THE PHOTOGRAMMETRIC PLAN OF THE SHESTOVYTSIA BARROW NECROPOLIS

Abstract

The Shestovytsia barrow necropolis is one of the most famous and best studied archaeological sites of the late ninth — early eleventh centuries, associated with Scandinavian antiquities on the Left Bank of the Dnieper River. It has a complex topographic structure and consists of three floodplain barrow groups. To date, 13 plans of the necropolis are known, some of which are quite schematic. Instrumental plans were compiled by different researchers under different conditions; they differ both in the precise locations of features and in their numbering. The only way to create an accurate spatial reference for the mounds is to overlay archival schemes onto a modern terrain plan using the latest survey methods, followed by verification through the excavation. The authors of the paper carried out the aerial photography and created an orthophotoplan. On the orthophotoplan, palaeochannels of the Zherdova River and elevated areas above the floodplain are marked. On these elevations, round patches of light sandy loam and white sand are clearly visible, representing the remains of mounds. In total, 40 distinct circular soilmarks were identified, which can be associated with a separate mounds. In addition, the inner parts of some soilmarks show darker infill of rounded or sub-rectangular shape — the remains of ground subsidence at the locations of twentieth-century excavations. Comparing the archival scheme of 1956 with the orthophotoplan one can correlate with a high degree of probability certain soilmarks with known numbered mounds. The software allows input and use of a wide range of information of each identified feature for further work (physical dimensions of the soilmark, area, diameter, perimeter, coordinates, etc.). It contains the coordinates of the geometric center of the patch, which are integrated into mobile devices with a positioning system, allowing the required object to be located in the field. By analyzing the latest digital plan of Groups I—II, one can distinguish certain patterns in the distribution of the mounds and microgroups within them. In total, we identified eleven microgroups of mounds, compactly arranged according to burial rite and separated from one another by other microgroups. Using the orthophotoplan it is possible to conduct the re-exploration. As an example, we determined the information for mound 36 in order for its further re-examination.