PIDHIRTSI GROUP OF SITES OF THE KYIV DNIPRO REGION OF SCYTHIAN AGE

Abstract

The paper reveals the issue of population switch in the Kyiv Dnipro region which occurred gradually from the end of the 7th to the 5th centuries BCE. It is related to the origin of the Pidhirtsi group of sites. In historiography since 1950—1960s two hypotheses on this topic have been developed: the integration version based on the diffusion of forest-steppe and Mylograd cultural elements and autochthonous one. Nowadays, after the discovery of new archaeological sites and revision of the chronology, the more progressive research direction is processual migration archeology. The design of the approach is multidisciplinary. The population switch phenomenon is connected to the climate caused migrations of the forest population of Mylograd culture to the Upper and Middle Dnipro regions. In such circumstances with a range of cross-cultural contacts, the Pidhirtsi group of sites was formed.
 The settlement structure reconstructed on the basis of the material culture changes in correlation with geo informational analysis of the sites for two chronological periods. The impulses of the Mylograd population were caused by the economic crisis and paleoclimatic situation, in fact cooling and increasing humidity. The first diffusion occurred at the end of 7th century BCE and traced after burial complexes. The peak of population switch took place in the end of 6th — beginning 5th centuries BCE. As an example of material culture change were revised the materials of Bortnychi settlement explored in the 1950s. In the area of the Mylograd culture was observed decreasing of the anthropogenic activity. The forest steppe population inhabited the Left Bank Dnipro — Don region.
 Reconstruction of the cultural and historical context on the forest and forest-steppe frontier is a necessary approach for understanding the regional settlement system. Long-range interdisciplinary paleoclimatic studies of the Kyiv Dnipro region are a prospective direction for future research.