ON THE LOCALISATION OF THE CRONICLE CITY UNENIZH

Authors

  • Ivan Kedun Mykola Gogol Nizhyn State University
  • Oleksiy Parkhomenko Center of Monuments Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Society for Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15407/mics2016.01.077

Keywords:

Unenizh, Nizhyn, excavations, localisation, chronicles

Abstract

The article explores the problem of localization of the chronicle city of Uneniz, which, from one of the existing points of view, relates the origin of the modern city of Nizhyn. The authors analyze the historiography of this issue (MM Karamzin, MA Maksimovich, OM Lazarevsky, MP Vasilenko, MN Petrovsky, etc.) and provide data on the history of the archaeological study of the area traditionally identified with Unizez. It is an archaeological study in the residential district of the modern Nezhin in the tract of the Commune (primary place name - Gorodok) by V. Kovalenko (1981), who first tried to confirm the hypothesis of the presence of an ancient Russian settlement here, the excavation of Y. Sitogo (1989–1990) and I. Kedun and O. Parkhomenko (2011–2013). Based on the analysis of the available archaeological materials, the authors confirm the existence in the area of ​​the Commune of the ancient Russian settlement. However, it had rather primitive fortifications (a moat with a palisade established at the bottom), most likely to have arisen in the XII century. and a rather small period was used. As such simple fortifications are atypical for the ancient settlements of Russia, it is concluded that it was most likely a fortified settlement.
This thesis is supported by a comparative analysis of the number of ceramic fragments found in the Commune and in the settlement of Novo Mesto, which is closest to it. On the investigated 12.4 square meters of the New City the number of fragments of ceramic vessels was 618, while 87 square meters of excavations in the Commune, their number, together with the lifting material, amounted to 285 units. On the basis of such a comparison, we can speak of a weak saturation of the cultural layer in the territory of the Commune, which does not allow, according to the authors, to assume the existence of a large ancient Russian settlement here, which could be correlated with the Chronicle of Unise. However, the authors do not rule out that the future expansion of the research area may significantly change the findings.

References

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Published

2017-06-14

How to Cite

Kedun, I., & Parkhomenko, O. (2017). ON THE LOCALISATION OF THE CRONICLE CITY UNENIZH. City: History, Culture, Society, (1), 77–86. https://doi.org/10.15407/mics2016.01.077

Issue

Section

Urban Archaeology