Ancient sites of the Bliznyuky region

Geographical location and archaeological sites

The Bliznyuky region lies within the Poltava Plain, in the steppe zone of the southern part of Kharkiv oblast, between rivers of the Black Sea and Azov basins (the Dnipro, the Siverskyi Donets, the Samara and others).

The territory of the Bliznyuky district historically belongs to the zone settled by the steppe peoples who lived on the territory of Ukraine. A modest number of archaeological sites has been recorded here (as of 2017 the following figures are cited — 401 archaeological sites in total, of which 395 are kurgans and 6 are settlements of the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age) [2]. Among the burials, nomadic interments predominate — there are around 200 of them in the Bliznyuky region [3, p. 9].

Artefacts of the most ancient times

According to heritage guardian Viktor Didyk, the earliest human presence in the Bliznyuky region can be dated to the Upper Palaeolithic (the third millennium BC). No distinct sites have yet been discovered in these territories, yet scholars are aware of isolated artefacts — for example, a fragment of a stone flake with typical traces of working (found on the right bank of the Ternivka River, between the villages of Yakovivka and Hannivka) [4]. The researcher suggests that this is precisely where ancient hunters of bison and mammoths may have lived. The ethnographer Mykhailo Volkov confirms this thesis, adding that mammoth remains have also been found on the lands of the Bliznyuky region (fig. 2) (the artefacts are currently kept in the Kharkiv Historical Museum) [3, p. 9].

The Hostra Mohyla kurgan near the village of Verkhnia Samara

In 1972, an expedition of the Kharkiv branch of the Ukrainian Society for the Protection of Monuments of History and Culture, led by N. H. Kolenchenko (fig. 4), investigated a kurgan in the vicinity of the village of Verkhnia Samara, Bliznyuky community, Lozova district. By the time of the excavations the kurgan had already been destroyed; according to locals, before its destruction burials had been found there together with grave goods — an iron sword, parts of horse harness and others.

During the research, scholars established that the kurgan was multi-layered and contained as many as five burials. Three of them (nos. 2, 3, 5) belonged to representatives of the Yamna culture, one (no. 6) belonged to the Catacomb culture, and one more (no. 4) to the Srubna (Timber-grave) culture.

In the Yamna burial (no. 3) lay the skeleton of the buried person (on the back with the knees bent). The hands and feet were abundantly covered with red ochre. Beneath the left arm lay a flint spearhead (fig. 3: 2), placed diagonally in the pit [5]. In the two other Yamna burials only fragments of a plant bedding, ochre and charcoal remained. According to the written records of the Kharkiv archaeologist Serhii Illarionovych Bieriestniev, a flint plate resembling a knife was found beside the buried person, which the researcher identified with the Eneolithic era [1, p. 122]. However, study of the archival archaeological documentation points to scholarly inaccuracies — what the scholar called a plate is in fact a dart point worked on two sides (fig. 5), which is typical of Yamna culture burials [6, p. 36].

Red ochre

a natural earth pigment consisting of clay mixed with anhydrous iron oxide (the mineral haematite). It has been used in ritual practices and painting since Palaeolithic times.

Yamna culture

an archaeological culture of the late Copper Age (Eneolithic) and the Early Bronze Age (3600—2300 BC), spread across the territory of Ukraine in the steppe and forest-steppe zones, in the Dnipro basin, the Azov littoral and Crimea. The main feature of this culture is its burial sites: interments in the foetal position (with the knees drawn up towards the face) and burials under kurgans (the oldest known to this day).

The Catacomb burial also had a floor lined with plant bedding, chalk and ochre. The small size of the grave indicates that a child rested here. In this same grave stood a vessel resembling a deep bowl with a flattened bottom and ornamentation in the form of comb-stamp impressions, a pattern shaped like a “herringbone” (fig. 3: 1).

The Srubna burial probably also contained a skeleton, lying on its right side, head to the east, with the arms bent at the elbows. There were no grave goods.

Near the kurgan several interesting artefacts were also found — a polished axe-hammer of grey stone (fig. 3: 3) and an elongated flint scraper (fig. 3: 4) [5]. These archaeological pieces of evidence indicate that the tribes of the steppe Dnipro group reached even the bounds of the present-day Bliznyuky region.

Ancient settlements of the Bliznyuky region

Two settlements are known near the village of Dobrovillia. One of them dates to the Bronze Age (the Catacomb, Srubna and Bondarykha cultures). The site is located on sandy dunes near a lake, 800 metres to the south-east of the village; the area of the settlement is 100 × 150 metres. Unfortunately, part of the object was destroyed by quarries long ago.

In the Early Iron Age, settled farming-and-herding tribes lived in the Bliznyuky region; besides, this territory was one of the easternmost points of nomadic activity. The second Bliznyuky settlement is a multi-layered site of the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. It is located along the road to the village of Verkhnia Samara, 1–2 kilometres to the south-east of the village. In addition, archaeologists documented small settlements of the Early Iron Age and the Early Middle Ages in the vicinity of the villages of Vesele, Rozdolivka, Kryshtopivka and Uplatne [3, p. 11].

Among the residents there is a legend about the discovery, within the bounds of one such settlement (near the village of Semenivka, Bliznyuky community, Lozova district), of the head of an ancient cult sculpture made of clay (a so-called “stone baba”). However, at present there is no reliable scientific evidence that this artefact was recorded precisely within the settlement near Semenivka. Most likely, it was brought here in relatively modern times, since this territory is not typical for the occurrence of such artefacts.

In summary

The archaeological sites of the Bliznyuky region, despite their comparatively small number, are an important source for studying the ancient history of the steppe south of the Kharkiv region. Isolated finds of the Palaeolithic era, multi-layered kurgan burials of the Bronze Age and the remains of settlements testify to the continuous development of these lands by various population groups over millennia. Of particular value are the materials from the Hostra Mohyla kurgan, which allow us to trace the peculiarities of the burial rites of the population of the Yamna, Catacomb and Srubna cultures.

The available archaeological sources attest that the lands of the present-day Bliznyuky region were a territory where the paths of settled farming and nomadic communities crossed. At the same time, a significant part of the sites remains insufficiently studied, and some objects have already been damaged by economic activity. That is precisely why the further study, protection and popularisation of the archaeological heritage of the land is a necessary condition for preserving historical memory and for a deeper understanding of the earliest past of the Bliznyuky region.