SCYTHIAN SETTLEMENTS ON THE PUTIVL PROMONTORIES

Abstract

Twenty-six sites of the Early Iron Age are known in the middle flow of the Seim River. There are more than four dozen unfortified settlements here. They are located very close to the residential settlement, on the dunes in the floodplain, on the first promontories above the floodplain. Settlements within the modern city of Putivl are somewhat distinct. First of all, it is extremely difficult to ascertain their size. Powerful layers of later time are traced on them. Research is difficult because of the massive building-up of the city.
 Materials of the Scythian Age were found on six sites: Kopteva Gora settlement, Monastyrsky Cape, Kinder House settlement, Gorodok, Nikolskaya Gorka and Molokozavod settlement. The sites were discovered on three capes, one household pit on each. The cultural layer was preserved only within the Molokozavod.
 All settlements are located on the promontories. It is possible that some of them had fortifications in the Early Iron Age, which were destroyed tracelessly by the late reconstruction. The existence of a settlement on the cape of Nikolskaya Gorka is most probable. A lot of Scythian ceramics were found here. The Molokozavod settlement was probably synchronous, and it was a single complex together with the fortified site. Judging by the ceramics, it ought to be preliminarily dated to the 5th—4th century BC.
 Some settlements of Putivl Seim basin are located in pairs. One of them simultaneously remained uninhabited or unfinished. It is possible that such a pair of settlements existed within Putivl. Perhaps the uninhabited satellite of Nikolskaya Gorka was a hill-fort Gorodok.
 Six sites of the Scythian Age are considered within the modern Putivl. The conclusions made in the paper are no more than an assumption. This is primarily due to the paucity of material and the degree of preservation of monuments of the Early Iron Age. The most promising for future research are Nikolskaya Gorka and Molokozavod settlement. However, we can’t hope for significant results in the study of Early Iron Age antiquities on the territory of Putivl.