Coins from the Territory of Kamianka Sich (Based On the Results of Archaeological Research)

Abstract

The article examines the coins found on the territory of the Kamianka Sich during archaeological excavations conducted between 1974 and 2021. The remains of Kamianka Sich are located in the lower southern part of Strilka Cape, at the confluence of the Kamianka River and the Dnipro River, within the village of Respublikanets (Beryslav Raion, Kherson Oblast, Ukraine).
A total of 66 coins were found: 48 coins of the Crimean Khanate, one coin of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and 17 coins of the Tsardom of Russia. The Crimean Khanate coins include the beșliks of Selim Giray I (3rd reign, 1692–1699, 1 item), Devlet Giray II (1st reign, 1699–1702, 2 items, and 2nd reign, 1709–1713, 1 item), Kaplan Giray I (2nd reign, 1713–1715, 2 items, and 3rd reign, 1730–1736, 11 items), Saadat Giray III/IV (1717–1724, 6 items), Mengli Giray II (1st reign, 1724–1730, 24 items), and Arslan Giray (1st reign, 1748–1756, 1 item). The coin of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is a fragment of a crown troyak (three-groat piece) of Sigismund III, minted between 1618 and 1624. The coins of the Tsardom of Russia include kopecks of Peter I, minted between 1682 and 1717, as well as kopecks with an unidentified issuer due to their poor preservation.
Kamianka Sich was an administrative centre of the Zaporozhzhia Lowland Cossacks when they were under the protectorate of the Crimean Khanate. This Sich is believed to have existed in two stages, in 1709–1711 and 1730–1734.
During the first stage of the settlement, Rus coins minted before the introduction of machine minting predominated in the local circulation. Silver kopecks were likely brought by Cossacks who had fled from Chortomlyk Sich after its destruction in 1709.
In addition to Russian coins, it is likely that the coins of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Crimean Khanate, minted during the reigns of Selim Giray I and Devlet Giray II between 1692 and 1713, belong to this stage. However, the latter might have appeared at the settlement during the second stage of its existence, together with later Crimean coins.
The majority of the discovered coins belong to the second stage. All of them are coins of the Crimean Khanate, which can be explained by the fact that the Cossacks were under the Girays’ protectorate at that time. Other finds, such as a large number of Turkish-type clay pipes with cherry-coloured glaze, testify to trade contacts between the Cossacks, Ottoman and Crimean workshops.
One beșlik of Arslan Giray (1748–1756) dates to the period when the Cossacks relocated from Kamianka Sich and founded the New Sich on the Pidpilna River. However, some of them remained at the Kamianka Sich and continued to serve there until the liquidation of the Zaporozhzhia Sich.