Pottery from the Defensive Moat of “Citadel” Site of Dykyi Sad Hillfort

Abstract

The article deals with pottery from the filling of the defensive moat of “Citadel” site of the hillfort Dykyi Sad. The moat has a shape of a large arc that is elongated along the line South-East–North-West. The length of the investigated part is 1.30 m, width – 5.0 m, depth – 3.0-3.10 m. There were identified more than twenty-two thousand fragments of pottery, belonging to about 2500 vessels of various purposes. The moat filling can be divided into three levels: – upper level (thickness 1.0 m), in which the expressionless ceramics were fixed (about 1000). – middle level (thickness 1.0 m), in which the saturation of ceramic fragments increases (approximately 10000). – lower level (thickness 1.0 m), in which the number of fragments of ceramic ware is practically similar to the middle level (about 11000). There were selected 165 complete and partly preserved vessels from the middle (81 fragment) and lower filling levels (84 fragments), suitable for formal classification. The subject of the study is moulded ware from the middle and lower levels of moat filling. All material is divided into two groups: closed (120 fragments) and open shapes (41 fragment). Each group is divided into types. Pottery of closed group consists of pots, jars, cups, ladle, large pots. The open group wares are bowls, cups, braziers, riddles. Among the forms there were specified types due to the shape of neck and rim. According to the type there have been classified variations within body shapes. A separate, special, group is composed with non-stan¬dard (miniature) dishes, which can be considered as for cult purposes (4 fragments). It was found that among closed group dominated squat cups (32,5 %) and pots with arc-like neck (14,2 %); the lowest number is represented by elongated cups (4,2 %) and pots with conical neck (1.6 %). Among the dishes of open group there are bowls (36.6 %), and cups (31,7 %); the least represented are flat braziers with segmental-cut body form (7,3 %), bowls with elongated straight neck (7.3 %), riddles (7.3 %) and flat braziers with a small rim (4.9 %). Among the miniature (cult) dishes there are two jars (50 %), a cup (25 %) and a small pot (25 %). Pottery from the moat filling relates to the ceramics fixated in the “Citadel” premises of the hillfort Dykyi Sad and is found among mat¬erials of well-known settlements and burial grounds of Bilozerka culture period of the North-Western Pontic region. In the cultural and chronological aspect the ceramics of lower level moat filling of the “Citadel”, there are mostly fragments refering to the early stage of Bilozerka culture and early stage of the settlement occurence (end of 13th – beginning of 12th c. BC), and the ceramics of middle level relates to the main period of the hillfort existence (12th – 11th c. BC).