Pages: 47-63

The authors have summarized the materials from a number of archaeological sites accumulated during many years of investigations by several generations of archaeologists in the Bolshaya Babka river valley. Despite their different quality of exploration and documentation of the research, the following areas were brought to light: general trends in exploration of this territory in temporal and spatial dimensions, preferred locations for settlement in certain landscapes, its usage and perception by various ethnocultural communities. The authors managed to determine some interdependencies between the river valley landscape, shaped by fluvial processes with frequent streamflow changes, and its usage dynamics. It was also discovered that stable flood land regions played an important role; they were not exposed to constant degradations in its widest segment — in its middle and lower reaches. It explains the multilayer nature of the most sites occupied by the population with the similar pattern of economic activity over the wide time line — from the Bronze Age to the Middle Ages. Moreover, some naturally emerged within the same landscape lines of communication with neighboring settlement enclaves had to play a significant role in determination of locations for residential areas.

Keywords: Seversky Donets basin, forest-steppe, Bolshaya Babka river, Bronze Age, Migration Period, Middle Ages, Saltovo-Mayaki cultural-historical community, Golden Horde Era, residential area, landscape

Information about authors:

GhennadiiSvistun (Kharkiv, Ukraine). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Municipal Establishment “Kharkiv Humanitarian-Pedagogical Academy” of the Kharkiv Regional. Rustaveli Lane, 7, Kharkiv, 61001, Ukraine.
E-mail: [email protected]
Viktor Kvitkovskij (Kharkiv, Ukraine). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Municipal Establishment “Kharkiv Humanitarian-Pedagogical Academy” of the Kharkiv Regional Council. RustaveliLane, 7, Kharkiv, 61001, Ukraine.
E-mail: [email protected]