ON TRACKS THE POLISSIA EXPEDITION OF 1932: THE NEWEST EXPLORATION OF MINERIES OF 17th—19th century ON THE MALYN REGION

Abstract

In 2019 the authors conducted an archaeological survey near the city Malyn in the Zhytomyr region. The main task of the work was to find the locations of iron workshops known from historical sources of the 17th—19th centuries as «rudnia». Archival materials of the Poliska expedition of 1932, led by Oleksandr Ogloblin, were used to draw up the survey route. Photographs, location diagrams and descriptions of individual workshops of those studies made it possible to select priority points for a new visit to the sites of ancient industrial complexes.
 A total of 6 locations were surveyed. In their place, it was possible to record a concentration of swamp ore and iron slag, nearby — samples of ceramics, glass and other findings related to the functioning of miners’ villages. Near the humlet Antoniv, on an area of more than 1000 m2, a 3—5 m high slag accumulation was discovered, which was the place of storage of iron production waste from the local «rudnia» on the Voznia River.
 During the exploration several well-known and newly discovered archaeological sites were surveyed, including settlements from the times of Kievan Rus of the 10th—13th centuries near the villages of Nedashky, Ukrainka, Pyrizhky. Many samples of ceramic dishes of the 17th—19th centuries found in Malyn and Pyrizhky. Some of these ceramics have signs of local production. Fragments of tiles were found in some places, in Malyn — samples of ceramic tiles of the 18th (?) century. Near the village Korolivka, a previously unknown site of glass production — guta — was opened. Fragments of crucibles, vitreous mass, slag, ceramics of the 18th—19th centuries were found here. In several places fragments of molded ware, splinters of flint were found, which can be attributed to the Bronze Age (III—II millennia BC) and other eras.
 Near the humlet Antonov the remains of the Roman Catholic church of the end of the 18th (?) century were examined. The building was built by the Polish noblemen Penkowski, who owned a large estate on the Irsha River. Specimens of figured (patterned) brick were taken from this architectural monument. It is important to fix two stone tombstones made of red quartzite in the village Vorsivka near the church. They contain partially legible inscriptions, one of which is dated 1640. These finds testify to the existence in the first half of the 17th century industry of the manufacture of stone tombstones, the place of production of which is located 100 km to the north, in the area of the city of Ovruch, depending on the type of stone.