Аncient Gilea in the Lower Dnieper

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to highlight the dynamics of changes in the geographical situation in the lower reaches of the Dnieper, in particular on the Kinburn peninsula in ancient times and the development of the region against the background of the Greek colonization of the Lower Bug region. Methodology. When writing the article, general scientific methods and a systematic approach to the study of written and archaeological sources were used. The scientific novelty lies in the comparison of archaeological and ancient Greek literary sources with paleogeographic data, which made it possible to restore natural conditions in the area of the Bugo-Dnieper estuary and significantly supplement the idea of the formation of Greek-barbarian relations in the region. Conclusions. The natural conditions in the area of the Bugo-Dneprovsky estuary changed repeatedly over the past millennia, which was associated with fluctuations in the Black Sea level. Significant changes also took place after the 17th-18th centuries. In ancient times, the Kinburn Peninsula was known in antique literature, but it had a completely different configuration of the coastline and was covered with dense deciduous forest. At the end of the seventh century BC on the banks of one of the branches of the Dnieper delta, a settlement arose, which, by its morphological characteristics, was defined as a temporary seasonal marketplace, where artisans, people from the Dnieper region, the Balkans, the North Caucasus and even the distant eastern regions, worked in the warm season. The fading of life in the marketplace was associated with the founding of Olbia, where artisans who came from afar could stay for a long period, regardless of seasonal changes in the weather and renting premises for setting up temporary workshops there. From Olbia, those craftsmen could extend their activities to the chora settlements, as evidenced by the worn-out clay molds on some of them, and the burial of a barbarian caster in the Marytsynskyi burial ground near Olbia. When the lease expired, the craftsmen left, and the premises were cleaned and all traces of craft activities were dumped into an abandoned basement room in the Upper Town, excavated in the 50s of last century or into pits similar to the one that was excavated in 1982.