Paleolandscape Analysis of the Early Slavic Hillfort in Opishnia
Keywords:
the Early Middle Ages, Romny culture, the Slavs, hillfort, geoarchaeology, paleolandscapes, soil, natural conditions.
Abstract
This article is dedicated to interdisciplinary research of the Opishnia settlement. Based on the integration of archaeological and paleogeographical data, a paleolandscape analysis of the early Slavic settlement is conducted. The study reconstructs the natural environment of the settlement in the Early Middle Ages, highlighting its landscape conditions, main principles of economic activity, and the formation structure.
References
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Karmazynenko, S. P. 2010. Mikromorfolohichnyi doslidzhennia vykopnykh i suchasnykh gruntiv Ukrainy. Kyiv: Naukova dumka.
Kuchera, M. P. 1999. Sloviano-ruski horodyshcha VIII–X st. mizh Sanom i Siverskym Dintsem. Kyiv: Instytut arkheolohii NANU.
Liapushkin, I. I. 1946. Materialy k izucheniiu iugo-vostochnykh granits vostochnykh slavian. Kratkie soobshcheniia Instituta istorii i materialnoi kultury, XІI, p. 117-127.
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Matviishyna, Zh. M., Parkhomenko, O. H. 2016. Osoblyvosti holotsenovoho pedohenezu na Shestovytskomu arkheolohichnomu kompleksi X-XI st. Fizychna heohrafiia ta heomorfolohiia, 3 (83), p. 55-60.
Matviishyna, Zh. M., Parkhomenko, O. H., Skorokhod, V. M. 2019. Evoliutsiia gruntiv ta landshaftiv terytorii davnoruskoho horodyshcha bilia s. Vypovziv na Chernihivshchyni. Naukovi zapysky Vinnytskoho derzhavnoho pedahohichnoho universytetu imeni Mykhaila Kotsiubynskoho. Seriia: Heohrafiia, 31 (1–2), p. 20-31.
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Pashkevych, H. O., Horbanenko, S. A. 2003. Vidbytky zernivok kulturnykh roslyn na keramitsi Opishnianskoho horodyshcha. Arkheolohichnyi litopys Livoberezhnoii Ukrainy, 12–13, p. 161-163.
Puholovok, Yu. 2016. Budivelna sprava litopysnykh siverian. Opishne: Ukrainske narodoznavstvo.
Puholovok, Yu. 2020. Doslidzhennia Opishnianskoho horodyshcha. In: Boltryk, Yu. V. (ed.) Arkheolohichni doslidzhennia v Ukraini 2018. Kyiv: IA NANU, p. 163-164.
Puholovok, Yu. O. 2018. Novitni doslidzhennia Opishnenskoho horodyshcha. In Sclavenia terra, 2, p. 53-60.
Puholovok, Yu. O., Horbanenko, S. A., Serhieieva, M. S., Yanish, Ye Yu. 2015. Paleoekolohiia okolyts Hlynskoho arkheolohichnoho kompleksu u XIII–XIV st. Arheologia, 4, p. 109-128.
Puholovok, Yu. O., Kushnir, A. S. 2022. Lidar Investigations Of Hlynske Archaeological Complex. Archaeology and Early History of Ukraine, 44, p. 444-455
Sukhobokov, O. V. 1975a. Otchet o rabote Levoberezhnogo otriada Ranneslavianskoi ekspeditsii Instituta arkheologii AN USSR v 1975 godu. Scientific Archive of the Institute of Archaeology, the NAS of Ukraine, f. 64, 1975/26a.
Sukhobokov, O. V. 1975b. Slaviane Dneprovskogo Levoberezhia (romenskaia kultura i ee predshestvenniki). Kyiv: Naukova dumka.
Sukhobokov, O. V., Iurenko, S. P. 1995. Oposhnianskoe gorodishche (po materialam arkheologicheskikh issledovanii 1975 g.) Poltava: VTs “Arkheologіia”.
Buko, A. 2013. Fortified Medieval Sites in Central Europe: Construction, Techniques, Functions, Regional Differentiations . Scienze dell’Antichita, 2–3, p. 651-667.
Christie, N., Herold, H. (eds.). 2016. Fortified Settlements in Early Medieval Europe: Defended Communities of the 8th-10th Centuries. Oxford: Oxbow.
Contreras, D. A. (еd.). 2017. The Archaeology of Human–Environment Interactions: Strategies for Investigating Anthropogenic Landscapes, Dynamic Environments, and Climate Change in the Human Past. New York, Routledge.
Dobrowolski, R., Rodzik, J., Mroczek, P., Zagórski, P., Bałaga, K., Wołoszyn, M., Dzieńkowski, T., Hajdas, I., Fedorowicz, S. 2018. Environmental Conditions of Settlement in the Vicinity of the Mediaeval Capital of the Cherven Towns (Czermno Site, Hrubieszów Basin, Eastern Poland). Quaternary International, 493, p. 258-273.
Feurdean, A., Grindean, R., Florescu, G., Tantau, I., Niedermeyer, E. M., Diaconu, A.-C., Hutchinson, S. M., Nielsen, A. B., Sava, T., Panait, A., Braun, M., Hickler, T. 2021. The Transformation of the Forest Steppe in the Lower Danube Plain of Southeastern Europe: 6000 Years of Vegetation and Land Use Dynamics. Biogeosciences, 18 (3), p. 1081–1103. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-1081-2021
Gerasimenko, N., Bezusko, L. G., Avdieienko, Y., Yanevich, A. 2022. Late Glacial and Holocene Vegetational and Climate Changes and Their Impact on Material Cultures in the Crimean Mountains (Founded on Pollen Data from Cave Deposits). Quaternary International, 632, p. 139-153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2021.12.018
Hájková, P., Petr, L., Horsak, M., Jamrichova, E., Rolecek, J. 2022. Holocene History of the Landscape at the Biogeographical and Cultural Crossroads Between Central and Eastern Europe (Western Podillia, Ukraine). Quaternary Science Reviews, 288, p. 1-16. 107610.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107610
Herold, H. 2016. The Natural Environment, Anthropogenic Influences and Supra-Regional Contacts at 9th- to 10th-Century Fortified Elite Settlements in Central Europe. In: Christie, N., Herold, H. (eds). Fortified Settlements in Early Medieval Europe. Oxford: Oxbow, p. 107-120.
Hildebrandt-Radke, I., Makarovich, P., Matviishyna, Zh., Parhomenko, A., Lysenko, S., Kochkin, I. 2019. Late Neolithic and Middle Bronze Age Barrows in Bukivnia, Western Ukraine as a Source to Understand Soil Evolution and Its Environmental Significance. Journal of Archaeological Science Reports, 27, p. 23-42. 101972. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.101972
Kiosak, D., Matviishyna, Z. 2023. The Soils of Early Farmers and Their Neighbors in the Southern Buh Catchment (Ukraine): Micromorphology and Archaeological Context. Land, 12 (2), p. 388-402. https://doi.org/10.3390/land12020388
Leiberiuk, O., Kushnir, A., Shvaiko, V. 2024. Development of a Mapping Web Application for Paleo-Soil Research of the Holocene Stage of the Plain Territory of Ukraine. International Conference of Young Professionals “GeoTerrace-2024”. Lviv, Ukraine, 7–9 October 2024. European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers, p. 1-5. https://doi.org/10.3997/2214-4609.2024510059
Marcinkowski, M, Szczepaniak, M. 2019. Geoarchaeology of the Early Medieval Stronghold Surroundings in Grzybowo Near Września, Greater Poland. Quaestiones Geographicae, 38, 3, p. 95-108.
Petr, L., Petřík, J., Kočár, P., Dresler, D. 2025. Late Holocene Environmental Changes and Human Subsistence in an Alluvial Landscape: A Case Study from the Pohansko Site on the Dyje (Thaya) River in Czechia. Human Ecology, 53, p. 151-164. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-025-00584-y
Šalkovský, P. 2015. Hrady západných slovanov. Nitra: Archeologicky ústav Slovenskej akadémie vied.
Zamelska-Monczak, K., Piotrowski, A., Sydor, P., Żuk, T., Rzodkiewicz, M., Noryśkiewicz, A., Krzymińska, J. 2021. Geoarchaeological Studies in the Early Medieval Santok Stronghold (North-Western Poland). Geoarchaeology, 36, p. 978-1008.
Horbanenko, S. A. 2005. The enviroment and slavik settlements of the second half of the 1th A.D. (in according with materials of Left Bank Dnepr). Stratum plus, 5, с. 400-425.
Horbanenko, S. A., Zhuravlov, O. P. 2021. Litopysni sloviany peredodnia utvorennia Davnoi Rusi: tvarynnytstvo chy myslyvstvo. Kyiv: Instytut arkheolohii NAN Ukrainy; Kharkiv: Maidan.
Karty Ukrainy. 2025. Hustota rozchlenuvannia reliefu. Available at: https://geomap.land.kiev.ua/relief-1.html [Accessed 20 February 2025].
Kanash, O. P., Laktionova, T. M., Medviediev, V. V. 2007. Grunty. M. 1:2 500 000. In: Rudenko, L. H. (ed.). Natsionalnyi atlas Ukrainy. K.: DNVP “Kartohrafiia”, p. 188-189.
Enukov, V. V. 2005. Slaviane do Riurikovichei. Kurskii krai: nauchno-populiarnaia seriia v 20 t., III. Kursk: Uchitel.
Zhovinskii, E. Ia., Kuraeva, I. V. 2002. Geokhimiia tiazhelykh metallov v pochvakh Ukrainy. Kyiv: Naukova dumka.
Karmazynenko, S. P. 2010. Mikromorfolohichnyi doslidzhennia vykopnykh i suchasnykh gruntiv Ukrainy. Kyiv: Naukova dumka.
Kuchera, M. P. 1999. Sloviano-ruski horodyshcha VIII–X st. mizh Sanom i Siverskym Dintsem. Kyiv: Instytut arkheolohii NANU.
Liapushkin, I. I. 1946. Materialy k izucheniiu iugo-vostochnykh granits vostochnykh slavian. Kratkie soobshcheniia Instituta istorii i materialnoi kultury, XІI, p. 117-127.
Liapushkin, I. I. 1961. Dneprovskoe Lesostepnoe Levoberezhe v epokhu zheleza. Materialy i issledovaniia po arkheologii SSSR, 104. Moscow; Leningrad: Izd-vo AN SSSR.
Matviishina, Zh. N. 1982. Mikromorfologiia pleistotsenovykh pochv Ukrainy. Kyiv: Naukova dumka.
Matviishyna, Zh. M., Doroshkevych, S. P., Kushnir, A. S., Karmazynenko, S. P., Ivchenko, A. S. 2024. THE MAIN SCIENTIFIC RESULTS OF EMPLOYEES OF THE SECTOR OF PALEOGEOGRAPHY OBTAINED DURING 2017–2024 AT THE INSTITUTE OF GEOGRAPHY OF THE NAS OF UKRAINE. Ukrainskyi heohrafichnyi zhurnal, 3, p. 24-37. https://doi.org/10.15407/ugz2024.03.024
Matviishyna, Zh. M., Kushnir, A. S. 2018. Geoarchaeological Approach in Paleosoil Research of Archaeological Monuments. Ukrainian Geohraphical Journal, 4, p. 10–15. https://doi.org/10.15407/ugz2018.04.010
Matviishyna, Zh., Parkhomenko, O., Skorokhod, V., Sytyi, Yu. 2021. Doslidzhennia vykopnykh gruntiv v arkheolohichnykh pamiatkakh smt Sedneva ta yoho okolyts na Chernihivshchyni. In: Kotsur, V., Rudenko, L., Maruniak, Ye. (eds.). Heohrafichna osvita ta nauka: perspektyvy y innovatsii. Zbirnyk materialiv Mizhnarodnoi naukovo-praktychnoi konferentsii. Pereiaslav, Ukraine, 20–21 May 2021. Pereiaslav, p. 93-97.
Matviishyna, Zh. M., Parkhomenko, O. H. 2016. Osoblyvosti holotsenovoho pedohenezu na Shestovytskomu arkheolohichnomu kompleksi X-XI st. Fizychna heohrafiia ta heomorfolohiia, 3 (83), p. 55-60.
Matviishyna, Zh. M., Parkhomenko, O. H., Skorokhod, V. M. 2019. Evoliutsiia gruntiv ta landshaftiv terytorii davnoruskoho horodyshcha bilia s. Vypovziv na Chernihivshchyni. Naukovi zapysky Vinnytskoho derzhavnoho pedahohichnoho universytetu imeni Mykhaila Kotsiubynskoho. Seriia: Heohrafiia, 31 (1–2), p. 20-31.
Myronenko, K. M. 1998. Davnoruski poselennia Nyzhnioho Povorsklia. Arkheolohichnyi litopys Livoberezhnoii Ukrainy, 3–4, p. 66-70.
Pashkevych, H. O., Horbanenko, S. A. 2003. Vidbytky zernivok kulturnykh roslyn na keramitsi Opishnianskoho horodyshcha. Arkheolohichnyi litopys Livoberezhnoii Ukrainy, 12–13, p. 161-163.
Puholovok, Yu. 2016. Budivelna sprava litopysnykh siverian. Opishne: Ukrainske narodoznavstvo.
Puholovok, Yu. 2020. Doslidzhennia Opishnianskoho horodyshcha. In: Boltryk, Yu. V. (ed.) Arkheolohichni doslidzhennia v Ukraini 2018. Kyiv: IA NANU, p. 163-164.
Puholovok, Yu. O. 2018. Novitni doslidzhennia Opishnenskoho horodyshcha. In Sclavenia terra, 2, p. 53-60.
Puholovok, Yu. O., Horbanenko, S. A., Serhieieva, M. S., Yanish, Ye Yu. 2015. Paleoekolohiia okolyts Hlynskoho arkheolohichnoho kompleksu u XIII–XIV st. Arheologia, 4, p. 109-128.
Puholovok, Yu. O., Kushnir, A. S. 2022. Lidar Investigations Of Hlynske Archaeological Complex. Archaeology and Early History of Ukraine, 44, p. 444-455
Sukhobokov, O. V. 1975a. Otchet o rabote Levoberezhnogo otriada Ranneslavianskoi ekspeditsii Instituta arkheologii AN USSR v 1975 godu. Scientific Archive of the Institute of Archaeology, the NAS of Ukraine, f. 64, 1975/26a.
Sukhobokov, O. V. 1975b. Slaviane Dneprovskogo Levoberezhia (romenskaia kultura i ee predshestvenniki). Kyiv: Naukova dumka.
Sukhobokov, O. V., Iurenko, S. P. 1995. Oposhnianskoe gorodishche (po materialam arkheologicheskikh issledovanii 1975 g.) Poltava: VTs “Arkheologіia”.
Buko, A. 2013. Fortified Medieval Sites in Central Europe: Construction, Techniques, Functions, Regional Differentiations . Scienze dell’Antichita, 2–3, p. 651-667.
Christie, N., Herold, H. (eds.). 2016. Fortified Settlements in Early Medieval Europe: Defended Communities of the 8th-10th Centuries. Oxford: Oxbow.
Contreras, D. A. (еd.). 2017. The Archaeology of Human–Environment Interactions: Strategies for Investigating Anthropogenic Landscapes, Dynamic Environments, and Climate Change in the Human Past. New York, Routledge.
Dobrowolski, R., Rodzik, J., Mroczek, P., Zagórski, P., Bałaga, K., Wołoszyn, M., Dzieńkowski, T., Hajdas, I., Fedorowicz, S. 2018. Environmental Conditions of Settlement in the Vicinity of the Mediaeval Capital of the Cherven Towns (Czermno Site, Hrubieszów Basin, Eastern Poland). Quaternary International, 493, p. 258-273.
Feurdean, A., Grindean, R., Florescu, G., Tantau, I., Niedermeyer, E. M., Diaconu, A.-C., Hutchinson, S. M., Nielsen, A. B., Sava, T., Panait, A., Braun, M., Hickler, T. 2021. The Transformation of the Forest Steppe in the Lower Danube Plain of Southeastern Europe: 6000 Years of Vegetation and Land Use Dynamics. Biogeosciences, 18 (3), p. 1081–1103. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-1081-2021
Gerasimenko, N., Bezusko, L. G., Avdieienko, Y., Yanevich, A. 2022. Late Glacial and Holocene Vegetational and Climate Changes and Their Impact on Material Cultures in the Crimean Mountains (Founded on Pollen Data from Cave Deposits). Quaternary International, 632, p. 139-153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2021.12.018
Hájková, P., Petr, L., Horsak, M., Jamrichova, E., Rolecek, J. 2022. Holocene History of the Landscape at the Biogeographical and Cultural Crossroads Between Central and Eastern Europe (Western Podillia, Ukraine). Quaternary Science Reviews, 288, p. 1-16. 107610.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107610
Herold, H. 2016. The Natural Environment, Anthropogenic Influences and Supra-Regional Contacts at 9th- to 10th-Century Fortified Elite Settlements in Central Europe. In: Christie, N., Herold, H. (eds). Fortified Settlements in Early Medieval Europe. Oxford: Oxbow, p. 107-120.
Hildebrandt-Radke, I., Makarovich, P., Matviishyna, Zh., Parhomenko, A., Lysenko, S., Kochkin, I. 2019. Late Neolithic and Middle Bronze Age Barrows in Bukivnia, Western Ukraine as a Source to Understand Soil Evolution and Its Environmental Significance. Journal of Archaeological Science Reports, 27, p. 23-42. 101972. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.101972
Kiosak, D., Matviishyna, Z. 2023. The Soils of Early Farmers and Their Neighbors in the Southern Buh Catchment (Ukraine): Micromorphology and Archaeological Context. Land, 12 (2), p. 388-402. https://doi.org/10.3390/land12020388
Leiberiuk, O., Kushnir, A., Shvaiko, V. 2024. Development of a Mapping Web Application for Paleo-Soil Research of the Holocene Stage of the Plain Territory of Ukraine. International Conference of Young Professionals “GeoTerrace-2024”. Lviv, Ukraine, 7–9 October 2024. European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers, p. 1-5. https://doi.org/10.3997/2214-4609.2024510059
Marcinkowski, M, Szczepaniak, M. 2019. Geoarchaeology of the Early Medieval Stronghold Surroundings in Grzybowo Near Września, Greater Poland. Quaestiones Geographicae, 38, 3, p. 95-108.
Petr, L., Petřík, J., Kočár, P., Dresler, D. 2025. Late Holocene Environmental Changes and Human Subsistence in an Alluvial Landscape: A Case Study from the Pohansko Site on the Dyje (Thaya) River in Czechia. Human Ecology, 53, p. 151-164. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-025-00584-y
Šalkovský, P. 2015. Hrady západných slovanov. Nitra: Archeologicky ústav Slovenskej akadémie vied.
Zamelska-Monczak, K., Piotrowski, A., Sydor, P., Żuk, T., Rzodkiewicz, M., Noryśkiewicz, A., Krzymińska, J. 2021. Geoarchaeological Studies in the Early Medieval Santok Stronghold (North-Western Poland). Geoarchaeology, 36, p. 978-1008.
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