. However, the set of signs of burial rituals have no direct analogies in the neighboring territories and is syncretic in nature. The authors emphasize that the region was not the area of the full spread of Zarubyntsi, Late Scythian or local forest-steppe cultures, but rather acted as a contact zone of interaction of several cultural traditions.