The Church of the Princely Era From the Chronicle Buzhesk: Localisation, Remains, Dating (based on the materials of archaeological research in 2015–2021)

Abstract

During 2015–2021, the archaeological expedition of the Institute of Archaeology of the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv explored the “Small” hillfort, a component of the Busk archaeological complex (the territory of the modern city of Busk, Lviv Oblast), which represents antiquities related to the history of Buzhesk. The discovery in 2015 and 2017–2018 of the horizon of the cemetery with burials typical for the Christian rite, as well as watered ceramic tiles, which were used to pave the floor of churches of the Princely era, prompted researchers to locate and study the sacred building. During the field seasons of 2019 and 2021, the remains of the temple had been found. Like most archaeologically discovered wooden temples, it was located behind a limestone-sand filling on which a ceramic mosaic floor was laid, two peripheral sections of which were discovered in situ. The collection of ceramic tiles (more than 1500 artefacts), covered with yellow, green and brown glaze, represents five groups by shape. As follows from the analogies, the tiles of groups I–III — large and small isosceles triangular and square ones — represent the background of the floor, IV — in the shape of an elongated trapezoid with rounded corners — the ornamental belt of the omphalos, V — samples of individual forms — its figurative composition. The tiles of the first three groups were made in split moulds, the fourth — in non-split forms, and the fifth — cut from a clay preform, on which an ornament was previously applied. In terms of chemical composition, the glaze of tiles from Busk is practically similar to the samples found from other locations (Danilyv, Dorogychyn, Kholm, Stolpje). It was made of a lead-silica mixture. The main dyes were lead (yellow), copper (green) and iron (brown) oxides. At the same time, a luminescent glow due to the addition of wood and bone ash (phosphorus) has been observed in bus glaze. The wooden church at the “Small” hillfort in Busk, built using the log technique, was most likely consisted of two parts (the nave is about 5 m wide and 6 m long, and the apse, according to the analogies from other places, is about 3 × 4 m) and had a small wooden dome. Stratigraphically, it appears that the church at the “Small” hillfort could have been built no earlier than the middle — second half of the 12th century. If we take into account the fact that by all its structural features it belongs to the traditions of the Galician architectural school, the time of its construction should be historically associated with the transition of Buzhesk to the power of the Galician princes in the early 1170s. It could stand on the outskirts of this ancient city somewhere before the turn of the 13th–14th centuries and collapsed either due to karst processes or due to a local fire.