Medieval Hillforts in the Southern Bug Region: Problems of Origin, Function, and Preservation (20 min)

Presenters

Olha Manihda, Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

Abstract

This paper reports on a project to investigate and document a series of hillforts associated with the medieval tribe of the "Ulychi" people, who settled an area along the Southern Buh River in the late 10th century C.E. and built at least 50 hillforts that are still visible in the landscape. The moment of the appearance of this group is suggested by passages in the Rus’ Primary Chronicle that mention military conflicts with the Kyivan princes Oleg and Igor. The project intends to create an archaeological map of the habitat of the Ulychi people through archaeological investigation, including noninvasive methods, and to prepare scientific documentation for the conservation and protection of these sites. The analytic methods deployed by the project center on the creation of an archaeological geoinformation system (AGIS) we have called the "Ulychi Archaeological Map," which incorporates drone imagery and 3D models.

The central question addressed by the project involves the way in which the Ulychi people in the Southern Buh basin, newcomers to the region, organized and used the space in which they decided to settle. To answer this question, the project has created a map of Ulychi hillforts, of which 49 have been identified to date over an area of 14,300 km². This map is based on information about the location of fortifications provided by cultural heritage protection services, and on the results of reconnaissance research conducted by the archaeological expedition "Ulychi" in 2018–2020 on the location and dating of existing sites and the detection of previously unknown hillforts. Preliminary results, including a viewshed analysis of the five-kilometer visibility zone, suggest that these hillforts were not built primarily for the purpose of domination and territorial control, nor with the intent to create an organized defensive line.